THE WRONG LADY MEETS LORD RIGHT

A young woman makes the mistake of falling in love with a charming earl while posing as her noble cousin.

When Lady Strickland dies unexpectedly, few people are more relieved than the awful woman’s daughter, Lady Isabelle, and niece-by-marriage, Arabella. Free from her taunts and abuse, both women are ready to take control of their lives. Isabelle wants to spend her days reading, but her great-aunt insists she continue with her coming-out as soon as her year of mourning is over, and Bella talks her into heading for London. Isabelle worries that with her poor health, there’s no way she’ll survive the season, and when she realizes that great-aunt Lucretia is severely nearsighted, she comes up with a plan to have Bella take her place for the season. Bella reluctantly agrees, not having the heart to throw her cousin into another overwhelming situation after her mother’s death. Bella has a sense of wonder and excitement as she makes her debut in society, knowing that her lack of standing would otherwise have prevented her from having these experiences. She barrels headlong into the London ton with unabashed curiosity, often landing in wild, quirky scenarios. The charming Lord Brooke, an eligible earl, is interested in courting Bella, thinking she’s her wealthier and more appropriate cousin. Bella’s struggle with her secret as she falls in love with a man above her station provides the bulk of the tension in the book, which is sweet without being twee. Once the story moves past the initial whiplash of the opening, in which Lady Strickland dies within two sentences and readers have to untangle who’s related to whom, it blossoms into a lively romance featuring charming banter, a heartwarming bond between the two young women, and various Regency shenanigans. Isabelle and Arabella’s neglectful and abusive upbringing is mentioned, as is Isabelle’s panic disorder, but these are touched upon rather lightly, and the tone very much stays centered in the realm of bubbly and airy.

A flirty and cozy romance that’s heavy on laughs and light on angst.