A classic Regency opposites-attract romcom. This has a bit of everything going on from Cinderella to Mary Poppins.

Our FMC Georgie Rowe is a fiery and inexperienced governess tasked with looking after the free-range nieces and nephew of stitched up and buttoned down Naval Captain Harry Kincaid. Their banter is top notch but my favourite is his internal monologues, which show his stuffiness and frustration and a bit of delusion - so charming 😍 It’s third person dual point of view so we can see them starting to appreciate each other and how they unravel all the stereotypes they have.

It’s light and frothy, a bit of a fairy tale. They travel from Mayfair in London to Plymouth on the Cornish Coast so we get a dose of both city and country life, and plenty of naval detail around Harry’s ship, the Boadacea. We don’t need to worry about the power imbalance between them, or his criminally negligent sister, as there’s just so much to enjoy. Harry really does fall first and his pining is just delicious. It's a slow burn but once they get going it's all steam. There’s plenty of momentum and I found myself sneaking reads, just to see what happened next. The three children are delightful, as are the dogs and the staff are bolshy and meddling. All the quotes and misquotes reinforce the joy of a classical education. I’m off to read some more of Virginia Heath.

Thank you NetGalley, Virginia Heath and publisher Headline for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

Harry Kincaid needs a governess and he needs one yesterday when his wayward sister dumps her three precocious children on his door step without a by your leave. He’s up to his neck in admiralty business and his staff are at the end of their rope. Enter Georgie Rowe the worst governess in the world. She can’t get a job because she can’t keep her mouth shut and she’s letting down her mentor in the process. She’s desperate and needs the references so she has to knuckle down and make it work no matter that Harry has an obsession with time and is a stickler for order. He’s also super handsome which is inconvenient. This was a whole heap of fun. It was nice to deal with non titled people for a change, they were very nearly working class. Imagine! People working for money in the regency period! Scandalous. Georgie did get a bit whiny at the end, her reluctance at the end was a bit tedious and her reasoning for being annoyed at Harry was a bit thin. But this was good fun all in all. Lots of tragic back story and fun secondary characters. 👍

Virginia Heath’s couples tend to be love or hate for me, so I’m pleased to report that this was absolutely a love! Georgie and Harry were both really wonderfully drawn in their flaws and insecurities, and their relationship was such a delight to watch unfold. I’m a sucker for governess-centred historical romances anyway, and this is one of the best I’ve read!

I so enjoyed this book by Ms. Heath. This is the first in a series, I think and I will be subscribing to the others. I love Georgie as our heroine, she is gregarious, opinionated and very loveable. Harry is the typical tall, dark and handsome Navy man- sexy and very correct. His sister and her husband have hated off to Egypt and left her three miscreant children with Harry to take care of. Cue his urgent need for a governess in the form of Georgie.
The interaction between all of the characters in this story are a pleasure to read, very humorous writing and laugh out loud shenanigans abound especially Norbert and Simpkins whose relationship is tenuous and so funny. I can't wait to read the other books following Georgie's friends from Ms. P's exclusive academy. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of All's Fair in Love and War.

All's Fair In Love and War was not only highly amusing but also entertaining. It had me laughing out loud. It was also cute, sweet and lighthearted with a little spice thrown in. While I found it enjoyable there were also parts of it that bogged it down and took away from my overall enjoyment. However, I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

A new series by Virginia Heath! This one features the graduated governesses from Miss Prentice’s highly acclaimed school and I am so excited because I love me a governess story in my historical romances.

Steam level: open door

Slow burn
He calls her Minx
She calls him a hard or soft boiled egg
Military man
Governess
Featuring a very headstrong dog
They (almost) get caught


This one features our lovely hard boiled (but actually very soft) egg Harry who is in dire need of a governess due to his sister leaving her kids for him to take care of. A stroke of luck for our heroine Georgie who hasn’t been very successful landing a position as a governess due to her unfortunate strong opinions and big mouth. Miss Prentice is all too happy to shove Georgie towards Harry, and while Georgie is nine-tenths certain he’s so hard boiled that he hates her (and her orange hair that he keeps staring at with a look of utter disapproval), she cannot afford to lose this great opportunity. She has to get these kids in line no matter what.
Our lovely band of manipulative kids know just the way to play with their Uncle Harry. Obviously taking them to Gunther’s for unlimited icecream is the dream for any kid in that day and age. Georgie calling these kids out on their manipulation tactics was just gold. I can get annoyed when the kids are very much in the foreground of this story, but in this instance it was very much called for. They bring out the side of Harry that Georgie believes does not exist and slowly but surely Georgie finds herself falling for him. Harry on the other hand is just trying his best to hold on for dear life and not get caught staring at the siren’s (or minx’s, he calls her that multiple times and it’s my weak spot) hair. The last time he fell for a woman, everything in his life went to shit basically, so he absolutely cannot fall for this woman (obviously he falls HARD).

