3.5*
First time I ever read anything by Victoria Alexander. It may be a bit too big – if had 50-100 pages less, it might have been better.

It was a bit slow to start, but when the plot starts to develop, it gains some strength. This “guide” is about a girl/woman who was always very serious and never enjoyed the good things in life – and a trip to Paris is going to change that.

I liked Derek Saunders from the very beginning, and India Pendergast as I started reading a bit more and more of the book, just like I think it was supposed to be. She starts to realize that she doesn’t treat people – and herself – very well, as well as understands that there is a place for everything in her world, be it a practical dress or a ruffled, very feminine dress.

India’s evolution is very well done and the mystery of Cousin Heloise, although a bit strange and too easily resolved in the end, also had its degree of interest.

In the end, it was a fun book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I really enjoy historical romance novels. This story takes place at the time when Eiffel's tower was unveiled and the world exposition was in Paris, France. It takes the reader on a journey with India Prendergast in her search for her missing older cousin. The cousin in question set off on a trip through Europe; with the help of The Lady Traveler's Society, and promised to write to India weekly, if possible. When the letters stop arriving, India becomes concerned and locates the Society that was supposed to assist her cousin in her travels. Thinking that there is something underhanded going on with the Society; India charges them with locating her cousin and she's going along to be sure all avenues are used to find her. Thus begins India's adventure away from everything that is comfortable to her and into a journey of self-discovery as well.
I found the characters and writing quite engaging and the tale woven into a very nice story.

A wonderful read the premise of a A Lady Travelers Club run by a group of elderly "spry" women who have never really travelled is so amusing! India Pendergast's Aunt Heloise had set off for an adventure and used The Traveler's Club to obtain advice and an itinerary. She sent correspondence to India if her travels but she had not heard from her in over 6 weeks. India's letters to the club had gone unanswered so she decided to attend a meeting and demand an explanation. After threats of going to the police in steps Derek Saunders, The Earl of Danbu whose aunt is Lady Blodgett one of the ladies who formed the club. Next starts the adventures of Derek and straight laced India going to Paris to try to track down her aunt. It is funny, mysteries and an adventure you do not want to miss! Loved this story and could not put it down. Cannot wait until the next novel in this series!

Stevie‘s review of The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen (Lady Travelers Society, Book 1) by Victoria Alexander
Historical Romance published by HQN Books 23 May 17

Generally I’m all over anything about Victorian lady adventurers, so this book looked like it’d be just the introduction I needed to a new (to me, at any rate) author. Even the idea of a pair of rather reluctant travellers searching for the missing relative of one of them didn’t dissuade me, as I had hopes of meeting this vanished lady adventure at some point in the story.

Sadly, I was rather disappointed with the execution of this promising idea. India Prendergast is concerned that her former guardian has not kept up the correspondence begun when she left to travel around Europe and becomes convinced that her ‘aunt’ (their relationship is actually a little more distant) has met with some misfortune as a result of receiving insufficient guidance from the group of elderly women con artists masquerading as The Lady Travelers Society. The three ringleaders are all wives of famous explorers, now fallen on hard times in widowhood, who have conceived of a scheme to sell lectures and a Guide to other women who dream of travelling beyond the English Channel.

Meanwhile, a male relative of one of the women has also been tasked with uncovering their deception, mainly in the hope that the responsibility will encourage him to take on more responsibilities: such as those that come with the Earldom he is due to inherit. When Derek Saunders, the Earl-to-be, learns of India’s missing relative, he becomes involved in the search as well, convinced that finding the missing woman will give him all the evidence he needs to complete his original mission. He enlists the help of the current Earl of Danby, who doesn’t entirely believe in either Derek or India’s investigative powers and so instructs Derek to ensure India gets no further than Paris, while the Earl himself sends out professional detectives to find the missing woman.

And that’s where it all went wrong for me. Derek’s subterfuge, intended to keep India in one place, proved embarrassing for her, both personally and financially, and it took forever for the trick to be revealed. At which point India was far less angry than Derek deserved, thus ignoring all her previous suspicions as to his character now being proved at least partially right.

I also felt that the characters didn’t quite fit into their – or any other – period, and that the descriptions of Paris fell a little flat for me. Not a series or author I’ll be following any further.

