Oh my goodness, I loved this book and read it in about 2 days straight. I had high hopes after reading The Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting and it did not disappoint. I loved the sparkiness of the characters, particularly Margaret and seeing how Eliza made the most of widowhood to develop her independence whilst staying within the rules of society. It was such a fun story, full of wit and character and I can't wait to read her next one!

After falling completely in love with Sophie Irwin's first book, A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting' I was very excited to read this book and hoped it would live up to the first - I am happy to say this book did not disappoint!!

Following the freshly widowed, twenty-eight year old Eliza, who thanks to her husband unexpectedly leaving her ten thousand pounds a year in his will, means that for the first time in her life Eliza is completely in control of herself - as long as she stays far away from scandal.

I spent m y entire time with this book really rooting for Eliza, as she slowly begins to gain confidence in herself and her actions, and it is so satisfying to witness her really come into herself! I also loved how this book really stressed how unfair society's expectations and limitations were for women in that era, and watching how Eliza and her cousin Margaret navigated these restrictions.

This book was such a joy to read and I couldn't put it down! All of the characters are really well developed, even the side characters who are just brilliant! There are many unexpected plot twists that left me gasping out loud, and the two love interests really keep you on your toes throughout this book - in one chapter you're rooting for one man, and then in the next you're rooting for the other! Their rivalry was brilliant to read - really quick-witted and funny!

This book is a fun and easy read, and I recommend it to any fans of the Regency era, especially lovers of Brigerton and Lex Croucher (but without spice), and I am eagerly awaiting the next book!

~ I very kindly thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review ~

I loved Sophie Irwin’s first book A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting’ , so I was excited to see she had another one out this summer. Eliza was forced into marrying the Earl of Somerset by her family. After a dull and unfulfilling marriage, he has now died and left her with a tidy sun of money. There are conditions to her inheritance though, Eliza must not bring scandal upon herself.

As a “free woman”, she escapes to Bath to start her new life with her cousin, Margaret. Here it’s a bit harder to meet the conditions of the will!

A lady’s guide to scandal is the perfect summer read. Eliza is a great character but Margaret was was probably my favourite 😊

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for early access to this fabulous read 📚

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Now, Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel so when I saw it quoted at the start of this book, I was slightly apprehensive that Irwin wouldn't manage to live up to that high standard. But I really enjoyed this book, and while there are hints of Persuasion in the plot, it's different enough to not draw too fine a comparison. Eliza is a great character and her growth throughout the novel is a lovely demonstration of how difficult it was for women to exercise any sort of independence in Regency Britain. I also really enjoyed the side-plots, especially Margaret's. A really fun read.

I just had a really good time reading this book. It was full of heart, humour, friendship and romance. Basically everything I could have hoped from a historical romance.

I don't particularly like characters who lacks agency. Therefore, the starting was a bit rocky for me but that quickly changed as the story progressed. Seeing Eliza, the MC take back her power and live life on her own terms was a delight to read. Plus, her relationship with her cousin, Margaret was just precious.

Similarly, love triangles aren't my favourite to read but here it was done in a way that feels justifiable. Both the male MCs have different thing going on for them and while one presented the young nostalgic love, the other one brought the excitement and anticipation of a new love. Did I have an inclination with whom Eliza would end up with? Absolutely yes, but the journey of her discovering her true feelings and the kind of partner that she would like to spend her life with was fantastic.

I always say this but I am not a romance reader primarily so reading a romance book is just me looking for a good time and on that aspect this book delivered completely.

This is my first read by author Sophie Irwin and I adored it.

We meet Eliza, having been made to marry a rich, elderly man we learn that she is recently widowed by her husband she is left child-less and still only young at 28 years of age.

The story opens up as Eliza is about to here her late husbands Will and she is surprised to find that he has left her some property and she is now a wealthy young lady.

Eliza is a great character and I loved reading about her. She is a strong willed woman and determined. Having basically had enough of living how other people want her to live she decides to brave it alone and do what she wants.

Before Eliza married, she was in love with a man and he re-appears and we see there is still something there between them. There is an abundance of other very interesting characters and this novel is fun, romantic and also really insightful as to how situations like this many years ago would be.