I really enjoyed this one, even though the pacing was a bit slow at times. I would’ve liked to have read more about Harry’s revelations at the end of the story. You never get the background that Harry has with the Admiral, the way you read about Georgie and the Colonel in the beginning. I also loved Harry wrongly quoting military strategists here and there, then to have Georgie calling him out on it multiple times.
You also get a glimpse in the personalities of future FMC’s (I think?) and I found that a lot of fun. You just feel this band of women sticking together through the good and tough moments in their lives.
.
Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for providing an ARC

All's Fair in Love and War is an enjoyable story about Harry, a naval officer seeking a governess for his nieces and nephew, who are left in his care by his sister without any notice. Georgie needs to find employment and her mentor sets her up to be Harry's temporary governess. The pair of them start off on the wrong foot but soon begin seeing facets of one another which has them both intrigued and attracted to each other. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found all the characters well written and likeable, flaws and all. There were some great moments with the children and their dog.

As much as the premise was there, the plot seemed rather diluted in an almost endless number of pages and is full of extremely repetitive exchanges between the two characters.

Per quanto le premesse ci fossero, la trama mi é sembrata piuttosto diluita in un numero quasi infinito di pagine ed é piena di scambi estremamente ripetitivi tra i due personaggi.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy from NetGalley!

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

TW: light steam, not suitable for younger readers. 

I love regency romances. I love regency romances so much that I own a small library of Julia Quinn books, so I was, understandably, beyond excited for All’s Fair in Love and War after reading the plot. Don’t get me wrong, there were things I adored in this story, but I came away feeling like it was mostly a series of missed opportunities. 

In All’s Fair in Love and War, we meet Georige, a governess unable to secure a teaching position, despite her bright ideas on learning. After an unhappy childhood, she wants to avoid the miserable life of the navy and all its stuffy officers, and is content with her lot in life. Cue Captain Harry Kincaid, said stuffy officer, so dead-set on being punctual that he carries two pocket watches. Harry’s sister is taking a spontaneous trip to Egypt, so has left her three excitable children and their even more excitable dog, Norbert, in his care and he’s desperate for a governess. Georgie and Harry are immediately at odds over how to look after the children, but as they spend more time together, they can’t deny their growing attraction.

In theory, *chef’s kiss*. In reality…not so much. I cannot stress how much potential this book had, with the leads perfect for that lovely enemies-to-lovers arc, and adorable children to show them the domestic bliss in their future. But it just all fell a bit flat, and lacked the spark or banter-filled chemistry for a four star read. The sweet moments Georgie and Harry did have together (and there were some!!) were overshadowed by wordy and unnecessary writing. I feel like Georgie’s ideas on education, as great as they are, went on too long and too often. At the end of the day, this is a romance. And even then, it didn’t really feel like it kicked off properly until the 40% mark. 

Georgie and Harry were brilliant leads for a regency romance. It was great to see Harry go from a traditional navy man to more relaxed and focused on his own happiness. The children and the staff were fantastic and really helped to create some funny, sweet moments. Harry and Georgie making the youngest, Grace, hot chocolate during a storm was ADORABLE and hands down my favourite moment. When Georgie and Harry do have their moments, like this one, it is genuinely enjoyable so it’s just a shame that it takes so long to get there.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an overwhelming desire to return to All’s Fair in Love and War, but if you’re looking for a regency, slow-burn romance then this might be for you.

An adorable little regency romance. Filled with all the drama you would expect from a daddy/nanny romance however it more out of his depth uncle and governess. There is no real stress in this book and it lends itself to being a comfortable and pleasing read. It's as wholesome as it is steamy.

