The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels & Other Gentlemen is the perfect blend of romance, light mystery, and is a riveting story of a 'carefree scoundrel and a sensible spinster'. It's a perfect early summer read that leaves you looking forward to the next installment: The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger.

THE LADY TRAVELERS GUIDE to SCOUNDRELS and OTHER GENTLEMEN. Victoria Alexander had long been a favorite author of mine and she never disappoints me. This is one of the longer books I have read in a while but I enjoyed every minute spent. Victoria has a way of telling a story that grabs you and doesn't let you go. Derek was my kind of hero and who wouldn't enjoy India. I am looking forward to The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny With a Dashing Stranger in November. (I hope it's Val's story)

I enjoyed the characters and the story but felt it was a bit slow. I usually read one of Victoria Alexander's books in 2-3 days but this one took much longer. Wanted to see nore of the romance and relationship of the couple. I felt that the fun and spirit of her past books was missing. Hopefully we get to see more in the next book. I like to see the couple work out their problems and come out together and stronger.. Would definetly recommend this book to others.

I love Victoria Alexanders books. I really enjoyed India in the books, she was very funny.. I can't wait for the next book in the series. I loved this one so much.

This book reminds me of the first hill of a roller coaster. The is a long slow climb then a fast exciting drop. I thought the book started out a little slow but then when it finally caught on it was wonderful fun. The characters were amazing. India Pregergast is wound as tightly as the bun on her head. She is strong-willed, obstinate, organized, stubborn and ALWAYS right - except when she's wrong. Derek Saunders is delicious as an honorable man who cultivates a bad boy image but is really a wonderful person. The other characters are equally delightful - Derek's great aunt who gets Derek into his predicament in the first place, India's cousin who gets lost and causes everyone to search for her, Derek's family, their chaperones and even Sir Michael (although he wasn't so much delightful as he could have been).
This book was fun to read and I totally enjoyed it. I received an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I love Ms. Alexander's writing style - it is light without being fluffy, funny, emotional and poignant. This book had all those elements plus a bit of steam, a missing cousin, a road trip to Paris and wonderful secondary characters!

India Prendergast is a no nonsense, independent, sensible woman. She is trying to find her missing cousin, Lady Heloise and all her inquires have been ignored by the Lady Travelers Society. India goes to the society - bent on getting answers and proving that the society is a scam and seeing justice done. This is where she meets the most annoying (and charming) Derek Saunders.

Derek has been told in no uncertain terms that he must curb his scandalous ways or his uncle (Edward, Earl of Danby) will make sure he does not inherit his fortune when he inherits the title. To prove that he is mending his ways, Derek agrees to look after his great-aunt Gwen while his mother is away - what he finds is a scandal in the making - his aunt and her friends have started a travel society - but they cannot actually provide the services they promise and to make matters worse - one of their members is missing and her relative is threatening to involve the police! Desperate to save his great-aunt Derek declares that he will hire investigators to find Heloise and will trace her travels himself to find her. This is when he meets the maddening (and intriguing) India Prendergast.

India informs Derek that she will accompany him to find Heloise, she is convinced that he is the mastermind behind the scheme to defraud the members and doesn't trust him at all. Gwen insists that they cannot travel alone and hires Professor and Mrs. Greer as chaperones. India lets Derek make their travel arrangements and the foursome sets off to Paris.

When they arrive in Paris, they are not staying at a hotel - but with Derek's step-brother Percival aka Val, Marquess of Brookings. The scene when India wakes up and Val invades her bedroom is hilarious! India is unsettled, first Val invades her room, then her luggage turns up missing, then she finds out that there are over 20 "Grand" hotels in Paris - can this get any worse? Why yes, yes it can and it does - much to this readers delight!

At the advice of his uncle Edward, Derek is going to stall India in Paris for as long as he can, giving Edward's investigators time to find Heloise and hopefully preventing India from having charges brought up against Gwen. He soon learns that India believes he is behind the scheme and to protect Gwen, he lets her. He and India spend a good deal of time together and slowly India begins to lighten up and starts to make some startling revelations about herself.

The journey to their happy ending is not smooth, but it is very entertaining. The book is well written, flows nicely, has an outstanding cast of secondary characters, a bit of steam, a bit of mystery and a lot of laugh out loud moments.

I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to read the next one!