Grade: C

I liked that our fearless heroine is not a teenage debutante. At 29, Miss India Prendergast is an independent, intelligent woman, certain she'll never marry and not really interested in doing so. She's found employment as Sir Martin's secretarial assistant, organizing not only correspondence and scholarly works, but also his household. Until she sets out with Mr. Derek Saunders and a chaperoning couple for Paris to search for her missing cousin. There is a lot of good dialog, a battle of wits between India and Derek, which is often amusing. There are some unexpected twists and the expected romance and happy end. All around nice characters, I especially liked Derek's stepbrother, Val.

I really enjoyed following Derek and India's travels. Great book!

Extremely slow-moving, and frankly, a tad boring. A quarter of the way through and nothing has happened. Disappointing considering the title and blurb made it sound so delicious. I just don't have patience these days for books that don't grab me right off the bat. Moving on to the next.

I was really disappointed by this book. Mild spoiler below; it's revealed fairly early in the book so it shouldn't ruin anything.

The plot centers around the idea that three older women, widows, decide to defraud other women by starting a travel agency, despite their lack of experience and the fact that they've never traveled. I think these women are supposed to be the "fiesty old women" we so often see in historical romance novels, but really, I found them reprehensible.

Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, I found the heroine to be unlikable and unrealistic.

I am writing this review in return for an e-arc that I received. Derek is trying to prove to his uncle that he has reformed and takes on protecting his elderly aunt. India believes the Travelers Society that Derek's aunt owns somehow caused her cousin to become lost. Trying to protect his aunt, Derek travels to Paris with India to begin a search for her cousin. They end up staying with his rake of a stepbrother Val. Thus begins India's transformation into the woman she never thought she would become. An utterly delightful supporting cast of characters bring much humor to this story of India finding out how wrong she could be about herself and Derek realizing that it is time for his scandalous reputation to end and become man his uncle always knew he would be. P.S. I really hope Val gets his story.

India Prendergast becomes worried when she doesn't hear from her beloved Aunt Heloise for some time after heading off for the continent. Her search leads her to the Lady Traveler's Society and Assistance Agency who had arranged the trip and should be held responsible. India encounters Derek, his great aunt and two of her close friends who are full of surprises and instead of letting Derek go alone on the search for her aunt, she convinces him to let her come with after the stipulation that there's to be a proper chaperone to avoid gossip.
India and Derek spend quite a bit of time together in Paris trying to locate Heloise and much to both of their surprises, learning to tolerate each other. Then something much more develops and it certainly puts a kink into the investigation of finding Heloise who's story doesn't quite add up but the truth will eventually come to light and only Heloise can truly explain what's been going on.

This book was such a pleasure to read and I loved seeing how India slowly came out of her shell with the help of the lure of Paris, Derek and his well meaning friends and family. I also loved how Derek and India came from barely tolerating each other to realize that sometimes the perfect couple are wonderfully imperfect.

Full of laughter, adventure, mystery, and a few twists along the way, I highly recommend reading this book. I really hope that Percy will find his own special gal to love and what other mischief the founding ladies of the Travelers Society will get up to though hopefully won't lose any more members!

India Pendergast storms the Lady Traveler's club to find out where her cousin has disappeared to. She then travels to Paris and finds herself. ARC from NetGalley.

Witty!

What's not to like! There's a likeable, faux rogue and a staid spinster who's hidden from herself and the world her real inner person.
Delightful farce with a charming male lead character and a woman who's sold herself short.
When India Prendergast's aunt disappears its up to India to investigate, beginning with the Lady Travelers Society her aunt joined. Ahh! But matters are not simple and India's hawk like gaze falls on Derek Saunders as the instigator of the irresponsible circumstances surrounding her aunt's disappearance. It could never be his elderly aunt and her companions. They obviously are a front for Mr Saunders!
India accompanies Mr. Saunders to Paris. That's when it all starts to unravel. India is confronted with a side of her personality she's suppressed. Derek is confronted by a maddeningly, 'know it all', opinionated woman whose trust he finds he wants to nurture. But he's been deceiving her in order to protect his aunt. What a tangle!
A beguiling tale that takes a pygmalion type spinster who is seduced by travel, charmed by a rogue and enchanted by Paris!

A NetGalley ARC
(June 2017)

For more than twenty years, I have enjoyed the novels penned by Victoria Alexander. Her rich descriptions, intriguing characters, lively banter, depth of emotion, and sense of humor frequently land her books on my must-buy list. I've been looking forward to her new historical romance series about lady travelers since first hearing about it last fall.

