I love historical romances, but there has never been a more hated heroine ever until Fanny. What was she thinking marrying that husband just because in her mind reformed rakes make best husbands? Well, unlucky her, her husband does not reform and she herself has an affair with Matthew who was in love with her all along. Then he tells her he loves her and she breaks it off with him because she feels guilty. I thought her very selfish, stringing Matthew for years. 

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

I received an ARC via NetGalley.  Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Matthew, the Earl of Lathbury has been in love with Fanny since almost the moment he met her at her come-out ten years prior to the events of this book. He has remained unmarried all this time, quietly waiting for the likely demise of Fanny's husband, a reckless army major. Although she was taken with Matthew as well, Fanny pursued the rakish Lord Stephen Tarkington, an army major and third son of a marquess, believing that reformed rakes make the best husbands. Except Stephen never reformed and had many affairs outside their marriage, leading Fanny to have her own extramarital relationship with Matthew for four months, three years into her marriage, to get her revenge on Stephen, before feeling guilty and breaking it off, despite Matthew's confessions of love and attempts to get her to run away with him. Now a widow and out of mourning, Fanny is eager to rejoin society and have a scandalous assignation with a gentleman, but not marriage. Matthew has waited long enough and is eager to reunite with Fanny and make her his countess, only she's not interested in commitment, only enjoyment of his body, and after all this time he's not sure how much longer he's willing to wait for her.

Now I'm just gonna vent a bit. **Cue potential spoilers here**

Full disclosure, I hated Fanny, right down to her ridiculous name. It's not that she's a poorly written character, because the opposite is true, but she was awful. She has been stringing Matthew along basically since her come-out, but she won't give him up and let him move on; he still thinks he has a chance so he waits for her. When all obstacles are removed and they can finally be together, she turns down his marriage proposal on the grounds of getting to know him again after their seven year separation. Ok fine, that makes sense, but she's happy to use him for sex, uncaring of the love he readily confesses that he still has for her. He would give her everything but she is selfish and wants only her own gratification and basically just wants to sluttily flit around the gentlemen. Fanny acts like a young girl, rather than a grown woman with a young daughter of her own. She's also stupid. She's totally reliant on her late husband's eldest brother, the Marquess of Theale, by all accounts not a nice man, to care for her and act as guardian for her daughter, Ella. She'd rather have her illusion of freedom and so-called independence (though she's clearly not at all independent) than be with a nice man who she loves and who loves her in return and who would care for her and her daughter. 

Then when his estate responsibilities call Matthew away from a house party at which he was to be her guest, Fanny very nearly has an assignation with another man, despite having come to an understanding of sorts with Matthew, and writes to Matthew to tell him that she changed her mind and didn't go through with it. Since one of the things she questions about Matthew, and all men really, is the ability to be faithful, I found it very hypocritical of her that she was just about to quite happily sleep with someone else without regard for Matthew's feelings or concern that she might hurt him. Obviously, Matthew is livid and counters with a house party held at his own estate. Fanny's general interest in brief gratifications over her own future happiness and that of her daughter continued to infuriate me. She even has the nerve to be "hurt" when Matthew sends her his house party invitation without expressing any anger for her near assignation. Matthew made all of his intentions perfectly clear to her and yet she persists in doubting him and playing and seeing immature games everywhere. Then, immediately upon arriving at Matthew's estate she's lusting after the footmen, her hurt forgotten. I understand her reluctance to trust after her husband cheated on her so much, but she also knows very well that Matthew is quite unlike Stephen. Then when Matthew shows attention to all of his guests and fails to single Fanny out, she's all upset and doubts his feelings for her and his intentions. I just felt like she had no right to say a word since she was perfectly prepared to sleep with another man. She just assumes Matthew is playing games, despite the fact that this is obviously what she's been doing, so she's very hypocritical yet again. When Matthew starts trying to determine her feelings for him by trying to make her jealous, she becomes angry and immediately assumes he's just moved on and is faithless. After 10 years pining after her and she still believes this. Ridiculous. She finally does come to her senses and accepts Matthew, with the stipulation that he meet Ella to make sure he gets along with her before they can marry or even announce their betrothal.  Matthew's mother manages to delay this and then join him, along with his sister, Beatrice, on the trip to London to meet Ella. 

Seriously stop reading my rant now (if you still are) if you don't want spoilers.

During this meeting it becomes apparent for the first time that Matthew is actually Ella's biological father. Fearing scandal and knowing this will be apparent to everyone, Fanny decides she can't marry Matthew. Again. Cue lots of back and forth angst and ridiculousness, then her sister-in-law notices, her late husband's family finds out, and chaos ensues and it may be too late for any happy ending because she's wavered too long.

About halfway through it, I finally started to enjoy this book, Fanny started to appreciate Matthew and reciprocate his feelings and became more tolerable. Now I actually really want to read the other installments in this series.

This book was awful!  
SPOILERS!
The heroine cheats on her husband because the husband cheats on her then when he dies, she decides she will let loose and be a wicked widow. But then she starts back up with the hero (who was the man she’s cheated on her husband with) but won’t marry him. Then it turns out they have a child together but she doesn’t tell him and let’s him believe it’s her late husband’s child. Cannot stand books based on cheating and I feel like the blurb for this book was completely misleading. It made it sound like a nice, sweet second chance romance - DO NOT READ IF THAT IS WHAT YOU’RE EXPECTING!
0.5 stars.
Arc received from Netgalley.

I really really loved this book! I've read the previous one as well, and it was fun to see the events of the two books overlapping. I shipped the characters from the beginning and while I began to suspect the twist, it still surprised me!