India Prendergast is looking for her cousin Heloise. Heloise went on a tour of the world and was going to write to India regularly. But, there has been no recent letter and when India looks into The Lady Travelers Society, she begins to believe they have lost Heloise.
India is a young woman who believes she knows how to manage everything. She has grown up managing Heloise's life and home. She has a job managing the life of Martin, a man of science and a curious nature. She believes that she knows what is best and she is “never” wrong about anything.
When she looks into the Travelers Society, she believes she has found the mastermind behind their ability to take money from women who hope to travel the globe. The mastermind is Derek Saunders. He is heir to an earl with a rakish reputation. But, he has become a model citizen and he has just realized his great-aunt and her friends who created the Society have no idea what they are doing. He is afraid they might even be guilty of fraud. He takes on the responsibility of protecting these ladies from criminal charges.
When he volunteers to go to Paris to see if he can find Heloise, India insists she is going along. She does not want this mastermind to do something criminal without her being able to point out the error of his ways.
India does not start out being a very nice person. She takes pleasure in voicing her opinion no matter whose feelings she hurts. She has taken rudeness to a new high. She dresses like someone who has no interest in her looks. That is because she has no interest in how she looks. Smiling and frivolity are not part of her character. She takes pride in being someone who is never superficial and always honest. Please refer to the fact that she cares nothing for hurting someone's feelings.
Derek, on the other hand, is a kind and generous and charming man. He has been raised to be respectful and thoughtful. He does not look forward to spending any time with someone who is so unwilling to see any other point of view.
But, the city of Paris and Derek combine to create a softer and more interesting India and her point of view.
Both chaperons, Derek's half brother and Derek all point out India's flaws. She begins to see that she is not always right about much of anything. She also sees that being kind and thoughtful and having fun are not qualities to despise. When her rude treatment of others is brought to her attention, she starts to see herself as others have seen her. And she starts to question her life.
The plot is an interesting perspective on changing lives at the turn of the 20th century. Women are becoming more affluent and influential. They still have a long way to go, but the door to freedom has been opened for them.
The characters are terrific. Ms Alexander has created people who are very human. After I got past the desire to slap India, I began to like her. She is strong and intelligent and she is willing to work on improving herself. Derek is a terrific hero. He is amazingly patient. His intelligence and humor and kindness make him a really admirable man. The secondary characters add so much to the story. When Derek's mother comes on the scene, I just knew things would liven up, and they did. She was a person who took charge and made everyone pay attention. I loved her.
Ms Alexander has created a story which introduces the reader to entertaining people and wonderful dialog. The plot holds the reader's interest and provides a fun read.
I received this book from the author through NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing this review and all opinions are my own.

This is very much the story of the ‘loosening’ of the very prim and proper character of the heroine, Miss Pendergast, in a setting of Paris during the World Exhibition. Next to the character growth of the heroine, and her falling in love, there’s a quest for a missing aunt, an opposite quest to keep Miss Pendergast in Paris, and an assorted cast of rather quaint, but endearing supporting characters, including, in my opinion, the hero. It’s mostly dual third person POV from hero and heroine, but since the character growth, to me, focused mostly on Miss Pendergast, even from the hero’s perspective, it still felt like her story. And it was a sweet story, and a fulfilling one, even though the rather overly rigid character of Miss Pendergast didn’t lend itself to instant endearment and made the story start out rather slow. The book is filled with banter, witty conversations, very dry humor and funny situations, without, somehow, becoming too over the top (although at times the situations get close). All in all, it’s a historical romantic comedy. The premise with the lady’s traveling association has room for all kinds of adventures in all sorts of exotic locations, and I can’t wait to see what Ms. Alexander will come up with next. This book is perfect for readers looking for a lighthearted, fun historical romance set in a different city than London.

With respect to my rating the following. I tend to reserve my higher ratings for books that lean more towards romantic drama (but of course with a HEA). Still, a romcom could get a four or five-star rating from me, provided the hero and heroine open up to each emotionally, and both show character growth. In this story, the heroine did loosen up, but mostly through actions, and admitted to personal demons mostly to the heroes mother. The hero was said to have been a rogue, but in this story, he had already mended his ways, and the only growth I saw was that he fell in love with an unlikely girl. He was just a nice guy, nothing wrong with such a guy in real life, but it doesn’t make much of an interesting character, which made the focus of the story one-sided, on the heroine. Also, and this is something I thought I would never say, the amount of banter was just too much for me. Reading at times felt like watching a tennis match; constantly having to pay attention to follow the rapid succession of all kinds of dry, witty, intentional or unintended silly remarks, never a pause or a serious moment to be found.

