Lady Crystal Wilding has controversial ( at this time ) ideas about women and their education. She was determined that more women would learn to read and write to enable them to have an improved way of earning a living. When giving one of her speeches she meets Aaron, Marquess of Lyle. He become a benefactor for her charity school. Lyle’s father is determined he will marry soon but unfortunately, even though Lyle is very attracted to Crystal, his father would not approve of her. Added to this Crystal is unsure about marrying as she wants to continue with her school work. This was an entertaining and interesting read and it makes the reader think how fortunate we are today. It also touches on the politics of the day and an unsavoury practice that is discovered. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unsuitable? Lady Crystal Wilding certainly was beautiful and had bested Aaron Lyle the first time they met and he was intrigued! His father had been parading a lot of unsuitable women before him... He could never marry those women who only wanted his title. No he really wanted more but until then he just needed time to make sure his father did not bankrupt the estate.
Of course he forms a plan that just might work. Lady Crystal does not want to marry anymore than he due to her voice on women's rights and education for women. She wants to choose as he does so who better to take home to his father? Totally unsuitable he would say! But he is in for a surprise!
A very entertaining start to this series that will keep your attention with the witty exchanges and humor. But let's not forget the sparks that fly between these two! A match that might be totally suitable and full of love!

An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord by Cathleen Ross is the First book in the Scottish Lords and Ladies Series. This is the story of Crystal Wilding and Aaron Lyle, the Marquis of Lyle.
Aaron's father is the Duke of Lomond who wishes for Aaron to marry a heiress to help with the family coffers. Arron has no wish to marry but the only other choice is for his family to be bankrupt. Crystal is the daughter of an Earl but is a bluestocking choosing to be a advocate for woman and their rights. Aaron and Crystal happen to meet which of course leads to them to a strong attraction. Aaron talks Crystal into coming home to meet his family which Aaron hopes to derail his father's plan with the distraction of Crystal. Of course the family ends up liking her but she isn't the heiress they need but for Arron can't help his growing feelings. Enjoyed their story.

An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord by Cathleen Ross is a charming historical romance wrapped up in powerful layers of equality and women's rights. Set in Scotland, Lady Crystal captivates Lord Aaron. He finds himself fed up with the marriage game and all the suitable candidates thrown his way turn him off. Meeting Lady Crystal and her unforgettable speech on desire changes him in ways that he never dreamed would happen...but he still is not willing to get married just to please his father.

I love the way author Cathleen Ross sets the scene again and again for the chemistry between the lovely lady and rebellious Lord. I do believe she showed rather than told. When Crystal starts teaching young ladies, I wished I was a fly on the wall for those lessons...Her heart is so big and she's so intelligent., I would like to see a second book added where one of her students is the heroine and we get to see the influence Lady Crystal has on her path. (Perhaps from the perspective of one of the slaves or someone who gets involved in their rescue?)

I feel like the writing could have gone much deeper with the ideas and speeches, the slavery trade - specifically white slaver which unfortunately still exists in our world today. My question is how, as a writer do you add that in without bogging the romance down between Lady Crystal and Lord Aaron? I will say that the chemistry sizzles! Very good character descriptions and good character development as well. If you feel like diving into a fun, historical romance, An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord is a great choice!

I loved Crystal, her progressive ideas and her steadfastness in them. She was a strong and vibrant character. Lord Aaron also had some sense of progressive ideals but forced to confirm to old societal standards. Crystal's ideas on desire were quite interesting to Lord Aaron and following their path to passion was pretty hot. My one issue was that I felt their HEA came easy. For someone so stuck in her plan to never marry she gave in very easily to Aaron. Otherwise, good read with a different story and setting.

3.5 Stars!

This was a fast paced, fun read! I love historical romance so I was super happy to receive the e-arc for this book!

I really loved Lady Crystal’s personality. She was feisty while still being a Lady. I loved her passion for teaching young girls! I also liked Lord Aaron, he was very kind. They had perfect chemistry, and clearly belonged together.

While I enjoyed the Scottish scenery, I think I wanted a bit more of that and a bit less of the sex scenes. It was A LOT of scenes for a short book. I think I would have liked it a bit better if the book was longer and had more of the intense drama of Lady Crystal and Lord Aaron not being able/ not wanting to marry.

