London banking heiress Hattie Greenfield wanted just three things in life:
1. Acclaim as an artist.
2. A noble cause.
3. Marriage to a young lord who puts the gentle in gentleman.
Why then does this Oxford scholar find herself at the altar with the darkly attractive financier Lucian Blackstone, whose murky past and ruthless business practices strike fear in the hearts of Britain’s peerage? Trust Hattie to take an invigorating little adventure too far. Now she’s stuck with a churlish Scot who just might be the end of her ambitions….
When the daughter of his business rival all but falls into his lap, Lucian sees opportunity. As a self-made man, he has vast wealth but holds little power, and Hattie might be the key to finally setting long-harbored political plans in motion. Driven by an old desire for revenge, he has no room for his new wife’s apprehensions or romantic notions, bewitching as he finds her.
But a sudden journey to Scotland paints everything in a different light. Hattie slowly sees the real Lucian and realizes she could win everything–as long as she is prepared to lose her heart.
Release Date: Sep 7, 2021
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women
Book: 3
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $9.99
What Dunmore does best is make me believe I’m not reading a romance, only to make my heart flutter when I get to the end and find out it’s real.
Hattie Greenfield, suffragist, banking heiress, and… London Scandal. Exactly what happens when Hattie, who’s an artist at heart, draws the attention of a dubious Scotsman, Lucian Blackstone. He sees in Hattie a means to an end but can’t help to find himself attracted to the woman as well. Forced into a marriage of (in)convenience with plenty of misconceptions on both sides, Hattie and Lucian are playing towards their own end games and they’ll use their marriage to do it.
This book surprised me. It didn’t take place in a normal fashion or unfurl like so many other historicals I read. There were ebbs and flows, moments where I truly believed Hattie and Lucian would never find common ground. Yet attraction and, eventually, love have that fabulous way of transforming people. The best is when their partner helps make them a better version of themselves and this book reminded me of that.
In addition, since previous books in the series took place in London, I expected this book to do the same, but the bulk of the story happened in Scotland. There are a lot of elements around the suffrage movement, and interesting tidbits folding in on the same movements affected those in Scotland and women in general, who often in the lower classes found themselves having to work right alongside men out of necessity and survival.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and wonder if there is still more to come in this series. I find Dunmore’s books generate my interest in learning more about the suffrage movement and the circumstances of how women fought for the right to vote and more. For readers who enjoy Eva Leigh and Scarlett Peckham.
~ Landra
Amazon | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play