I L-O-V-E this new series!! It's so much fun with such cute, hilarious, refreshing unusual plot. With a trio of septuagenarians who could cause so much trouble and proud of it, who could be found having their hands in all kinds of mischief; from match-making, to losing member in the continent. This is one historical romance series I instantly adore, and can't wait to read more of them.

Loved loved loved this book. It was well written with, humour, adventure and mystery. I loved main characters , the hero was strong with a very tender heart and a great sense of humour and the heroine was a stubborn stuck up spinster who was never wrong until she reached Paris the city of love and discovered there is more to life than always being right. The support characters where very easy to relate to and would love to see them in another book as you felt you got to know them as friends. I am looking forward to the next in the series. The only warning I have is you will have trouble putting it down.

Victoria Alexander’s first book in her new series is a delightfully entertaining, charming and witty tale featuring a straight-laced, uptight spinster and a trying-to-reform rogue. Then, when you add in the three old widows who cause all of the trouble, you just shake your head and smile! I was totally captivated and couldn’t put it down.

I have to admit that I never did really come to like India Prendergast, but I did admire her growth and willingness to change. Believe me, she had a lot of changing she needed to do!! She was one of those very judgmental, stick-up-the-rear, always right people that we all avoid at all costs. My mouth just dropped open when our hero began to show an attraction to her. Say what????? However, she does change and learn to be more flexible and less judgmental.

I loved Derek Saunders from the first word about him. He is so very sweet, caring and considerate and all he wanted to do was to save his elderly widowed aunt and her two friends from jail. Once he discovered what they were up to, he stepped in to try to make it right – even if that meant taking a shrewish spinster to Paris to find her missing cousin.

The three elderly widows just steal the show! They are life-long friends who are fiercely independent and determined not to turn to family for help. So, what do they do – why they start a travelers’ society for ladies and charge for their ‘expertise’. Of course, none of them have any actual expertise at travel. They are zany and funny and you just can’t help but love them.

"I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher."

India Prendergast begins the story by entering the Explorers Club where meetings of the Lady Traveler Society are held. India wants to find out what happened to her Aunt Heloise Snuggs who disappeared while traveling using the Lady Traveler Society and Assistance Agency. While at the Society India sees a man she suspects is behind what she thinks is the society’s fleecing of members. Little does she know but this man, Derek Saunders, the future Earl of Danby will begin a trip of a lifetime with her and perhaps gain her trust.

India, Derek, and two chaperones travel to Paris where introductions of other characters are all part of a captivating story. Though the main story is the search for Heloise, India’s character grows and changes in a positive way while she and Derek travel throughout Paris together. Of course what is a romance without love? You will enjoy the characters added to the storyline and even cheer for the inevitable love conquers all. The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen is an easy-read and even has a surprise or two. I look forward to the future series books which will hopefully include the scoundrels and gentlemen of this one.

A fun, engaging, addictive adventure with an on-the-shelf Spinster and a consummate Scoundrel as your leading characters. This quote from the story rather says it all.
“My dear friend, you know as well as I that the end of the road is never as important as the journey taken to get there. The grail is never as important as the quest.”
I loved this story, and was actually truly surprised, and disappointed, when I turned the page and discovered… this adventure had reached its culmination. Not a cliff hanger, I just was not ready to leave the story. AND, YES, I will be watching for the next book in this series.

In the beginning, I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy this story. India was so uptight as to almost make her unlikeable. As the story progressed and India unwound, I started to like her more. The other characters were delightful, and I enjoyed their adventures in Paris. The ending was very well done. Overall, it was a good read.

The Lady Traveler’s Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen by Victoria Alexander encompasses all that I love best about historical romance: a feisty, determined heroine, a handsome hero (with a touch of the rogue), a plot that involves a trip to Paris, and a side cast of entertaining characters that kept me chuckling.

India Prendergast is efficiency and intelligence personified; of course, that makes her a little intimidating to some. Women who are efficient and intelligent are not always appreciated by those around them, so I loved how Ms Alexandra showed both India’s no-nonsense side and her soft, loyal side right from the beginning when she goes to the Lady Traveler’s Club on the trail of clues to lead her to her missing Aunt Heloise. They are the only two left in the family, and it is up to India to rescue Heloise from whatever scoundrel or circumstances have befallen her. She suspects that the Lady Traveler’s Club is a scheme of sorts and that they are responsible for her Aunt’s disappearance.