Derek Saunders has thoroughly enjoyed his single lifestyle but it's time to pay the piper. His uncle, the Earl, to whom Derek is heir, has reined him in. It's time to learn how to manage the earldom and leave scandal behind. Thus, when Derek discovers his elderly aunt and her two best friends, all widows, are running a lady travelers organization that might be just a wee bit shady and one of their travelers has gone missing (a scandal in the making), his first thought is to find the missing woman and steer the ladies back onto the straight and narrow before their misdeeds become public knowledge and land them in jail. He doesn't expect the missing woman's annoying cousin to be part of the deal.

India Prendergast is a self-righteous, uptight, independent, opinionated, woman who is always right, at least in her own mind. She's also worried sick about the cousin who took her in and raised her after India's missionary parents died. India is also highly suspicious of the Lady Travelers group that planned her cousin's trip and certain that Derek Saunders is the behind-the-scenes mastermind who is taking advantage of his sweet, elderly aunt while stealing money from the group's unsuspecting members. Even though India sees no good reason for anyone to ever leave England, her cousin did, and she's not about to let Derek embark on a search for her cousin without her, dishonest rogue that he is...or so she believes.

The first half of this book is a little slow and, I have to admit, I found the heroine extremely unlikable early on but don't give up. Once we hit the mid-point, things really pick up and we begin to discover the hidden facets of both India and Derek. India, in particular, embarks not only on a journey to Paris to search for her cousin but on a much more important, though unplanned, journey of self-discovery. At several points along the way, through interactions with others, some poignant and others, humorous, she's forced to view herself as others see her and, slowly, she begins to evolve and change, a butterfly emerging, both externally and internally, from a cocoon of her own making.

Derek has always been a charming scamp but he too evolves during their time in Paris and discovers that the most important things in life often are those that require the most effort. He has a good heart and protective instincts. I loved his relationship with his family as well as the slow, organic progression of his relationship with India. I also thoroughly enjoyed the snappy banter between Derek and India. Each gives as good as they get!

The secondary characters are a delight and add much to the story: from the elderly ladies to Derek's stepbrother, Val (I do hope we see more of him in a future book), to their mother, her husband, and Derek's uncle. It was especially enjoyable, after reading this book, to then meet Derek's mother, uncle, aunt, and her friends in their younger years in the novella prequel, The Proper Way to Stop a Wedding (in Seven Days or Less).

As a lady who loves to travel, I'm looking forward to the next installment in Victoria Alexander's Lady Travelers series, The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny With a Dashing Stranger, due to be released this November. This one features a desperate widow, a determined bachelor, and a search for a missing masterpiece amidst the romance of Venice, Italy. I'll be there!

This is my second book in a row where one of the main characters begins the story desperately requiring the surgical removal of a seemingly permanent stick shoved up their fundament. As in today’s story that’s the heroine rather than the hero, I’m being a bit more delicate in my language referring to the deformity.

India Prendergast is more than a bit of a prig. I’d say that she is a “stick in the mud” but as has been previously established, the stick has already been firmly lodged elsewhere. In today’s terms, we’d say that she needs to lighten up more than a bit.

She is also both extremely judgmental and an unbearable know-it-all, and not in the useful way that Hermione Granger was a know-it-all. Miss Prendergast’s version of omniscience is that she has made rather firm decisions on exactly how the world works, according to her designs, and that she is always right in all of her judgements. Which are very exacting.

She’s great at managing things and people, but not very lovable. Or even likeable. And she’s certainly not terribly forgiving. Or much fun.

And she’s not quite 30.

In the case that begins the story, she is both right and wrong, but not, as she discovers at the end, in any of the ways she expects.

Her cousin Heloise, the woman who raised her after her parents death, has gone missing. Or so it seems. Heloise, a middle-aged spinster with a small but secure income, has become a member of The Lady Travelers Society, and after consulting with the Society, has planned a solo (well, solo with her lady’s maid) European tour of indeterminate length and rather sketchy itinerary.

As the story begins, India has not heard from Heloise in over six weeks, and her inquiries to the Lady Travelers Society, increasingly frantic and belligerent, have gone unanswered. As the police have been thoroughly dismissive and unhelpful, India is taking matters into her own hands.

She has investigated the Lady Travelers Society and has discovered that there is a fraud afoot. In her decided opinion, the three elderly ladies who appear to be running the Society, using the term “running” very, very loosely, are covering a scam. They seem much too dithery to be the masterminds of such a pernicious scheme to separate women of limited means from both their pounds sterling and their dreams of travel.

India is certain she has discovered that mastermind in Derek Saunders. Mr. Saunders, on the other hand, has just discovered that his great aunt and her two friends are, in fact, perpetuating a fraud in order to maintain their independence as widows. He’s there to put a stop to what India believes he is the mastermind of.

