This book was very interesting! At the start, I had no idea where it was going. The prologue was an excellent way to set the stage for the mystery and intrigue that was about to unfold. As I read this, the characters kept surprising me with their actions and some more twists that I did not see coming. It was a very clever novel! Mostly, what shone was the love between the sisters. I think the protagonist's deep care for her sister was really well executed; however, it did feel unrequited for part of it. As the circumstances are set up, it is somewhat understandable why that is the case. However, it still made some of the decisions of the protagonist feel unbalanced, given what she was getting in return. The book fell short for me in terms of the developing love between the characters. Their relationship kept fading in and out of the main plane of the narrative, making it hard to connect with the characters and go through the emotions of their love story in a way that made it believable that they were in love and not just attracted to each other, given the convenience of the situation. Overall, a very intriguing book with plot twists, some romance, and sibling love!

The writing was very flowery and instantly made me feel disinterested in the story. Unfortunately, that made it difficult for me to get invested in the story.

OKAY I LOVED THIS.

I love Emma Orchard. Love her writing. Love her characters. But this was the most outright FUN I’ve had reading one of her books.

The setup, which involves a twin-swap, is admittedly quite silly. But the chemistry between the leads was very strong, and the reluctant team up to solve the mystery disappearance of the FMC’s twin was absolutely adorable. This is a fun regency read perfect for summer. You won’t be able to stop smiling!

Five stars of course. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

A Gentleman’s Offer was a cute book, but it ultimately fell flat for me. Historical romance is always hit or miss. I did love Meg’s character, though. Thank you NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the eARC.

If you like Regency romances, Emma Orchard is an author you definitely add to your TBR.

The premise for this is a Parent Trap/arranged marriage/missing bride.

Dominic is an eligible but apathetic bachelor. While he does actually know that women are individuals with their own hopes and dreams, he is generally quite skeptical about the Regency marriage market. He’s nearly thirty and needs to settle down and provide an heir. He doesn’t seem to care who he married as long as she is a suitable bride so agrees to a bride chosen by his father.

Maria Nightingale is beautiful, rich and has the social pedigree to make an excellent match. Having meant Dominic once, they get engaged and the wedding is planned. But when it is revealed that she has disappeared days before her engagement party, desperate to avoid the scandal of the season, her twin sister Meg steps in as the bride.

Will Dominic and Meg find Maria?

Will they fall in love along the way?

Does Maria have secret?

Will it all end happily ever after?

Well of course the answer to all of these questions is yes.

It’s clear from their first meeting that Dominic is more attracted to spirited and sparky Meg than composed and serene Maria. As well as wanting help find Maria out of a sense of duty, he genuinely wants to get to know Meg. He learns that not all well-bred ladies are the same and that he can marry for love as well as duty.

There’s some twists and obstacles along the way. Secrets and scandals will be uncovered and there are big changes ahead for the Nightingale family.

I think my best advice is to suspend your disbelief and enjoy the fun!

A totally fine read. Nothing special and kind of fell flat for most of it. Mostly unbelievable too. I do not recommend, unfortunately.

This looked a promising book to start with until about the halfway mark where Marie was found and the plot was more or less finished even though the book not over. This meant that from them on its was just a bit farcical with any problems from then on being down to miscommunications, It did drag a bit for me from then on. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A decent read with relatively interesting storyline initially, but then fell off towards the latter half.

The book felt like it should have concluded with Marie's discovery, using an extra chapter or two for resolution, but suffered from significant miscommunication and unnecessary angst.

The writing also felt a little heavy at times, which made it difficult to read through long periods of time. I had to drop and pick this back up throughout the time I spent reading it because it felt very...heavy.

I enjoyed this book and found the premise interesting. However, the mystery of the "lost" twin was solved too soon and afterwards, the story dragged a bit after that.
Still, it's a fun read, especially if you like a spicy regency story.