It was still a fun read though!

The Duchy of Lomand - 1811

Lord Aaron Lyle, the Marquis of Lyle, and heir to the Duke of Lomond, is angry because his father demands that he marry a woman that he has chosen for him, but Aaron refuses.

Edinburgh - 1811

Lady Crystal Wilding, age 20. is thanking Aaron for rescuing her hat when it blew off her head. She is scheduled to be a speaker at a meeting with Sir Walter Scott. There, she is speaking on reform for women. She wants to see that they receive an education, in addition to being allowed to choose their own husbands. Some people agree with her and some don’t. When she makes a comment about mutual sexual satisfaction between men and women, people become angry and call her a whore. Aaron is intrigued by her speech, and being a lusty young man hoping to share a love affair with her, invites her to his home to meet his father.

When Crystal arrives at the extremely lush home, she instantly likes Aaron’s stepmother. His father also likes her. It’s his grandmother who questions her origin. But Crystal knows how to stand up for herself and his grandmother is impressed by this.

Aaron and Crystal are now truly in love. However, even though she is the daughter of an Earl, he feels his father does not think she is suitable to be his bride as Aaron needs to wed an heiress to cover his father’s debts. But, Crystal is not an heiress. Is there no hope for them?

This is a sweet love story with two strong characters. I liked both Aaron and Crystal and the things they stood up for. I did not care for the explicit sex scenes. The perfectly tied up ending is also a bit unbelievable. However, the book is a good read. Enjoy.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is a regency story with a difference, set in Scotland it is a journey to a beautiful HEA for the beautiful Lady Crystal Wilding and Lord Aaron Lyle these two are drawn together in the shared belief that people should be able to choose their life partners and their belief in helping people as well as a very sensual thread that draws them closer at every meeting.

Lord Aaron Lyle is being pressured into marriage by his father to benefit the family coffers, but Aaron is not happy with this situation he knows that one day he needs to marry and have an heir but he would at least like to be fond of the woman he marries, and then like a ray of sunshine he discovers the beautiful Lady Crystal with her innovative ideas about marriage and life and he knows that he must get to know her better.

Lady Crystal is determined that she will never be treated as her mother was and now she is in a position to look after herself she sets forth from the highlands to Edinburgh to do what she can to teach young woman to read and write and push her views on marriage and woman having a choice in what they do with their lives, at one of her first meetings she meets the handsome Lord Lyle when he comes to her rescue and even if marriage is not what she wants a desire to learn more about what happens between a man and a woman is always on her mind and Aaron would be who she would pick to teach her.

This is a great story well written and it shows the plight of woman back in the regency days, I loved Crystal what strength she showed but her caring nature is wonderful and Aaron what a hero, what a forward thinker of that era I loved how he supported Crystal, the passion that flared between them was sensual and steamy, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good regency tale, I have to mention the Dowager Duchess Sarah what a woman loved her very much. Woohoo well done MS Ross this is a keeper.

Not a big fan of a hero that acts like a spoiled 13 year old being told he has to do something he doesn’t want to in the prologue.

An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord is a delightful historical romance. This quick read finds a young lady, finally free of her match-making father, falling for a duke’s heir who believes that he won’t be given the chance to pick his own bride. It’s super sexy and easily read in 3-4 hours. Perfect for a beach read or road trip.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lord Aaron Lyle has one hell of a choice: a bankrupt dukedom, or marriage to some simpering society miss so his spendthrift father can get his hands on her huge dowry. He won’t do it. He has a reputation to maintain, and besides, he’d rather run naked through the streets of London than marry anyone at all. Then Lady Crystal Wilding walks into his life, a bluestocking, full of subversive thoughts, who hates the notion of marriage even more than he does. He invites the totally unsuitable lady home on the pretext of presenting her as a possible match...but in truth, Aaron has something far more pleasurable in mind. For her part, Lady Crystal has her own reasons for going along with his harebrained scheme.
This is a new author to me & I thoroughly enjoyed this fun, entertaining read of two people who were so right for each other fighting the inevitable. I loved Aaron the honourable heir who knew what his duty was but wanted to do it his way & I also loved Crystal who was now free & wanted to make a difference, their attraction sizzled & it took them both some time to realise they'd fallen in love. I also loved Sarah there's nothing like a grumpy interfering grandmother. A couple of things didn’t seem to have closure, the nut allergy & the return of the clan Macleod members. A captivating read & I’ll certainly read more from the author
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

The synopsis really intrigued me, I was excited to start this one, but the characters just didn't do it for me. They weren't that likable, and I didn't really get the attraction. I felt like the whole point of the book was that Lady Crystal was a strong woman but Lord Lyle only seemed to be into her looks.
The dowager duchess was by far the best part of this book, I love old women who say what they want. I just wish I could have liked Lyle and Crystal as much.

