Lord Holt Takes a Bride by Vivienne Lorret

Lord Asher Holt lives under the shadow of his father, a man who patently has a gambling addiction so deep he's put not only himself into debt but is trading on Asher's name as well (is that even a thing? I decided to go with it.) If he can put together a thousand pounds, he can join his friends on a hunt for hidden treasure. But seeing his father one night and then being captured by two debutantes delays his plans. It's the third debutante, Winnifred Humphries, who really captures his interest. Partly because she is an heiress but it's mostly her attractive form. So when she barrels into his carriage the day she's supposed to be getting married, he starts by wanting to get some money but it turns into something more.
Lorret is a wonderful writer and I overall enjoyed the book but there were just SO MANY misunderstandings. About 3/4 of the way in it just got tedious.

Three stars
This book came out March 31st, 2020
Borrowed this as an ebook from the library
Opinions are my own

This Earl is on Fire by Vivienne Lorret

Left for dead on the doorstep of one of his properties, Liam Cavanaugh, the Earl of Wolford, is sure that he has wronged some jealous husband. And that he's definitely going to die. But his renters might have something to say about that.
The Pimm family is like no one he's ever met before. They're open, they're trusting, and they're managing to live without their servants. And their daughter Adeline is lovely. Too bad he doesn't want to marry for thirty years.
Adeline has issues. Her leg was broken when she was born, making it so that it is much shorter than her other leg. She knows how much a deformity like hers can make her a pariah, her parents used to bribe the children of their small town to come and pretend to be her friend. So she's sure that she's not going to like being in the ton; she's just in London to have adventures.
While this was a perfectly nice story, the side characters felt a bit flat, especially since at least a few of them (Julia and the Marquess of Thayne, Liam's cousin Gemma, and I'm guessing even the Earl that Thayne borrowed a horse from at the end of the story) seemed like sequel bait. The ending was also a bit rushed. Though she wasn't as well developed in this book, I remember Julia from the second book in this series and can't wait for her to get her HEA.

Three stars
This book comes out August 2

The Debutante Is Mine by Vivienne Lorret

It's been awhile since I read a story with a dastardly cousin. And while Lilah's cousin mainly wanders into the periphery of this story, he's still there, all greasy and evil.

Yeah, so Ms. Lorret does a good job of explaining why Lilah has to be dictated by her father's will. Even though this is a trope we've seen often, there's at least some better explanation in this book other than just "Yep. This is the way it is." In order to fulfill her father's wishes, she has to marry a nobleman within three years or be forced to marry her cousin. The issue? This is her third season and  as a certified wallflower who most men don't remember, it's looking like marrying her cousin is a foregone conclusion. Then her eyes meet those of a dashing man on a large horse.
Jack Marlowe is the bastard (but acknowledged!) son of an earl who has had to fight for his opportunities in life, up to and including building his own massive personal fortune. At the end of the last book, his friend asked him to send flowers to Lilah in the hopes that it will help make her more popular and thus help her find a husband. Once Jack meets her though, he suspects that the duke, especially with his last warning away from Lilah, was really pushing them together. Especially since the duke is said to have developed a theorem to help people find their one true love.
There were some themes that I thought were underdeveloped in this book, like why Lilah felt so attached to the tenants on her family's land and what even happened to them. Also, what might keep Lilah and Jack together in the end. And the last Jack "twist" felt a little unnecessary. However, overall, the book built nicely on the first in the series and I'm looking forward to seeing what the backstory is for their friends' feud and how it's going to be resolved.