Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem

In this historical romance, a detective and a journalist must team up to catch a murderer while the wrong man sits behind bars. Along the way, class and gender expectations and assumptions are interrogated along with suspects. In addition, a sentence cutting the upper classes down to size for wealth built on slavery and colonization was the realness I require in historical fiction.

It was fun to add a murder mystery element to the romance even if the culprit was glaringly obvious -- the investigating was still intriguing despite the fixed outcome. I enjoyed seeing the motives and connections uncovered by our intrepid team. I also appreciated having protagonists with professions and maturity with more on the line than an all-consuming love story. They both have expectations, boundaries, and are comfortable in their own skins, which was a refreshing take.

The romance is a bit of a whirlwind for my tastes. To be fair, there are a lot of interesting moving pieces to accommodate the plot. I didn't feel that the romance took a backseat, but it was low on angst and tension and instead proceeded in a streamlined fashion towards true love, etc. I think more than an increased romantic presence on the page, I was looking for a deeper knowledge of the characters and seeing the two gain that understanding of one another, as well.

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samchase112's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Mystery and romance combine in this fun romp through historic (period???) England. The plot was fun, the characters were fun, and it was an enjoyable journey overall. I had a few issues that I want to talk about, but the main takeaway here is that this was an easy-to-read yet mysterious romance that I think would appeal highly to non-historical romance readers.

That being said, I think the romance was the least thought-out portion of this book. It was insta-lovey, moved extremely quickly, and not well set-up. A lot of the relationships between characters - in general - were not explained or explored. For example, we're led to believe that Caro and Kate (does everyone in this book need a nickname??? giving me fanfic vibes here...) meet in the first chapter, yet throughout the book Kate makes references to knowing Caro and her mannerisms, and vice versa, as well as she and Valentine know each other. It was clear that the mystery was most important to the author, and even that becomes muddled at some point, with so many connections and complications spinning webs throughout the murders. If this is true, then, I wish the author had simply focused on fleshing out the mystery and murders, with a side-helping of Kate and Eversham beginning to date, rather than full-on falling in love (and don't even get me started on Kate's ultimate decision). That being said, both characters were easy to love and fun to root for. The ending and character relationships simply became much too rushed because of all the competing storylines going on.

Ultimately, this was an enjoyable book, but it had many issues I'd expect from a debut novel, rather than a veteran author, that just jumped out at me and stuck in my mind.

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mmmmmellie's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I think this is one of those moments when being able to identify a well-written Good Book vs a poorly-written book you enjoyed is important.

I knew from the beginning chapters that this wasn’t going to be ~amazing~ but I did find myself continue reading. I’ve been in a bit of slump recently so being able to let my brain go smooth and just enjoy a cheesy romance and a blegh mystery was nice and now I’m ready to read smth else!!

I will mention some pluses though. Having an outspoken female character who already has empathy for lower classes and real critiques of women’s issues (husbands taking ownership of their wife’s property) was cool! Having a male love interest who was like

“i love you and also its ridiculous that i would own your newspaper so i’ll do a prenup to make you happy”

was cool!

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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

The romance was delightfully predictable (in the way that you know what you're getting into as soon as your protagonists meet) but the vehemence at which they go for each other was also a fun surprise. The initial kiss in the folly was a great tease of what was to come and the constant "They have no right being that attractive and distracting while I try to focus on outwitting them to solve this case first!" was fun to read. The first official liaison, after they argue about Katherine swiping the diary from the study was straight out of a movie, and I loved every second of it. And I'm totally here for the unsuspecting feminist Andrew Eversham!

I was suspect of Caro as a potential accomplice for a hot second, but the twist of twins (!) as the culprits was fun and unexpected.

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