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pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
This is my first book by Guhrke. I want to thank HarperCollins for allowing me to read it early. It was a lot of fun.
Since I have always said that romances are like dessert for me, I am going to start rating my romance reading based on ice cream sundaes.
This was a good sundae with lots of hot fudge and whipped cream. No special ice cream flavor, but definitely not vanilla.
Since I have always said that romances are like dessert for me, I am going to start rating my romance reading based on ice cream sundaes.
This was a good sundae with lots of hot fudge and whipped cream. No special ice cream flavor, but definitely not vanilla.
reader_fictions's review against another edition
4.0
Since I revisited my obsession with historical romance novels back in 2014 by reading my first Tessa Dare, Romancing the Duke, I’ve been constantly on the hunt for more authors who write the sort of historical romance I love. I’ve found Julia Quinn (an oldie but a goodie), Lenora Bell, Courtney Milan, among others. When I first asked for recommendations, Guhrke was one of the names I got from several people, and those people were spot on. Guhrke writes solid, creative, feminist af romance novels, and they’re absolutely what I expect of historical romance of recent years.
There’s a deeply specific subgenre of historical romance where the books center on agony aunts, and tbh I really love it. The premise of the series is based around the advice column of “Lady Truelove,” a fictionalized character written by Irene Deverill, who runs her family’s newspaper single-handed. The agony aunt concept serves as a humorous foundation, yes, but more than that writing advice columns or society gossip was one of the few careers respectable women could have in that era…so long as they do so anonymously.
Irene’s such a badass. She reminds me a lot of Frederica Marshall from Milan’s The Suffragette Scandal, who is also an opinionated suffragette who runs a newspaper. They would totes be besties and dismantle the patriarchy one article at a time. Irene is the granddaughter of a viscount, but she’s happy to have escaped society, thanks to dear old granddad completely cutting off her mother for marrying a newspaperman. She loves being the editor of the paper and advocating for women’s rights in her free time.
Henry, the Duke of Torquil, comes into her life after Lady Truelove advises his mother to marry the scandalous artist she has her heart set on. Henry’s not amused, and he demands that Irene and her younger sister Clara come stay for a fortnight so that Irene can talk his mom out of the plan, which will turn society against them, ducal or not.
Though I never really got emotionally invested in the ship the way I like to, I do love Henry and Irene on an intellectual level. Henry comes off as high-handed and a bit of an asshole, but he’s mostly just deeply protective of those around him. He’s open to listening to Irene’s criticisms of his privilege, and he really learns from her. Of course, I also love any book where the dude is a mess of feels, and the heroine’s holding it together; I like when the men are emotional and the women are more logical. It’s also nice that Henry is in no way a rake at all; he’s rule-bound and traditional, which isn’t a hero type you see very often.
Everything about this romance novel was great. It’s somewhere in the intersection between Courtney Milan and Kate Noble.
There’s a deeply specific subgenre of historical romance where the books center on agony aunts, and tbh I really love it. The premise of the series is based around the advice column of “Lady Truelove,” a fictionalized character written by Irene Deverill, who runs her family’s newspaper single-handed. The agony aunt concept serves as a humorous foundation, yes, but more than that writing advice columns or society gossip was one of the few careers respectable women could have in that era…so long as they do so anonymously.
Irene’s such a badass. She reminds me a lot of Frederica Marshall from Milan’s The Suffragette Scandal, who is also an opinionated suffragette who runs a newspaper. They would totes be besties and dismantle the patriarchy one article at a time. Irene is the granddaughter of a viscount, but she’s happy to have escaped society, thanks to dear old granddad completely cutting off her mother for marrying a newspaperman. She loves being the editor of the paper and advocating for women’s rights in her free time.
Henry, the Duke of Torquil, comes into her life after Lady Truelove advises his mother to marry the scandalous artist she has her heart set on. Henry’s not amused, and he demands that Irene and her younger sister Clara come stay for a fortnight so that Irene can talk his mom out of the plan, which will turn society against them, ducal or not.
Though I never really got emotionally invested in the ship the way I like to, I do love Henry and Irene on an intellectual level. Henry comes off as high-handed and a bit of an asshole, but he’s mostly just deeply protective of those around him. He’s open to listening to Irene’s criticisms of his privilege, and he really learns from her. Of course, I also love any book where the dude is a mess of feels, and the heroine’s holding it together; I like when the men are emotional and the women are more logical. It’s also nice that Henry is in no way a rake at all; he’s rule-bound and traditional, which isn’t a hero type you see very often.