In this regency style rom-com, country girl Meg is forced to stand in as fiance to the very eligible (and handsome) Sir Dominic de Lacy after his fiance - who also happens to be Meg's identical twin sister, Maria - suddenly disappears. As Meg and Sir Dominic work to find Maria and uncover the connection between their families, their attraction becomes undeniable. Although I found this a bit slow and predictable to start (and it very much felt like fan fiction), it did improve towards the end (last third) and was quite funny. It has a lot of classic romance tropes (e.g. fake dating, forced proximity, mistaken identity) that make this quite enjoyable and the regency era setting is well researched and developed, even if the characters were anachronistically modern. Although this sometimes felt odd, it did help to add a bit of spark and humour in places. Overall, this ended up to be fairly enjoyable so I'd be open to trying other works by this author.

This is a most entertaining Regency romance with central characters who get your sympathy and a dastardly villain lurking in the wings. Maria and Margaret are twin sisters who have lived apart following their parents' split. Their upbringing has been very different, with the elder twin staying with their distant father, a wealthy heiress and her younger sister, Meg, staying with her independent mother. Her life has been freer, away from The Ton and all its conventions and prejudices. Forced to step into her sister's shoes, literally, Meg finds she has a mystery to solve, aided by her sister's recent fiancé, Sir Dominic de Lacy.

Both Meg and Dominic prove themselves to be caring and kind characters who long to live away from the straightjacket of The Ton. Dominic is the perfect catch for an ambitious young woman, with looks, intelligence, wealth and position. He seems to have drifted into his engagement but you sense that he would really prefer a much deeper connexion with his future wife. You get a clear picture of the social scene in Regency London with its fashions and social events. You also sense that behind closed doors are many secrets and unconventional happenings. As Meg and Dominic try to uncover the mystery of what happened to Maria, they come into contact with all levels of society. Meg proves herself to be unconventional and spirited. If you love a Regency romance, you will love this one!

In short: Regency romancing and sleuthing

It’s been a while since I finished this ARC, and I still haven’t found another book that captures yearning quite like this one. The plot? Gripping. The characters? Richly drawn. The setting? Absolutely immersive. If you’re a historical fiction lover, don’t walk—run to get your hands on this masterpiece.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love books that are set in this time period, so I had high hopes for this book. I'm happy to report that this book lived up to my expectations. I have added it to my list of books that I plan to read again!

"A Gentleman's Offer" was an unfortunate letdown. Here's the thing: I love modernizing romances, but it has to be done right. This felt like the writing of my high school self with no edits. It was clichéd and unrealistic to the point of annoyance. I also felt like there was really no chemistry between the two main characters. There was no tension or really a description of the connection they supposedly had. It was disappointing. The length of this book was also a problem. The majority of the book felt like fluff. 40 chapters just felt like too much.

This looked a promising book to start with until about the halfway mark where Marie was found and the plot was more or less finished even though the book not over. This meant that from them on its was just a bit farcical with any problems from then on being down to miscommunications, It did drag a bit for me from then on. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this one. I just couldn’t get into it despite loving the author’s other novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review.

I enjoyed this book until about the halfway mark where the plot resolved itself completely, despite the book not nearly being over. This meant that there was very little plot from there on, and most of it was a basic miscommunication trope.

Despite the little plot and weird vibe, I did enjoy it for the most part. But the miscommunication trope was so obviously because the author ran out of plot and needed to extend the page count, which almost cheapened what I had enjoyed before. The reveal of Maria was also very anti-climactic. I did like both Meg and Dominic, but their relationship wasn't strong enough to support a lackluster story. Maria and Meg's father was also comically evil and very cartoon bad-guy, which just didn't make sense in the real world this was supposed to be.

The Bridgerton comparison is a bit far-fetched and the title is just an obvious confusion cue for An Offer from a Gentlemen, one of the Bridgerton novels.

In a world of regency romance, I think you can probably give this one a miss.

Two stars.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is the 3rd of Emma's books I have read and I didn't connect with this one as much as I did the other two. This book felt a little verbose with many monologues that made it feel dense and slow. However, I really enjoyed the premise and the plotline of the story. The characters were fabulous, but I did feel that the MMC was still a bit of a mystery to me, even at the end of the story. The character development of the MMC was a little stilted and wooden. However, the FMC was wonderful and I love the novel within a novel aspect. I will still be looking forward to the next book of Emma's. I hope it's the FMC's brother's book.

A slow burn, with a period setting and just the right amount of spice.

This booked suckered me and has some cheeky twists and turns that I definitely wasn’t expecting.