Thanks to Netgally, Sophie Irwin and the publishers for allowing me a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

A lady's guide to scandal - Sophie Irwin

Another deliciously delectable tale from Sophie Irwin

Ten years of a miserable existence with a much older miserable man she is made to marry by her parents and finally Eliza hopes to be free when he dies. During the reading of his will she finds he has surprisingly left her a fortune providing she meets certain conditions. Shy meek Eliza Lady Somerset now widowed needs to get a grip, toughen up and move ahead with her life which she thinks will be helped by the new Lord Somerset whom she once hoped to marry when she was younger. Enter the tale Lord Melville a notorious rake and his sister and the machinations of Eliza's parents to get control of her fortune and Lord Somersets family to make sure she loses any entitlement to her inheritance.

Like the first of Sophie's novels this was an easy read and again one I was able to get into straight away and one I wanted to keep reading until the end. It had some laugh aloud moments and I was rooting all along for Eliza and her cousin Margaret (who has her own romance going on). A romantic, funny and enjoyable read.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book.

I adored Sophie Irwin’s first book ‘A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting’ and jumped at the change to read her next novel. This books is as charming as her first and Sophie does an excellent job of building the world her characters live in. I’m normally not a fan of a love triangle but id didn’t bother me at all in this book. Would highly recommend .

I loved Sophie Irwin’s debut novel , “’The lady’s guide to fortune hunting’’, and was eagerly waiting for her second one. This did not disappoint at all!! I’ve always thought that the Crawfords in ‘Mansfield Park’were quite interesting, if selfish and amoral. What if they did have some depth to them, and an interesting backstory? The book’s epigraph is from ‘Persuasion’, and there are some tips of the hat to that as well, though Irwin has her own unique take on it. I love that Sophie Irwin’s books manage to be both swoonily romantic, and completely hilarious-a balance no other Regency Romance writer apart from Georgette Heyer has managed at all.
Eliza, the Countess of Somerset, was forced into marrying the Earl of Somerset by her family. It wasn’t a happy marriage:he was twenty years older than her, contemptuous of her inexperience and her inferior position on the social scale. So it’s a bit of a relief when he dies, leaving her unexpectedly richer than she expected. There’s a rider, though-a morality clause that renders her fortune void if a whiff of scandal attaches to her reputation. And to add to her confusion, the new Earl of Somerset, is Captain Oliver, a long-lost love. Eliza can’t handle all these changes, and decides to try out her new found independence by moving to Bath, with her best friend and companion, Margaret-the stereotypical ‘poor relation’, but there’s honestly nothing poor about outspoken, spunky Margaret apart from economic status! This sets the stage for a delightful romp through Regency Bath and its pretensions that weren’t just restricted to the medicinal waters. Among the cast of characters she encounters in Bath are the fabulous Melvilles, whose backstory I loved-Irwin’s taken the White Mughals of Dalrymple’s excellent book, and written a historical fiction what-if, of one of those couples: a colonial Britisher ‘gone native’with one of the Nizam’s numerous grandchildren, who made their way to England and led a perfectly happy life together, and had children. The Melvilles are thus aristrocratic Anglo-Indians-they belong to the highest echelons of British society, but also not quite. It’s an interesting way to add diversity in an organic way, to a genre that otherwise really can’t be that diverse, given the racial politics of the time. Eliza, who’s always felt a bit of an outsider herself, finds that they’re kindred spirits, with their flouting of conventions and their encouragement to her, to draw her out of her shell. The dashing Lord Melville, in particular, is a well-written character-a thorough Regency rake, but also with unexpected depth, and both his and his sister, Lady Caroline’s literary careers are fascinating. A love triangle of sorts develops, and is resolved perfectly. I loved the book so much that I’m not even knocking off a star for the extremely irritating use of the word “snuck” as a past tense for “sneak”-it’s as if that character suddenly turned in to a Sweet Valley Girl or something, given that “snuck”still isn’t as common in British English as it is in American English. I would have also preferred Lord Melville to not say “finally, she laughs” quite as often!
Have you read all your Georgettte Heyers a million times, and want more Regency novels that are just as romantic, and more importantly, just as laugh-out-loud funny?! Look no further than Sophie Irwin, there are just two of her books out right now, but you’ll be reading them over and over again, and they’re just as charming every time.