Everything about this romance novel was great. It’s somewhere in the intersection between Courtney Milan and Kate Noble.
lissielove's review against another edition
5.0
I desperately want a epilogue in which Irene gets the right to vote and I want to see Henry fumble around in that world a bit. Such a lovely romance after a long crappy week of paper writing.
missmarketpaperback's review against another edition
5.0
Laura Lee Guhrke is a hit or miss author for me and this was a hit. I love the advice columnist premise. I think the conflict made total sense. I love the women’s suffrage parts. This is just a great historical romance.
soph75's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the premise of the story. I don't know how Henry thought that Irene was going to convince his mom, that was a far-fetched but I liked how they fell in love and how Irene stood by her moral and views. She was a really modern heroine for her time though. It would've been nice to see some aspects of historical societal influence on her. Instead she seemed like a modern girl transplanted into historical Britain. Still it was a really nice fun read with all the banter (even though some of their monologues were soo long O.O)
olive2read's review against another edition
3.0
This was very close to a 4-star rating but the last few chapters were regrettable enough to knock it down. It’s like the author got so swept up in her own story that she forgot one of the primary reasons Pride & Prejudice works and holds up so well - *both* Darcy and Elizabeth make mistakes in judgement and *both* of them come to see their own errors as well as holding the other accountable. This did that well to a point. The last fight these two have is reconciled only on one side and that killed it for me. They both make valid arguments against the behaviour of the other but only one is pushed toward any sort of compromise (and if only one person is giving over anything, that by definition *isn’t* compromise).
bandherbooks's review against another edition
4.0
After his mother is given scandalous advice from one Lady Truelove, the Duke of Torquil decides he must find out who the advice columnist is and make the offending writer fix her error.
To Torquil's dismay, Lady Truelove is the utterly beguiling and entirely, unsuitably modern Miss Irene Deverill. A Suffragist! The horror!
Firmly believing in her advice to Torquil's mother, Irene refuses to stop publishing the gossip and her advice column in the newspaper she took over from her drunk father. Unfortunately, her father still owns the paper and in exchange for the Duke's assistance in presenting Irene and her sister to society, he has agreed to sell the paper to Torquil!
Torquil gives Irene an ultimate, stop his mother's upcoming nuptials to the younger, poor Italian artist she eloped with based on Lady Truelove's advice, or lose her paper.
Irene, torn between her morals and her ambitions, agrees but instead hopes to change the Duke's mind.
Two stubborn hearts, a Duke steeped in tradition and wary of love, and a woman intent on changing history, this is a classic enemies to lovers tale sure to melt the iciest of hearts.
I adored Irene's shirtwaists and ties, her convictions, and her willingness to explore an affair with the Duke with no marriage in mind. She doesn't want to be a Duchess, but she wants him. Torquil was an icy Duke of an imperious nature, with a soft, sexy heart he forgot he even had. I loved seeing Irene melt him down.
I also enjoyed all the sexy consent. There is a great love scene that showcases Torquil's willingness to stop, no matter what, if that is what Irene wants. More of this please!
I will definitely be reading the next books in this series. I'm glad I tried another Guhrke, as I didn't really enjoy my first.
To Torquil's dismay, Lady Truelove is the utterly beguiling and entirely, unsuitably modern Miss Irene Deverill. A Suffragist! The horror!
Firmly believing in her advice to Torquil's mother, Irene refuses to stop publishing the gossip and her advice column in the newspaper she took over from her drunk father. Unfortunately, her father still owns the paper and in exchange for the Duke's assistance in presenting Irene and her sister to society, he has agreed to sell the paper to Torquil!
Torquil gives Irene an ultimate, stop his mother's upcoming nuptials to the younger, poor Italian artist she eloped with based on Lady Truelove's advice, or lose her paper.
Irene, torn between her morals and her ambitions, agrees but instead hopes to change the Duke's mind.
Two stubborn hearts, a Duke steeped in tradition and wary of love, and a woman intent on changing history, this is a classic enemies to lovers tale sure to melt the iciest of hearts.
I adored Irene's shirtwaists and ties, her convictions, and her willingness to explore an affair with the Duke with no marriage in mind. She doesn't want to be a Duchess, but she wants him. Torquil was an icy Duke of an imperious nature, with a soft, sexy heart he forgot he even had. I loved seeing Irene melt him down.
I also enjoyed all the sexy consent. There is a great love scene that showcases Torquil's willingness to stop, no matter what, if that is what Irene wants. More of this please!
I will definitely be reading the next books in this series. I'm glad I tried another Guhrke, as I didn't really enjoy my first.
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