Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* It is truly a wonder how Matthews can consistently craft fresh romances featuring unique, multidimensional characters who face huge obstacles to their relationships. The third book in her best-selling Belles of London series is as surprising and exciting as the first (The Siren of Sussex, 2022) and the second (The Belle of Belgrave Square, 2022). Lady Anne Deveril, who has been wearing the black of mourning in solidarity with her mother, Lady Arundell, comes up with a clever ploy to be able to travel to Yorkshire to save her best friend, Julia Wychwood, whom she believes was abducted by scary Captain Blunt, by enlisting the aid of her former secret fiancé, Felix Hartford. She begs him to write an article under one of his many pseudonyms to inspire her mother to consult a Yorkshire spiritualist. But rules of primogeniture soon force Anne and her mother out of their home, and Felix faces issues that could make him an outcast. The Victorian era, in the years following the death of Prince Albert, with all its social restrictions, prejudices, and technological innovations, is an intriguing background for this lovely story of secrets and love lost and found. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.
Library Journal Reviews
Lady Anne Deveril has accepted Mr. Felix Hartford's offer of marriage, but the death of her father delays the engagement as Anne enters a period of mourning. Hart waits a year for Anne, but when she asks for more time, he is hurt by her reluctance and lashes out, ending their relationship. Several years later, with Anne still in mourning, she learns her best friend has been abducted and taken to Yorkshire. She seeks out help from Hart, who agrees to assist only if Anne will attend his grandfather's Christmas house party in the country—and not dressed in her perpetual black mourning attire. Hart hopes this might finally be his chance to win Anne back. Unfortunately, the pair's hurtful history is never far from the surface, so they continually snipe at each other. Only once they truly start communicating and confront some of their respective problems at home can the two repair what they thought was lost.
PW Annex Reviews
Grief and familial duty separate a couple, but a road trip brings them back together in Matthews's sparkling third Belles of London Victorian romance (after