A delightful short Regency romance featuring two friends who might be more suited than they think.
Humour
The Demon Rake by Gayle Buck
She dares all for love: The widow of a soldier, Lady Victoria March travels to England to meet her late husband’s relations for the first time. She’s astonished by her reception: suspicion and insults abound. However, Lady March cannot leave. She’s on a mission that has everything to do with family and the things that bind them together.
Endure My Heart by Joan Smith
The picture of innocence, Miss Mabel Anderson, and the sister of a cleric. But many people in her port town of Salford lived in poverty, their only chance at making a decent living being the smuggling trade. Mab inadvertently found herself the leader of this group, but a government agent, Sir Stamford Wicklow, was come to town specifically to discover the leader’s identity—and imprison the villain.
Talk of the Town by Joan Smith
This book reminds me (in a good way) of the classic Faro’s Daughter by Georgette Heyer.
From the book blurb:
Daphne Ingleside’s visit to her Aunt Effie in London was meant to add a little spark to her placid country life. And it did—once the two women decided to write Effie’s memoirs. For Effie, a faded divorcée, had been the beauty of London in her day, and many of the ton feared their misbehavior would be disclosed. The Duke of St. Felix, misinterpreting their project as a means of blackmailing his family, antagonized the sharp-witted, beautiful Daphne to his peril.
Escapade by Joan Smith
One of my all-time favourite Joan Smith books.
From the book blurb:
Ella Fairmont, as the anonymous Miss Prattle, has taken the Duke of Clare to task regularly in her gossip column. The duke, unsuspecting, includes Ella and her aunt in his week-long country houseparty. He has also included the blue-blooded Lady Honor, the strikingly beautiful Miss Sheridan, and the multi-talented Miss Prentiss. How could one “ordinary” young lady with a sharp tongue compete with three sterling debutantes?