But they both need to find cousin Heloise, both for India’s peace of mind and for Derek to keep his great aunt and her cronies out of jail, or at least free from scandal.

India’s distrustful nature won’t allow her to let Derek search for her wayward cousin, as she believes Heloise’s waywardness is ultimately his fault. And he can’t let India go off investigating on her own in Paris, because if anything happens to her, society will certainly hold him responsible, even if he was not responsible for the original scheme that got them all into this mess.

And his great aunt and her cronies are very definitely matchmaking. Not that India and Derek don’t need their guiding, if slightly guilty, hands.

It’s up to them to not screw up their best chance at happiness. Their escapades prove that they both need all the help that they can get.

Escape Rating B: This story is solidly good fun, but the portrayal of the heroine in the first half of the story does make the reader want to shake her. India at the outset, while extremely effective, is also intensely annoying. Her self-righteousness sets the reader’s teeth on edge, as it does that of nearly every character she meets in the story.

On that other hand, one of the terrific things about this story is the heroine’s journey. The hero has already gotten most of the way to where he needs to be, courtesy of a swift kick to the posterior delivered by his uncle several months before the story begins. Derek, while he has not lost his sense of fun and adventure, has grown up after being threatened with being cut off from his inheritance. And it’s been the making of him.

Meanwhile, none of India’s acquaintances nor her (very) few friends have been willing to risk her judgemental nature long enough to tell her that she generally goes well beyond holding up standards into outright rudeness. She never gives anyone the benefit of the doubt, and makes no allowances for any human frailty on anyone’s part, including her own. Because of course she believes she has none.

And that’s where the story really lies. India doesn’t so much need to grow up as to just grow. Or the wooden puppet needs to become a real girl. Not necessarily in the sense of enjoying fashion or shopping or any of the things that women were supposed to enjoy in the late Victorian era, although she does come to that, but grow in the sense of accepting others. She can be kind without being judge-y, if she can finally admit that no one, including herself, is right all the damn time.

The setting of this story is marvelous. It is Paris in 1889, at the beginning of the 1889 World’s Fair. Some of the best and most evocative scenes in the story take place at the top of the newly opened and still quite controversial Eiffel Tower.

All in all, this is a lovely story of wheels within wheels, featuring an intelligent (if bull-headed) heroine and set in a marvelous place and time. And there will be more! The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger is coming in November.

I loved this book. Victoria Alexander delivers a true gem...it was witty, mysterious and romantic. I actually started out thinking I wouldn't like it and was I ever wrong. The main leads India and Derek were a perfect match, opposites attract and sizzle. I can't wait to see what Ms. Alexander has in store for Percy, Derek's brother.

5 stars

What a fantastic idea for a series!

This is a totally entertaining start to an awesome new series! We get to read about Victorian ladies traveling around the world, seeing the wonderful sights, and encountering charming men and quirky people. I adore it when Regency and Victorian romances include travel.

This novel has main characters who are likeable, admirable, and intelligent. India Prendergast, a 29-year-old spinster, is searching for her aunt who has gone missing during a trip to Europe that was ineptly arranged by the Lady Travelers Society. Miss India is headstrong while always being proper and emotionally controlled. She is a hard worker but does not seem to take pleasure in anything and does not think that marriage is for her. Derek Saunders is a former rake who is doing credible job of reforming himself. He dearly wants to prove to his noble uncle that he is responsible enough to inherit the uncle's fortune. Unfortunately, he has taken responsibility for his elderly aunt who has started the fraudulent Lady Travelers Society with her two friends. Oh, dear! India thinks that the society and Derek are up to no good and is threatening legal action if her aunt is not found. Therefore, India, Derek, and two quirky chaperones travel to Paris to find the aunt.

Derek and India had a nice progression of their relationship: from enemies to cautious friends to lovers. From the beginning, I quickly began to root for these two to get together. They both grew as people during the book, and they deserved happiness.

The author has a gift for rapid-fire witty dialogue and for interesting minor characters. Every single minor character has great vivacity, distinctiveness, and depth. The author also gives us lovely details about the locations. I think that Victoria Alexander is not quite as good as Lisa Kleypas and Sabrina Jeffries at emotionally​ connecting with the reader, but she is just as witty and fun as those authors. I recommend this book to all fans of Victorian romance and to everyone who likes travel in romance.

I received a free advanced reading copy from the author via Netgalley, and I voluntarily wrote this honest review.

