Heiress Winnifred Humphries refuses to marry the odious man her parents have chosen. She’ll marry for love or not at all. But how does a woman know a man truly loves her? Needing answers, she sets out to discover the marriage habits of London’s aristocrats. Yet when her friends kidnap a lord for research, Winn knows they’ve gone too far. Now she’s facing a wickedly handsome scoundrel who wants revenge.
Lord Asher Holt has the perfect plan to free himself of his father’s debts. But when a trio of foolish debutantes abducts him, their scheme ruins everything! Fuming and tied to a chair, Holt overhears that one of them is an heiress. Perhaps he isn’t above a little kidnapping either.
Yet, when the heiress runs away from her own wedding and straight into his waiting carriage, Holt finds himself on an adventure he’ll never forget, falling in love with a woman worth more than any treasure. But will Winn ever believe his heart only desires her . . . and not her fortune?
Release Date: Mar 31, 2020
Series: The Making Habits of Scoundrels
Book: 1
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: HarperCollins
Imprint: Avon Books
Price: $5.99
This book was a train wreck… in all the good ways
Lorret crafts something entirely new, fresh, and completely off it’s rocker in this new historical. I’ve seen things go wrong in stories, heck they are supposed to, but the adventures of Lord Holt and his heroine, Winnifred are more than off the rails.
Lord Holt seeks to escape the disaster that is his father. Oh, I had so much sympathy for Holt because his father is the worst, absolute worst. In the process of this escape he gets tangled figuratively, and literally (at times) with one Lady Winnifred. Holt is the epitome of a man trying to make his own way and fortune without resorting to the typical measure’s lords are often directed towards, mainly marriage. No, Holt wants to make his own way, but his father’s uncontrolled spending and mounting debt it always appears like his father is one step ahead of him.
Lady Winnifred is the average female, not a standard English beauty, but a woman with buxom curves. At the start of the story she is being forced into an arranged marriage with a snake (this dude is still not at as bad as Lord Holt’s father, though he takes close second). Said snake is insulting and openly has a relationship with his mistress, at one point he refers to our heroin as a cow, which made me want to stab him with a fork.
Of course, his poor treatment of Winnifred is exactly what sends her fleeing her wedding and right into a carriage containing none other than our Lord Holt. From there the hijinks ensue. There is one disaster after another from lost dresses, to never being dry for an entire day, and also our favorite “there’s only one bed!”
I read far past my bedtime just to finish. My heart broke over and over for Lord Holt and I will say the only thing keeping this book from a higher rating is that a lot of the conflict stemmed from a lack of communication or assumptions made when a simple conversation might have changed things- heck, it might not have, but it would have made the conflict keeping the characters apart have more substance than a lack of talking.
Overall, this book was a breath of fresh crazy. It reminded me of Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove series and besides my heart breaking, I laughed multiple times. I’ll be tuning in for the next book. Can’t wait to see what Lorret comes up with next, especially for our Winnifred’s friends who seem to be as adept at getting into trouble as Winnifred is.
~ Landra
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