This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. Also my tags may have spoilers in them so be forewarned before checking out full review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖
Narration:🎧🎧🎧🎧
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
Miss Newbury's List is a standalone by Megan Walker. This book I first saw recommended by a good friend of mine but I also have seen this author around my local bookstores, and I found myself intrigued. I will be honest in that I haven't really read many proper romances, but after this one I am intrigued as it definitely felt more authentic so I definitely will be reading more of this historical but also of this author. I found this book sweet, closed door elements, and with an interesting conflict that was on the border of forbidden themes.

First Line
I leaned over the trunk at the foot of my bed in a desperate frantic search.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Charlie
The Heroine: Rosalind

Summary
Rosalind is destined to marry the Duke of Marlow and even though they barely know each other, she knows that it will be a respectable match and it will bring her family honor and prestige. But before she marries the Duke, she wants to make sure she has a chance to live her life before she becomes a Duchess. So she makes a list of adventures she wants to experience. She meets then Charlie, who is the cousin of her best friend, who is a retired pugilist and he slowly becomes her partner on this adventure that she is experiencing. But as they start crossing items off of her list, there is a growing attachment that is building between them. But she is betrothed to another man who won't let her go easily. And Rosalind will have to make a choice between love and duty to her family.

What I Loved
What a delightful story this turned out to be. It does start out a bit slow at first, but it quickly gains traction and I really become immediately immersed into the story. Even though I wasn't quite in the mood for a forbidden love tale, I was definitely easily drawn into this one here. I also was fascinated because its been years since I read a "proper" romance ---before they were popular and I was curious to see how they were different from other historical romances. Honestly the only real differences is that there is more authenticity and its closed door/fade to black so be prepared for that if you are looking for a story that has less steam than you expect. But I found that refreshing, I could just relax with this audiobook and not having to worry about skipping over certain aspects.

The romance that is developed between these two was slow and endearing. I really found it quite neat as it had a story that really drew me in. There is such fun soft banter, not too strong, but they build a great friendship and foundation for a relationship that slowly turns into more. We get some sweet scenes from them that are more intimate without being explicit. Which I found so refreshing and I need more of that. The conflict that arises between our pair is much more focused on outside of the relationship. But I was at the end of my seat with seeing how their situation would be resolved. And it was handled it a way I didn't see coming to be honest. So I was really happy with how Megan Walker developed her story here.

What I Struggled With
The pacing was a bit off at times, especially in the beginning. There could have been more hearts and feels in this story. This book didn't really make me feel as deeply as I would have liked.

Narration
I really enjoy this narrator for historical's. You do need to have it at a much slower pace to enjoy, but it was well done for the most part.

Overall View
Miss Newbury's List is a soft touching romance that delivers characters that come alive, with a gradually built friends to lovers romance to melt your heart.

Favorite Quote(s)
I don't think that is what you want. Perfection is unachievable, its the strokes we don't mean to make that leave us with an unexpected beauty

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance
Time Era: Regency England-1820
Character Types: MMA Fighter, Aristrocracy
Themes: Proper Romance
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Forbidden Love

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A Blend

If you like these authors, I recommend This Book
Anita Stansfield
Josi Kilpack

Song This Book Inspires
Only Hope by Mandy Moore

Steam/Spice Explanations

Simmering cup of tea---soft warm touches and light intimacy

Narrators:
Justine Eyre ( )

First sentence: I leaned over the trunk at the foot of my bed in a desperate, frantic search.

Premise/plot: Miss Newbury's List is a Regency romance novel by Megan Walker. It is in the Proper Romance (clean) line of books published by Shadow Mountain. Our heroine, Rosalind Newbury, is engaged to marry the Duke of Marlow. It's not a love match--for either of them. They've only met twice. Her parents are incredibly excited--beyond thrilled--with the match. Marrying nobility is a dream that has been passed down for generations. Their daughter is the one who will make her parents dreams come true. That's good, right? Well, maybe.

Rosalind Newbury has a best friend, Liza, and Liza has a visiting cousin, Charlie. Charlie and Rosalind (or Ros) grow closer as her wedding draws near. You see, Miss Newbury has....a [bucket] list. When she was a child--perhaps ten?--she wrote a list of things [about ten???] she wanted to accomplish before she got married. Her bucket list is probably unusual for the times. First, I'm not sure anyone--male or female--wrote out "bucket lists" (not that it is ever in any way called a bucket list) of things to accomplish before marriage [or while they were young]. Second, even if men did have a "bucket" list of things they wanted to accomplish...I'm not sure young women would have. Third, the items on the list are unusual. In that almost all of the items on the list challenge the norms.

My thoughts: In all honesty, I thought all of the items on Rosalind's list were out of place, out of time, a bit off. Like is Rosalind really a young woman born circa 1800??? Or is she a twenty-first century woman wearing bonnets and petticoats? Perhaps "all" is too strong. I thought most of them were ridiculous. By extension, I then began thinking of Rosalind as ridiculous. [For example, when Rosalind decides to "learn to swim" by sneaking out early in the morning, going off by herself, and jumping into a pond having no plan, no idea, no help if things go wrong. That just seems high risk for little reward. Of course, she almost drowns and ends this whole list business.]

