Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA+
Pages: 349
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Zaffre
Date Published: 20th August 2023
Huge thank you to Zaffre books for sending me a copy of this book to read and review.
Book Blurb:
Emily Laurence is a liar. She is not polite, she's not polished, and she has never taught a child in her life. This position was meant to be her sister's - brilliant, kind Amy, who isn't perpetually angry, dangerously reckless, and who does (inexplicably) like children.
But Amy is unwell and needs a doctor, their father is gone and their mother is useless, so here Emily is, pretending to be something she's not.
If she can get away with her deception for long enough to earn a few months' wages and slip some expensive trinkets into her pockets along the way, perhaps they'll be all right.
That is, as long as she doesn't get involved with the Edwards family's dramas. Emily refuses to care about her charges - Grace, who talks too much and loves too hard, and Aster, who is frankly terrifying but might just be the wittiest sixteen-year-old Emily has ever met - or the servants, who insist on acting as if they're each other's family. And she certainly hasn't noticed her employer, the brooding, taciturn Captain Edwards, no matter how good he might look without a shirt on . . .
As Fairmont House draws her in, Emily's lies start to come undone. Can she fix her mistakes before it's too late?
My Review:
Quick, witty and funny little rom-com set in regency times. Definitely, for me, it was a palette cleanser in between harder books. That said, parts of this book do cover in-depth topics and some parts were quite heavy to read. However, the balance between the funny witty and serious is very good. It also had an excellent LGBTQIA+ rep, which I haven’t come across much in other regency rom-coms.
The story follows Emily who swaps with her ill sister Amy to become a governess at Fairmount House. Emily is not a governess, she is rude, and impolite, uses bad language, doesn’t have any lady-like manners, is a thief, and hates children. She wants to keep her good appearance going for a few months and then swap back with her sister once she becomes better, so for Emily, there shouldn’t be any need to get herself into the Edwards family’s dramas…Or so she thought…
I enjoyed the dynamics between the different characters in this book. The highlight for me was the development of Emily’s relationship with Grace and Aster, as it was so wholesome. What I missed though, and the reason why this book isn’t 5 stars for me is the lack of chemistry between Emily and Captain Edwards. The romance for me wasn’t believable and developed way too quickly, especially as in the first half of the book they both only interacted with one another a couple of times, yet in the second half of the book the romance happened in a few chapters. I also didn’t feel much chemistry between them, even though their interactions were funny and entertaining to read.
Overall: Very witty, funny and at times rather serious rom-com with a great set of characters and character development. Recommend if you like books set in the Regency period or want a palette cleanser in your TBR.
About the Author:
Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media for NGOs, Lex now writes historical-ish rom coms for adults (REPUTATION, INFAMOUS) and historical fantasy rom coms for teenagers. GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE is their YA debut.
https://www.lexcroucher.co.uk/
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