Virginia Heath is fast becoming one of my favourite historical romance writers.
Georgie and Harry were such great characters and I loved how their relationship unfolded. The children and the other side characters were brilliant, and obviously the dogs were hilarious.
I'm always worried starting books where the two main characters have significant power dynamic differences but I think this was handled well.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book

A very enjoyable read featuring a feisty heroine. I really liked Georgie as a character, but sadly didn’t click with Harry. It felt like he was speaking with a woman’s voice in a lot of scenes, I.e I could picture a female author thinking what would a man think, but whilst using her female experience to write it so that some of the things he thought and said felt more female than male, which meant the book didn’t flow as well as it didn’t lead to as much separation of the characters. I did enjoy the story overall though, and would still recommend

All's Fair in Love and War is the first book in Virginia Heath's new regency romance series, Miss Prentice's Protegees. Captain Kincaid of the Royal Naval is left to unexpectedly manage his unruly nieces and nephew when their adventurous parents depart on a long trip to Egypt, prompting him to hastily hire governess Georgina Rowe from Miss Prentice’s School for Girls. Georgina's belief in cultivating joy initially clashes with Henry's love of regime and rules, but unexpected love blossoms amidst the mayhem.

The story uses dual POV, with chapters from both main characters' perspectives. I found that I preferred Harry's perspective, at least for the first half of the book because I thought Georgie was unduly harsh to him, especially given he was her employer and she desperately needed a reference as she hadn't been accepted for any other Governess positions. She did warm up to him, and therefore I warmed up to her, at around the halfway mark and things escalated quite quickly from there, but perhaps things wrapped up a bit abruptly. It might have been nice to get a bit of an epilogue, but hopefully we'll see an insight into their life together in the sequel.

I really enjoyed the focus on Harry's career with the Royal Navy. I love regency romances, and most of the ones that I've read focus on Lords, Dukes etc so getting to see the detail of Harry's life as a Captain was really refreshing, as was the secondary setting of Plymouth as opposed to Bath or other popular locations in regency novels. I felt like that set it apart from other regency romances and made it stand out from other Governess/employer romances too.

I love interconnected standalones, particularly within the Regency romance genre as each story can be so distinct just based on the main couple's positions and personalities, so I can't wait to see the stories that are told for Georgie's friends from Miss Prentice's School for Girls.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley but this is my voluntary and honest review.

A delightful book, what a lovely cast of characters, both the main characters such as Georgie and Captain Kincaid in all his inflexible, stringent glory. As well as the kids and especially Ada, in the background.
And it was nice to see that when something weird or funny happened (the incident with the frog during the daytime), the female character wasn't the one in an awkward or embarrassing situation.

I also appreciated the friendship between the governesses, hoping this book to be a first in a series.

Oops, indeed I just found out through Goodreads that there will be more books by the Miss Prentice's Protegees

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

3.5 stars. This Regency romance follows Georgie Rowe, a governess trained at a prestigious girls' school, as she secures a position in the household of naval officer Harry Kincaid. Harry unexpectedly gains temporary custody of his sister's three children, leading to Georgie's newfound role in their lives. Despite Harry and Georgie's contrasting personalities and Harry's deep commitment to his career, the relationship between the two protagonists gradually deepens, forcing them to make difficult choices.

The book is promising with its intriguing plot, and there were several aspects I found commendable. In particular, the portrayal of the three children under Georgie's care and Harry's bond with them was compelling. In addition, the 19th-century naval setting provided insight into how naval service affected family dynamics, which enriched the narrative.

What dspoiled my enjoyment, however, was the imbalance between the characters' internal reflections and their actual interactions. Much of the book consisted of Georgie and Harry's inner thoughts, with minimal dialogue between them. This resulted in a slow-paced and somewhat cumbersome first half, where the development of the relationship felt primarily internal rather than manifested through tangible actions. While internal dilemmas are crucial to building tension in a romance, the lack of substantial interaction hindered the believability of the relationship's development. The second half of the book showed some improvement in this regard, as more significant events unfolded - but by then, the two were already in love.

It's unfortunate that the book wasn't more finely tuned, as it had the potential for rich emotional depth and longing that felt somewhat lacking. Nevertheless, I believe the book, despite its shortcomings, can provide enjoyable entertainment for historical romance enthusiasts.