Mrs. Brodie's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies by Shana Galen, Theresa Romain

I can't remember why I put this on my wishlist in 2018 but I finally got this book this year. It was... fine. Not worth the wait though.

In the first story, Jack and Marianne were childhood sweethearts. He married someone else and now he's hunted her down for... reasons? Closure? She's a cook at the school and he's there to sweep her away from a life that she basically enjoys. He's an ass and she's not much better. 

In the second story, Bridget and Caleb were sweethearts (a theme) but he left her to pursue his career as a spy. He's not even really back right now but, when he finds out they had a son, he's ready to help her find their boy and head for a new life in Canada.

I can see how this would have been an amazing series but was woefully underdeveloped in two short stories by authors I normally enjoy.

Two stars

This book came out September 14, 2018

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Lady Notorious by Theresa Romain

Cass Benton works with her brother as private investigators. Well, her brother is the one on the books but his boss definitely knows that Cass is involved. When the book opens, Cass is posing as a maid in a ton house while her brother is a footman. While he is shtupping the lady of the house, Cass is busy saving the husband from murder. Which is pretty much their relationship. Cass is super serious while her brother takes life a lot more lightly.
They're in the house in the first place because of George, Lord Northbrook. He's the son of a duke who joined a tontine when he was a young man. Now members are dying off mysteriously and George wants to prevent both his father, and the lord of the house Cass and Charles were in, from meeting the same fate.
Romain can hit books out of the park for me but this was not one of them. I didn't see that George and Cass had the type of chemistry that would weather their class differences in this time. It was an okay read but not one of my faves.

Three stars
This book comes out February 26th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Follows Lady Rogue

Lady Rogue by Theresa Romain

Callum Jenks and Lady Isabel Morrow had a short affair months ago. And now she's asking to see him again. This time it's not for romance; she needs help. Her deceased husband, it appears, was selling forgeries. And she needs to make things right before anyone finds out and her ward is ruined.
As they start investigating, it opens questions about how Isabel's husband died. Was it really a suicide?
This was a good book for some world building. While it didn't hold my attention for long periods of time, I don't think regular Romain readers will be disappointed.

Three stars
This book comes out April 24
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Followed by Lady Notorious

Scandalous Ever After by Theresa Romain

I really liked the first book in this series and was looking forward the second. In this book, Kate Whelan is visiting her father, hoping to borrow money to shore up the estate her late husband decimated with his gambling. While there, she sees that Evan Rhys is doing a lecture and decides to go  and see her husband's best friend. The three of them used to be great friends, but then came the steeplechase when her husband died and she hasn't seen Evan since.
Evan didn't feel like he could stay when he felt such guilt over the accident that took his best friend. But now that it's years later? He's ready to go after woman he's always loved. Of course it's never just that simple. Problems from both the past and the present rear up to make the course of Twu Lurv not so smooth.
And, while this was a nice story, there were a LOT of rocks on the path to HEA. Some of those rocks? Kate and Evan themselves. There's a lot of angst in this book. Will regular Romaine readers still enjoy it? Probably. But not as much as the first book.

Three stars
This comes out July 1

Passion Favors the Bold by Theresa Romain

We met Georgette and Lord Hugo in the last book of this duo. She is the sister of Benedict Frost and has been living with her aunt and working in what used to be her parents' bookshop. At twenty-one, her aunt will no longer be obligated to keep Georgette around so she decides to take matters into her own hands and find the brother who has only recently returned to England after being in the Navy.
Though she is dressed as a boy, she is handily recognized by her brother's friend, the third son of a Duke, Hugo Starling. From there, she convinces him to try and search for the lost gold coins. Hugo is reluctant but ends up giving in when it seems like that will be the only way to get his hospital up and running. Through a series of events, they end up posing as a married couple in order to follow a Bow Street Runner who they believe to also be on the trail of the thieves. This includes pretending to be the niece and nephew of a Northumberland land owner, Sir Frederic Chapple.
A sweet story though there are parts that stretched even my willingness to suspend disbelief. Nothing earth-shaking but I think regular Theresa Romain readers will be happy with the story.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out February 28
Follows Fortune Favors the Wicked

