This isn’t my usual genre, but I did enjoy Sophie Irwin’s previous book, ‘A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting’, and thought I’d give it a go. I’ve also recently discovered ‘Bridgerton’ (I know – where have I been?! Late to the party as usual!) so was quite happy to immerse myself in Irwin’s Regency world.
In this book, we meet the haughty Lord Ashford – a man with a title and some unfortunate business dealings to sort out which means he needs to marry money. The problem is, his idealistic father will only approve a love match – so Ashford needs to find a wealthy woman he can pretend to be in love with to get approval to marry. The perfect solution seems to be Miss Lydia Hanworth – she seems socially presentable, demure and compliant when Ashford has met her at parties, even if she comes from a family who own factories (absolutely not the done thing in high society!) Lydia’s family are keen to marry her off and an announcement date for the engagement is set. What could possibly go wrong?!
Let’s just say that Lydia isn’t happy with the arrangement!
What follows is an often hilarious comedy of manners – or Lydia’s total lack of them – at an extended house party graciously hosted by Ashford’s sister, Phoebe. Lydia is determined to convince Ashford that he doesn’t want to marry her and her tactics are very funny – hideous fashion choices, sabotage of Ashworth’s own clothes, poor table manners, crass topics of conversation and testing the boundaries of Ashford’s gentlemanly patience. She’s strong, single-minded and an absolute force to be reckoned with and I loved her.
Until – of course – she starts to notice that Ashford isn’t even remotely ugly, and can actually be quite nice… Yes, we can all see where it was going to head right from the start, but that doesn’t matter a bit. Irwin is skilled at throwing obstacles in the path of true love, even as the protagonists are starting to realise their own true feelings. Add in sub-plots about Ashford’s family and Lydia’s eccentric brother and there’s plenty of substance to get your teeth into here.
I’ll admit I was surprised by just how funny this book was – I was prepared for gentle comedy, but Lydia is brutal and totally unrelenting in her mission to lose her lord in ten days, so there is some quite extreme behaviour. I laughed out loud quite a few times and would have been happy to stay in Lydia and Ashford’s world a whole lot longer. By the time they were done antagonising each other, I was totally invested in the outcome of the story.
I’d recommend this if you like Regency romance with a bit of humour – there’s much to love in the strong female lead too. I definitely want to read more from Sophie Irwin.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy of the book. This book is due for publication on 31st July, 2025.