I was so excited for this book based on the synopsis. The hero, Aaron, is being forced to marry against his will because his father, the duke, needs money and heirs. He comes across Crystal, who speaks for women's rights, believes in desire, and has said marriage is not for her, and decides shes the perfect thing to stir up his family.

Unfortunately this book was just not for me. I can't say I could get into Crystal much after she says a lot of shocking and aggressive things for the time and then gets surprised when the men react badly.

Things like:

Women deserve their freedom and should get to decide who to marry. Their intelligence is equal to a man's. Women want to enjoy sexual congress. Women feel desire.

At first I thought I would enjoy this book because she spoke for those things, but how naive she was...she just didn't strike me as a suffragette that was going to make a difference sadly because she'll be too busy having tomatoes thrown at her and sitting in jail. Her tact was completely missing and I just found her too brash (especially after reading books like Bringing Down the Duke, which I adored)

There were a few things I enjoyed in the book like the discussions on new inventions of the home including water closets and showers. It's fun experiencing that stuff from someone's eyes that are seeing it for the first time. It must have been glorious hahaha. I also enjoyed the family dinner and the banter with the family. But nothing between the hero and heroine really and that is why I give this book such a low rating.

But I just never got into the love story. Or either character really. The hero I just didn't like. He came across as literally only caring about having sex. It was all he thought about, the bulge in his pants, and it was focused on so much I knew nothing about him, except he had a bulge in his pants and it was bothering him. He didn't seem to REALLY get to know the heroine. Like how he admired her so much for her women's rights ideals and fighting for children to learn instead of being put to work, yet was shocked when she fought back at him after he was ordering her around and commanding her. And he also had another suitor he wasn't interested in, but the only reasons were are given are her laugh and her beaver teeth. I just thought it was awful. Don't dislike people for things they can't control. Dislike them for their actions, if need be. She was also described as a 'Dreadful overdressed creature with teeth like a beaver? She sounds like a wheezing donkey.' by another character in the book. Yet all we see of her character is she is a debutante trying to find a husband and doing what her mother tells her. She's not mean or vindictive or malicious. She's just not good enough for the hero's bulge in his pants and it made me dislike him even more.



MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW – BE WARNED!!!!!! LEAVE POST NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPECIFIC PLOT DISCUSSION.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Then there was this really weird side part in the book about white slavery. It just seemed so random and was not done well and the subject surely wasn't done justice. It didn't sit well with me the way it was presented, with the heroine saying things like “There are no white slaves.” and “The working class was so ignorant they would believe anything they were told.” She doesn't keep these views, but I felt like her 'awakening' wasn't done well enough for me to care about her any more after this experience. And then she uses some line later that she's a slave to her passion or feelings for the hero (something like that) and I just thought it was in really bad taste with that going on in the book. And lastly when they find who was kidnapping people they make sure he doesn't hang so that he too can be a slave. So they were so abhorred with the idea of slavery they made sure he becomes that?

And lastly she has sworn off marriage and he knows he can't marry her so he basically wants her a mistress. And she's only mildly upset. And after all this supposed conflict he just decides to ask her to marry him and it says

But she realized she loved him.

It was just so...blah. So anticlimactic. No feels. I have no idea if these people truly love each other and I am not left with a feeling that they will live happily ever after and that's just sad.

Thank you netgalley and Entangled Publishing for the book to read and review. This was my first historical romance and it was so good! Fast paced, witty banter, romance, and great plot! All of my favorite things. Crystal was the perfect historical romance heroine. Smart, sassy, and assertive. She has the unorthodox opinion that women should be able to pick their husband and do away with arranged marriages. Strangely enough, Lord Lyle is of the same opinion for men! I enjoyed this cute love story and nice little getaway from this strange world we live in now. I cannot wait for book 2!