Fortune Favors the Wicked by Theresa Romain

When I requested this book as an ARC, I didn't realize that this was part of a new series (I hope) and not part of the "Romance of the Turf."  I was really looking forward to that next book and that may have dimmed some of my excitement in this book. But, hey, blind hero, courtesan heroine... this is definitely not your average romance novel.
There was a LOT going on in this story though. Both Charlotte Perry (also known as  Charlotte Pearl, La Perle, and Mrs. Smith in the course of this novel) and Benedict Frost, currently on half-pay from his Majesty's navy, are looking for the gold recently stolen from the royal treasury. The reward for finding said gold is 5,000 pounds, a princely sum. Charlotte could retire and set her daughter up for life. Benedict would like to sell his stories but the London publishers have all told him that, though based on his own life, no one will believe that a blind man could travel the globe. So instead, he's hoping to get the reward money and set himself and his sister up for life.
There is also a villain plotting against Charlotte, a murder, and, oh, just a LOT going on in this book. It was still worth a read and I am very much hoping that we will see more of what happens between Georgette (Benedict's sister) and Lord Hugo (Benedict's friend, younger son of a duke).

This book will be published March 29.
Followed by Passion Favors the Bold

A Gentleman's Game by Theresa Romain

Nathaniel Chandler, prodigal son (as he self-styles himself), has reluctantly returned to Chandler Hall where he discovers that his father's horses are mysteriously falling ill and his father's (female!) secretary has become even more alluring since he's been gone.
Rosalind Agate knows there is more to Nate than meets the eye. She herself is covering up many secrets while trying to uncover others.
When the two are sent on a mission to make sure that a neighbor's horse makes it safely to his next race, the interest between them sparks into passion.
A nice, steady book. Regular Romain readers will quite enjoy as will regular historical romance readers.
Three and a half stars
Comes out February 2, 2016

Follows The Sport of Baronets

The Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain

Hannah Chandler and Bart, Sir Bartlett, Crosby are part of a generations long family feud. So when they both claim a colt that is then stolen, they have to work together to get back a potentially family-saving colt.
For a novella, I really enjoyed getting to know as much of the characters that we got to see. Can't wait for the rest of the series.

Four stars

Followed by A Gentleman's Game

Secrets of a Scandalous Heiress by Theresa Romain

I  really enjoyed this book. It's a non-traditional hero and heroine from Regency times. Both are on the fringes of the ton, neither being titled. And surprisingly, neither wants to be part of the highest of society. They each have their own reasons for hanging on. 

Augusta is an heiress. As such, she is supposed to make a brilliant match. But she's bored. Bored, bored bored. So she escapes to Bath (with a friend who has had a miscarriage and is in mourning, when does that happen in a romance?) and pretends to be a widow so that she can find a lover to shake up her life.
Joss Everett is one-quarter Indian which sets him outside of society to begin with. Plus, his father was a profligate. He's just trying to help his cousin out with one more problem before Joss can leave his employ. Well, his cousin is actually being blackmailed and Joss needs to sell some of their ancestral lands so his cousin can pay it off. Joss isn't sure how he's going to meet with the movers and shakers of Bath because he's not a part of their society either. But he does know August, especially he knows the fact that she's not a widow. And she knows how to play the middle-class society, specifically how to manipulate the businessmen who think she is nothing more than a fluff-brain.
A good read and one that doesn't seem to connect at all to the previous two in the series (at least, not that I can remember) so it's not necessary to start at the beginning.

Season of Desire by Theresa Romain

Lady Audrina is NOT having a good day. She's been drugged and kidnapped by the same man who took her only commodity.
Giles Rutherford isn't exactly in a good mood either. His father has dragged him across the Atlantic after a puzzle box that supposedly holds a diamond parure owned by Giles' mother. And Giles is starting to feel the same symptoms of arthritis that crippled his mother.
But the two are forced together when Audrina's father forces Giles and his father to help rescue her and then to take her to the wilds of York so that he can ensure her kidnapper arrives in London separately and she can arrive later, suitably chaperoned by the sharp-tongued Lady Irving.
But while in York, Audrina and Giles get to know each other in a way they couldn't have if they were merely highly-ranked lady and brash American.
It was lovely to see a heroine who was bold about what she wanted and a hero who was willing to hold back. Their story was fun as were the secondary romances (though one was really only hinted at.) All of the characters were well-rounded and this was just a fun read.
Comes out today!