Romancing the Heiress by Darcy Burke
Lords of London #3

On a train to Salzburg, I read this charming friends-to-lovers tale of two people who meet again after less than a decade apart. Leah escaped a bad childhood to become a paid companion to Lady Norcott and enjoyed the experience…not so much her next job working for a relative of the woman.

With family issues to be resolved by Leah, some skullduggery to be exposed, money to be found, matches to be made at the annual marriage festival in Marrywell, and romance brewing…it was a perfect way to spend hours on a train. In fact, the story I read on the train was much better than the hour I spent in Salzburg walking about while worrying about getting lost. I didn’t see the sites planned on in the city but did enjoy spending time with Leah and Phin.

Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars ( )

What a lucky day it was for readers when terrific romance authors Darcy Burke and Erica Ridley decided to coauthor the Lords in Love series, alternating the writing of each book. Romancing the Heiress is the third book in the series and the second written by Burke. It’s just as delightful as the previous two entries.

We get to revisit the town of Marrywell, a town which specializes in exactly what its name implies: an annual May Day Matchmaking Festival. The festival draws crowds from London and beyond with its fair maidens, gentlemen looking for brides (or just a bit of fun) and its beautiful botanical gardens created and maintained by the Radford family. The local merchants greatly benefit from the influx of visitors and packed-to-capacity inns and dining spots and the botanical gardens are a big part of the town’s appeal.

Leah Webster grew up in Marrywell with good friends and the love of her life, but she couldn’t wait to leave. Her mother was cold and cruel and her father failed to protect her. She took the first opportunity to escape the pain and humiliation, first becoming companion to elderly Lady Norcott, and upon her death companion to Genevieve Selkirk, Lady Norcott’s great niece. Lady Norcott was loving and Leah was happy with her; the Selkirks – not so much, but even though this wasn’t the exciting, fulfilling life Leah dreamed of as a young girl it was better than unceasing torment. She’s back in Marrywell now, after five years away, under the guise of finding a marriage match for Genevieve but more so to see the unrequited love of her life. She’s barely heard from him since she left but her love still burns bright.

Phineas Radford – Phin – is kind of a knucklehead in that he doesn’t realize he is the love of Leah’s life and that if he sat down for a minute and thought about it he would have that “Aha!” moment and realize how much he cares for her, too. But for right now he’s focused on trying to save his estate and properly maintain the family gardens without the funds to do so. His maternal grandfather created them; Phin’s father wasn’t talented or particularly concerned about them, and Phin discovered shortly before his father’s death that he had poorly invested and gambled away all the family money. Phin loves the gardens and wants to honor his grandfather’s memory, as well as properly care for his grandmother and retain the estate. With few funds and inadequate staff, the state of the gardens has suffered, but Phin is too ashamed to confess what happened and admit he needs help; he doesn’t want to let the town he loves down.

Regency novels are so much fun. We have rules and changing morals and schemes and intrigue today, but in the Regency Era the rules could be so rigid and demanding on the one hand while on the other hand something like a nobleman marrying an heiress solely for her money so he could retain his estate was a perfectly acceptable practice. So off Phin goes, surprised that he is feeling something that seems to be more than “just friends” when Leah is around yet diligently embarking on a plan to capture a rich bride and save his estate and gardens and not fail the town. Leah keeps telling herself and everyone else that she is over her feelings for Phin, Phin wanders around not knowing what’s up half the time, and the Selkirk family isn’t very nice. All of this makes for a delightful story, with fingers crossed for an HEA and at times wanting to shake some characters and yell wake up already!

A bonus in returning to Marrywell is experiencing the fun of the festival, the beauty of the countryside and spending a little more time with Sadie and Law from the first book. The plot moves smoothly along, you’re not always quite sure who is up to what, and there are definitely a couple of steamy, swoony, satisfying encounters. Thanks to Darcy Burke and Erica Ridley for providing an advance copy of Romancing the Heiress as part of their review crew for my heart-pounding reading pleasure and honest opinion. I loved this book and both previous books in the series and can’t wait for the next book. All opinions are my own. ( )