Summary

He ruined her reputation―now he’s the only one who can save it.

For exactly one season, Lady Charlotte Wentworth played the biddable female the ton expected―and all it got her was society’s mockery and derision. Now she’s determined to be in charge of her own future. So when an unwanted suitor tries to manipulate her into an engagement, she has a plan. He can’t claim to be her fiancé if she’s engaged to someone else. Even if it means asking for help from the last man she would ever marry.

Ethan, Lord Amesbury, made a lot of mistakes, but the one he regrets the most is ruining Lady Charlotte’s reputation. He’s older and wiser now, but his attraction to Lottie never wavered. Going along with her charade is the least he can do to clean the slate and perhaps earn her forgiveness. And, if he’s lucky, her love.

Review

Check out my Goodreads review for content warnings, as they’re sort of spoiler-y so I didn’t want to include them here.

It’s hard to believe this beautifully written book is Bethany Bennett’s debut, but there you go. I’m rather put out about that because after reading Any Rogue Will Do I want to devour her entire backlist but there ISN’T ONE YET. Rude. 🙂

This book is everything I wanted in a Regency romance. It starts with a woman scorned and I was fully expecting Ethan to have the typical Very Good Reason for the Misunderstanding that you usually see in romances where they were together and… nope, he was just a drunken ass. In the intervening years he’s cleaned up his act and become a better man and developed a tragic(ish) backstory to leave him laden with guilt, but when I started reading this I was like “OH DANG, ETHAN. You’re going to have to win her back AND win be over as a reader too.” And oh, he did. He very, very much did. *pets Ethan’s wild mop of curls*

I love the chemistry between Lottie and Ethan. They go from a history of courting via all the social politeness and masks of the ton to sort of enemies (oops) to reluctant allies to friends to lovers and the progression and growth of their relationship is just glorious. The side characters were also really interesting to me, and I can’t wait for Carlyle’s story.

This is the first book in the Misfits of Mayfair series, and can be read as a stand-alone. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to the next book, West End Earl, which has my FAVORITE trope of a woman disguised as a man. *grabby hands*

An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher for review. All opinions are unbiased and my own.