Victoria Alexander’s new story, The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentleman, is a pleasant romance adventure. India Prendergast is on a mission to find her missing cousin. She wants the Travel Society to help find her relative considering this group sent her out on a trip to the continent and apparently has lost her. Derek Saunders realizes this can’t be good when the person who is threatening his aunt arrives in person and demands resolution. His only choice is to go to Paris and look for her himself. With escorts in tow, Derek and India set out on this adventure and go from adversaries to lovers.

I love nothing more than to see characters that go through a total transformation over the course of a story like the heroine in this story. India was an uptight, sensible spinster who had a narrow view of things and those rigid views were never wrong. She was independent and had a job which wasn’t typical in those days. With each passing day in Paris and in the company of a carefree scoundrel, she realizes she was wrong about a lot of things. Her rigid stance, and even her hair, started to loosen and relax. She also sees Derek in a new light and sees a different and caring side to him. The journey she makes to become a new person yet the same was a delight to read and made the happy ending even sweeter.

Derek Saunders is a hero in the making as he tries to reform his wicked ways. His uncle wants him to clean up his act and start acting like the earl he is to be. He’s loyal to family and goes the extra mile to protect his aunt and takes on her problem to keep her from scandal. What isn’t easy for him is how India gets under his skin with her opinions and actions. Those moments were fun to read to see him work to get along with her. His mother and stepbrother enter into this story and support his efforts and even help with India’s transformation. He is definitely up to the challenge of keeping her in check while she keeps him on his toes.

I love Victoria Alexander’s writing style because it is descriptive and whimsical. She took me to Paris of 1889 and had me smiling and chuckling throughout. The main characters developed over the story and I found them very likeable. Even her secondary characters were a hoot when they were in the scene. It might have been slow in the beginning, but with every new series, you need to set the place and people and that takes time. Once that was complete the story took off. The ending wrapped up nicely and I loved how she tied up all the loose ends. Victoria Alexander is one of my favorites and I look forward to more stories in this new series.

The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen is the first volume in “The Lady Travelers Guide” series. It is the first book of Victoria Alexander that I read.
I was very satisfied with this novel, it has a pretty much original basis and it is very funny, humor is really its strength.

So, it’s a novel read with a smile, from the beginning till the end. I also had a few burst of laughter.
The historical context is excellent! It serves well the story which takes place between London and Paris (especially in Paris) during the universal exposition with the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, in 1889. The author doesn’t linger over a lot of historical details, but she disseminates them here and there ingeniously thanks to the characters who visit the city. As the heroin has never been to the French capital, the hero introduces her to the delights of the city and the writer takes advantage of the opportunity to reveal us some things. The context is quite original, for once, we have an historical romance which takes place in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century, that’s not very common but very nice.

The rhythm is sustained, we really want to know what happened to India’s poor cousin. The plot itself is not really original but the context is enough. There is just one principal plot, but it is rich and with a lot of unforeseen development and a few surprises. At the end of the book, we have all the answers we need.

Victoria Alexander was clever on one particular point: her heroin, India Prendergast. When I started the novel, I wondered if this woman was going to be like that all along. If so, she would waste my reading. Indeed, at first, India is quite unbearable, posh, proud, Mrs Know-it-all, etc. Well, she has a lot of unlovable defaults (and the other characters point that out too). But the author succeeded in making her heroin evolve in a very interesting way, it is really enjoyable to follow.

So yes, the heroin starts in a wrong way, but don’t be afraid. The hero is the archetype of the hero of romance: handsome, sure of himself, smart, seducer… but he is neither dark, nor mysterious. It’s because he is open and full of humor.
The secondary characters aren’t really developed, they’re a little bit exaggerated, but it’s not annoying because they serve a lot to make the novel funny and they allow our heroes to get closer. Anyway, I loved the hero’s mother who is maybe a little more developed than the others and she is very endearing.

There is sensuality in this novel, but I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil the readers. But, in any case, there is a gradual seduction game between the two, although not really wanted at first. And, faithful to the novel’s spirit: there is a lot of humor in their interactions.

The author didn’t really seek to deliver a message in her book. But, she talked a lot about Paris and the universal exposition, and that was really interesting.

I’d say that the novel broaches these themes: pride, metamorphosis, trust and honesty.

In any case, that was a really funny book and I really liked it. It doesn’t fall in some romance traps (like easy misunderstandings). The author has her favorites expressions that we find a lot in this novel, but it isn’t too annoying. I would like to read the next volume.

Couldn't finish this, stopped at 30% the characters were unlikable and I grew bored. I normally love her books, this one was just off for me.