This is a quick read. I loved the opening of the book, especially the first meeting of our main characters, but it kind of trickled down from there. It was a fun book but a little disjointed to me as if someone read the story and said 'you should add this bit here' but they shouldn't have. I will look for more from the author as I did like it, it just didn't seem as cohesive as I wanted.

An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord by Cathleen Ross is absolutely breathtaking!

When the book starts you are introduced to Lady Crystal Wilding who comes from the highlands. Her father was Earl Wilding who you find died in battle most recently. She comes from a noble family but has views about men and women marrying for "love" instead of duty. This was around the time when marriages were still arranged between noble families usually for money or land rather than "love."

You also meet Marquess Lyle. You find that he has shunned away every suitor his father has paraded in front of him. You find that he has some of the same values and views that Lady Crystal does about marrying for love instead of an arranged forced marriage.

When these two meet they are in a tavern for a meeting when Lady Crystal blurts out about women having the same desires as men and all the men start getting riled up. Lord Lyle is there to save her but finds her interesting.

Throughout their endeavors they both grow closer and closer together. They both start realizing that they are in love with each other but neither one of them will admit it to the other nor will they give up their "i don't want to marry" phase.

When the story wraps up between the two you are left feeling very satisfied. The story was very well progressed and you were able to follow along without having that feeling that you were missing some of the story or the dialogue. This is a very steamy romance that will definitely leave you with a smile on your face and feeling refreshed in romances.

#netgalley #anunsuitableladyforalord

Lord Lyle is being forced to marry and he is not onboard with this decision.

Lady Crystal is a single woman with no man to lead her life for her and she is perfectly happy with her life. She aims to teach the younger generation of girls to read and write so that they won't have to depend on a man either.

Lord Lyle is fascinated by Lady Crystal and offers to be her benefactor so that she can teach and spread the word about her ideals. But he'd like to spread more than just her ideals *wink wink*. But how to do it without sullying her good name?

It was an enjoyable story. I felt like there were parts that jumped ahead without any segue so I felt a bit lost a few times.

“An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord” by Cathleen Ross is a fun and sometimes slightly cheesy historical romance about Lord Aaron Lyle, a high society lad avoiding marriage with an almost bankrupt dukedom, and Lady Crystal Wilding, an heiress who speaks her mind freely. A cute and quirky novel that entertained.

Blurb: Aaron just wants to avoid marriage and have fun with Lady Crystal, while Crystal wants to help further education for women and children and remain single. What the two independent characters don’t predict is a mutual attraction and growing admiration for each other. Can they overcome the obstacles forced upon them and will either one of them find true happiness?

I thought I would give this one a shot because I haven’t read historical romance in awhile and what I’ve found is that I just don’t think it’s my favored genre anymore. While I found Aaron and Crystal to be rather funny and entertaining, the one-liners in this book were a little over the top. I will say that this book isn’t boring and I rather liked both characters, but I’m just not fully invested in what’s happening to them throughout the story. This is a very relationship driven plot and a lighthearted read, but not my favorite.

I loved it! It's a story about two unconventional people trying to fight what society expected of them. Lady Crystal Wilding is no meek lady. She has opinions and she isn't afraid of voicing them. Her sole purpose in life is to champion women's education and much-needed freedom. Lord Aaron Lyle is just trying to find a way out of arranged marriage. He hates the women his father chooses for him and wants to have the freedom to select his own wife. When the two meet, sparks fly but more than that they realize that they have the same ideas. The more time they spend together, the more they want to be in each other's company. But do they really have a future together or are they going to mess up the good things in their lives? Find out soon. ;)

ARC received from publisher

2 Stars. Because I finished it but did not enjoy it.

I guess I unknowingly look for certain things in a regency/historical romance novel. And this book did not have it.

The concept sounded good. And good on the author for creating a strong female lead to have in such an era, when it was clear that men thought otherwise about women. This book being the example of that. And good on the book for consistently sticking with that. When meeting his family, her beliefs were the topic of conversation.

But I was just bored! This book held no spark for me. It’s a feminist novel in a story that I wouldn’t pick up when looking for a feminist novel. I found the characters so hard to get past. There was no connection between them.