I liked it and liked Elise's character arc. She's a good daughter, one who accepted her fate at the beginning and her evolution is well done and she grew on me.
I wasn't a fan of the love triangle but I liked Melville and the well developed cast of characters.
It was a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I found A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting a delightful surprise and this book is a worthy follow up, but it took longer to get there. Irwin does a great job capturing the fashion and the social mores of the times, but I didn't love Eliza at first. I found her worries about society's opinion tiring and I wanted Eliza to stand up for herself sooner. I loved the sub-plot of her cousin, Margaret and that kept me reading until the main plot picked up. In the end, this book filled with many nice surprises and the ending wraps up the story lines neatly.

DNF’d at 30%.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read this book, unfortunately it wasn’t for me.

I went into this book extremely excited to read, I had seen so many positives about this author and so many others excited for this book, but I was truly disappointed.

For a book that I was expecting scandal, romance and secrecy, I was met with a slow paced story that constantly mentioned a woman who was widowed and certain things were expected of her.

I’m a sucker for a second chance story that involves force proximity and love triangles, and yet where was the romance? It was clear that Eliza had no feelings for her first husband, why couldn’t the build up to romance happen a little quicker?!

Melville in my opinion came across as extremely fake, the group of people Eliza and Margaret met with most nights were extreme gossips and Somerset deserved happiness.

I think if the pacing was faster, I could’ve enjoyed this, but I found myself forcing myself to pick the story up rather than wanting to pick it up.

Once again, thank you for the ARC, and I truly wish Sophie the best of luck when this publishes!

Thank you to publishers and NetGalley for the eARC of A Lady's Guide to Scandal

This sequel is just as good as the first. The historical romance was great to read and the story was full of rich and realistic descriptions. The characters are all developed well and brought the story to life.
It's easy to imagine this novel as a movie or TV show on par with Bridgerton. Anyone that loves historical regal period dramas would love this novel.

Oh how I enjoyed this historical romance. It is easy to picture the scene as there are other novels dramatised for screen in this era and situated around Bath. The writing is playful and fun. And of course; all’s well that ends well.

I love a good Regency romance, and it seems as though everyone else does at the moment too! I had heard great things about the first book in this series, A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, so I was excited to dip into this one. I've started to really enjoy a 'former flame' trope in romances, and this one certainly didn't disappoint! Although there were times when I couldn't decide whether I wanted Eliza to end up with Melville or Somerset, I appreciated that this love triangle didn't take over the story completely, and that we got to see Eliza as a fully-fleshed woman with passions and a mind of her own. I actually didn't see the twist in this book coming, which was a nice change for once, and I appreciated how it brought a deeper meaning to the romantic relationships in the book; it also allowed for Eliza to keep her agency while finding true love at the same time. I will definitely be going back and reading the first in this series!

A wonderful Regency Novel , full of stalwart characters & also wonderful Women who dared to push the boundaries which society of that time especially within the upper circles expected them to adhere too. This is a great summer read so I hope you enjoy it as much as I have . #NetGalley, #GoodReads, # Amazon.co.uk, #Fb, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

Absolutely loved A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting and was thrilled to get a copy of this 2nd instalment. If you love period novels, great storylines and characters that you can’t help but love …. This book ticks all those boxes. It’s just wonderful. Highly recommend

LOVED this second novel from the brilliant Sophie Irwin - she is such a fresh, fun, witty writer in this space. I'd read anything she wrote. This one is highly entertaining with a wonderful cast, excellent settings and a plot that romps along. I adored the characters - so much so you wish they were real when you close the pages of the book. Highly recommended.

I adored this. I was so excited to have the opportunity to read it! I loved Melville and was relieved when Eliza turned Somerset down. What an absolute treat.

I loved the A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting and this second book did not disappoint. It was great to see the continued story of the characters and how society for women was so restrictive but there were ways and means to be able to beat the system so to speak.

Looking forward to a third instalment