Derek Saunders has the ability to be efficient and intelligent; however, he has preferred to live a more carefree and frivolous existence up until this point. Unfortunately, his uncle Edward, the Earl of Danby, has decided that it is time that Derek live up to his responsibilities as his heir and he is using the power of the purse strings to ensure Derek does just that. Derek too has an aunt, Guinevere, whom his mother has charged him with looking after and whom he has just discovered is taking money from women to run the Lady Traveler’s Club. Her ability to provide the services promised is debatable especially with a member missing. It’s up to him to sort out the debacle and save the family name.

Who would have thought that two aunts could cause so much trouble?

Both India and Derek want to find Heloise. However, their differing reasons for doing so puts them at odds. It will take an interfering mama and the acknowledgement of a few home truths on both sides before they can complete their task. Of course, the growing attraction between them makes affairs more complicated, rather than less so.

Victoria Alexander writes with a light touch, a lively sense of humour and a sympathetic understanding of human foibles. I look forward to the release of more books in the series and indeed, already have a copy of the prequel A Proper Way to Stop a Wedding (in Seven Days or Less) on my TBR pile. I highly recommend The Lady Traveler’s Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen. Read and enjoy.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. Lucky me.

What a delightfully witty, charming book! I was captivated and amused through the entire 400 pages.

This is set in Victorian England at a time when women were finding more freedom of thought and movement without a man having to escort them. It's an intriguing time. Our very prim and proper spinster, India has found her dearly beloved cousin/foster-mother, Heloise missing after she took off on a world adventure arranged by "The Lady Travelers Society"(TLTS), a group of 3 widows who's husbands traveled the world in their professions while they stayed home. The lovely, independent but financially strapped women founded the society to encourage women to gain their dreams of travel but also to support their drained coffers so they don't have to depend on shirt-tail relations. Heloise has apparently gotten herself lost as India hasn't gotten a letter from her in quite some time, the last being from Paris. The letters suddenly stopped and no one at TLTS will respond to India's request to find her. The police are not overly concerned and she is beyond frantic about locating her cousin. And so the adventure begins...

I found the metamorphosis of the very uptight and always right India delightful as she and the patient and charming Derek Saunders seek to pick up Heloise's trail in romantic Paris. India discovers she is very often wrong and is gracious enough to admit it when faced with the facts. The humor in this story abounds but is quietly droll at times picking up the flavor of the Victorian society. She is a forgotten and overlooked one in society and she blossoms like a rose in the city of Paris with the scoundrel Derek. I love every minute of this story. Thank you Victoria and Harlequin for the ARC of this book for this review.

I was lucky enough to be chosen to read an ARC copy of this book and was delighted as I always enjoy Victoria Alexanders books and this one proved to be another one for my favourites shelf

India Pendergast is always right, she is very organized and everything and everyone follows her plans until the day her cousin embarks on a journey to Paris and disappears. Derek Saunders has been keeping an eye on his great aunt on behalf of his mother, when he and India come to loggerheads over her missing cousin. A journey to Paris during the exposition ensues and much enjoyment is derived from reading about their clashes as they search for India's cousin. Victoria Alexander once again writes a story full of wonderful characters, lots of laughs and so I will forgive her for killing Henry and not writing a HEA for Edward.

The beginning was so very frustrating.
I liked the storyline, but until like 60% I hated every single character in the book!
It took awhile to read this book for many reasons. I wanted to give up, but I saw the potential in it.
This book turned out ok not a highly recommend must read right now!
April 3, 2017 –
43.0% "This is taking forever. The story is good, but the characters are awful.
The only character that I can stand is Mrs. Greer.
India is beyond annoying with her holy-than-thou attitude. Yet, everyone she is in company with is higher-ranked than her. She needs a big reality check and I think she is getting just that!
Derek, will we shall see. His cousin, whom they are currently staying with, he needs a good smack"

Its an okay read. Nothing like I expect from this super talented author. The story line could of been fantastic but it seems like the way it is written is not with life but more tired. Definitely not what I expect from the author of this caliber. It should of been and could of been wonderful. But to me it was a total disappointment. I was given this book in return for an honest review. Regards, Anna

It is a good story, but the heroine is unpleasant. And it takes until about chapter 13 for her to figure out that she is basically a self-righteous jerk and think about perhaps becoming a better person. Luckily I wanted to know what happened to her cousin, so I kept reading and it gets better.