As for Charlie, I do like Charlie for the most part. I don't like his interest in boxing. (Though I'm guessing that aspect of sport/hobby is historically accurate). But he's a good guy.

The book is super-predictable. I typically do not mind in any way a predictable romance. I don't. The more I love the couple, the more predictability I want, expect, need.

For readers who embrace this notion of a bucket list and a free-spirited, quirky young heroine, this one offers a sweet, clean romance. ( )

A sweet, imaginative tale of finding love when it seemed like the future was already mapped out…

Rosalind believes she is content with her engagement to a duke she barely knows— after all, it will assist her family immeasurably in society. But to help settle her feelings, she hunts down an old list she made as a child. Ten things she meant to do before she married. Ten things to reassure her that she’s lived her own life and enjoyed her own freedom.

When she tries to enlist the help of her neighbor and friend Eliza, she meets Eliza’s cousin Charlie— a young man with a troubled past and uncertain future who nonetheless shows glimpses of being a gentleman. Charlie, Eliza, and Rosalind form an uneasy trio as they check off items on Rosalind’s list.
Sometimes silly, sometimes sweet, the items on the list seem to draw Charlie and Ros closer and closer… even as Ros’ wedding day approaches.

Although first-person narration is not always my favorite, this was a nice and very readable story. I think Megan Walker is good at describing scenes so that they are easy to visualize. Did I struggle with the silliness of some of the items on Ros’ list? Yes— the main characters acted a bit over-young sometimes, but that’s just according to my own reading preference (and age). I read it in about two days anyway, so I found it enjoyable enough!

Thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for this digital review copy! ( )

Miss Newbury's List by Megan Walker is a fun, quick clean read. In 1820 Rosalind, Ros, Newbury is engaged to be married in 5 short weeks. Pretty much a marriage of convenience to a duke. The convenient part is that she will become a duchess, the first in the family and it will elevate her brother's standing.

But first, Ros has a list of things she wants to accomplish, a bucket list if you will, of things that she thinks she should learn or do. She made this list at the suggestion of an aunt, when Ros was 12. Do some of the things on the list still pertain to now, in Ros's mind they do. She enlists the aid of her good friend Liza and Liza's cousin Charlie Winston.

Charlie is not really a ne'er do well but has not settled down yet to the consternation of his parents. Charlie is all too happy to help Ros with her list. So, the adventures begin! The list contains 10 things that Ros wants to do i.e., learn to swim, where she almost drowns, Charlie to the rescue. The pair spend a lot of time together, Liza is beside herself to keep the two of them out of trouble.

A romance between Charlie and Ros is blooming, making Ros rethink her wish to marry the Duke of Marlow. There seems nothing in the relationship that she wants aside from a strip of land that her father owns, that the duke wants, there isn't much else to think that she could be happy in this marriage.

This book is clean, funny, and a joy to read. I usually like a book to have a bit more meat to it, but I found that I did enjoy this one, had me hoping for the best for Ros and Charlie! I give it 5 stars! ( )

Absolutely adored Miss Newbury’s List! A deliciously perfect read on a cold winter’s day. It’s a unique friends to more story with witty humor, swoonworthy romance, and a love letter that will leave you sighing. I loved the premise of the book, a heroine with a bucket list of items she wants to accomplish before she marries. And of course, a handsome companion to help her fulfill each goal. It’s definitely a book clean, regency romance fans will savor.

At the age of 12, Miss Rosalind Newbury was inspired by her aunt to create a list of 10 things she wanted to accomplish before she marries. The items range from writing down her childhood memories to hanging her painting in a public setting to running away for a day. Now eight years later, she tries to enlist her dearest friend Liza to help her accomplish each goal on her list before her upcoming marriage to a duke. Instead, she captures the attention of Liza’s mischievous cousin Charlie.

Charlie’s been temporarily disinherited for his fighting and unwillingness to accept his family responsibilities. While at first Rosalind is irritated by him, Charlie ends up rescuing her and she finds herself in his debt. She begins to see a new side to him as he sets out to help her accomplish her list. With each activity, they grow ever closer together. Unfortunately, as their friendship blossoms into something more, there’s Ros’ engagement between them. Will they succeed in crossing off all the items on the list and what happens when marriage to the duke doesn’t seem as appealing as it once was?

Loved Charlie and Ros! I enjoyed all those achingly romantic moments between them like the picnic scene, the cliff by the sea, the alcove at the dance, and of course the letter. The witty banter between them was so entertaining and I relished all their adventures together. I enjoyed the growth they experienced throughout the story as they inspire each other to become better. The last few chapters had me on pins and needles and I could not put it down. Also loved Liza and Ros’ brother Ben. I’m hoping we’ll hear more about them in the future.

This is definitely a well written, romantic story I’ll be rereading. Highly recommend! I received an advanced compimentary copy from the publisher. All opinons are my own and I was not required to provide a positive review. ( )