Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Spice: Closed Door

:This is my second Regency romance in as many weeks – thanks, Berkley Romance and PRH audio, for the free print and audio copies.

Lily of Ludgate Hill is the third in the Belles of London series. I could have benefited from reading them in order because it was clear that so much of the network of friendships and relationships had been defined in the previous books. However, this was a sweet story of long-held feelings and an interesting commentary on how society viewed/valued wealth over work in the mid-victorian period.

Lady Anne’s father died six years ago as she was about to (potentially) embark on a relationship with Felix “Hart” Hartford. But her father’s death sent Anne and her mother into an emotional spiral of mourning, and Anne has confined herself to life as a spinster. Hart never got over Anne and has been waiting for her for six years. When she comes to him for help, he sees the opportunity to push her to acknowledge their mutual feelings, but Hart and Anne will both have to come clean about what they are hiding to have any chance at happiness.

The commentary on the expectations of men, women, wealth, and society was interesting. It leveled up this book from a light-hearted romance to a more complex critique of society. I’d recommend reading these in order, because I suspect that I missed a lot of what made the book fun in missing the backstory.

The audiobook is a fantastic dual narration, and Elizabeth Knowelden, in particular, was born to narrate Regency books.