I have always wanted to read a book by Jenna Jaxon and thanks to NetGalley I was able to read an ARC of What a Widow Wants from her Widows’ Club series.  
I enjoyed reading about the women of the Widows’ Club.  These women were great friends and a support system for each other as they navigate this new chapter in their lives.  I read a lot of historical fiction/historical romance and prefer a widow as the main character since widows were granted more freedoms in society than unmarried young women.   Fanny has just been released from her year-long mourning period of her cheating husband and is ready to start enjoying the freedoms that come with a being a widow.  
Matthew, Lord Lathbury, has been in love with Fanny for years and is in a rush to marry her now that she is out in society once again.  I did tire of her waffling between Matthew and her freedom.  The author explained Fanny’s rationale for her indecisiveness, but I was just anxious for her to  begin her HEA with Matthew, who is written as a great romantic hero.  
This book has romance and drama.  There is an adventurous ending with peril and suspense.
I would recommend this book and will be reading the entire series.
Thanks again NetGalley for the ARC

Yeah I so did not like this book, and regretted giving my time to it. So we meet Fanny and I get that her husband was unfaithful to her so now that she is free she wants to go all wild and is not ready to make another commitment when she feels that she has to get to know Mathew for real, since she apparently did not take as much time with her husband and he ended up being horrid. That is the beginning of this book not making sense. She apparently knew Matthew for along a time, he was one of her suitors when she had her coming out season. And even though she did like him she went after the man she married, and when she found out her husband was cheating on her she did the same and for a good while. The stopped their affair seven years ago when Mathew wanted her to leave her husband and she didn't want that. So now her husband is dead and she passed her mourning period and wants to sleep with others, Matthew has proposed repeatedly and while she may be attracted to him she is thinking of it but wants time to as I mentioned go wild. Come to find out her daughter is also Matthew's and she kept it from him..Hated her and story.

Fannie, Lady Stephen Tarkington and Matthew, Lord Lathbury have been in love for ten years. She chose someone else over him when she was young and foolish. She meets him again at a masquerade and renews her acquaintance. He asks her to marry him, but she has just come out of mourning her husband and has no desire to marry at this time. The love affair continues where it left off.  When she keeps putting him off, he starts paying attention to someone else. She knows she has to make a choice or lose him forever. She agrees to marry Matthew if her daughter likes him. He visits her in London and everything is ready for the wedding. When a surprising revelation comes to light, the wedding is off. Someone wants Fannie dead. Can Fanny and Matthew forgive each other? Will Fannie survive a deadly attack? I really liked this book but I didn't love Matthew. I wanted to smack him at times. This book is part of the series, The Widows Club which I recommend. I received this book from Net Galley and Kensington, Lyrical Books for a honest review and no compensation otherwise. The opinions expressed are my own.

Fanny, Lady Tarkington, is now a widow.  She is finally free to experience life to it's fullest and start anew.  Things are looking well until Fanny runs into an ex-lover, Matthew, Lord Lathbury.  There is definitely still a spark there, but unfortunately Matthew wants more than Fanny can give... marriage.

Matthew has waited patiently for the woman he has loved for years.  Fanny has broke his heart more than once, but he just cannot give up on her.  Now that she is widowed, Matthew will use his every means of persuasion to win Fanny's hand.  Does Fanny have similar feelings for him?  Can he convince her to give love and marriage another try.

Author Jenna Jaxon's WIDOWS' CLUB series is sure to be a hit with historical fans.  It consists of three novels to date: TO WOO A WICKED WIDOW, WEDDING THE WIDOW and WHAT A WIDOW WANTS.  Each tells the story of a woman that belongs to an exclusive group of ladies that are widows and also good friends.  WHAT A WIDOW WANTS is Fanny's story.  Fanny made a rash decision in her previous marriage and suffered for it in more ways than one.  Years later, Fanny is forced to face her past and some very real consequences.  Fanny will need courage and determination to survive.  It helps that the man she come to love will be by her side.  Matthew, IMHO, deserved someone less flighty than Fanny.  It actually made me angry how she just strung him along until she decided that she really wanted him.  Kudos to Matthew for such a gentleman through it all. In the end, Fanny makes up for some of her antics. but the real hero of the story is most certainly, Matthew.  I give WHAT A WIDOW WANTS a 3.5 star rating.  I cannot wait to see what's in store for the next WIDOWS' CLUB member.

I really hate to put a spoiler in but this whole story is based on cheating, Matthew was the ‘other man’ for  Frances ‘Franny’, for 4 months. She cheated 3 years into her mistake of a marriage when her husband repeatedly cheated on her with wives of other powerful men and that of her own childhood best friend right in their marriage bed. If I would have known about the cheating even as a revenge sort I wouldn’t have read this story.  And to have a 6 year old child she sworn was her husbands and then when Matt and her daughter are together she sees the truth and still hides it from him for weeks because she was to cowardly and her fears kept the truth at bay until she had no choice then to reveal the parentage. And her fear is right when Matt is gone. Only when her sick brother in-law forces his hand on her and the by blow when Matt does something right but will he save his girls? The ending kinda rushed up fast, the early u til the middle chapters are lengthy and the last 4 or so they are quick and something’s just didn’t make sense when the times were jumping around.

I loved Matthew and his continued love for Fanny.  It took me a long, long time to like Fanny.  She had no substance, no ambition.  She had a jerk first husband...and now decides to be an adventurous widow.  I won't give away the plot but Matthew puts up with a lot from the woman he's loved forever...just to get his HEA.

I received an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review

This one didn't pull me in, not enough tension, not enough suspense, but the characters were refreshingly likable