Oh, what a love story -- and what a mystery. This is one of Mimi Matthews' best, and that is saying a lot because her books consistently soar. Well-researched and plotted, they draw the reader in and transport them to another time and place. Gentleman Jim is superb. We meet the main characters as children -- Margaret Honeywell is the daughter of a wealthy squire; Nicholas Seaton is a base-born servant, perhaps the son of highwayman Gentleman Jim. Yet Margaret is supposed to marry the son of a neighbor, Frederick Burton-Smythe, despite her friendship with Nicholas. They are torn apart in a particularly nasty manner and when the story resume, the vibrant, daring Margaret is older and a shadow of herself. She has been sick, stuck in the country and seems to have lost her spark. Enter John Beresford, Viscount St. Clare, back in England and dedicated to restoring his family's reputation. He meets Maggie, finally in London, and the two share an undeniable connection. This is where the mystery comes in, and along with it, a woman who remained true to her first love despite the circumstances of his disappearance. This is a woman who knows who to love. The unraveling of the mystery, the blossoming love story and the most satisfactory conclusion make this a must-read. Just wonderful But that's Mimi Matthews. (This is my opinion; I received an ARC from NetGalley.)

It was pretty clear soon into the novel what the storyline would be and the outcome. While that’s not a bad thing, the shame of it all was telling us that Maggie was a strong heroine, only to have her show up for most of the story a frail, sickly thing. At the beginning, she also seemed to have a good relationship with her father, but then we’re told she actually didn’t and he gave her guardianship over to someone she hated. It was rather inconsistent and marred the whole tale.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every time I see Mimi Matthews has a new book coming, I can't wait to read it! She brings her readers such great stories from her marvelously talented pen. And this one is no exception. It just might be my favorite. But then, I think that with each book she writes. I am just a forever fan.

The opening chapter sells you on the book at once, and then the more you read, the deeper you are drawn into the story. This Regency is so well done and the characters, as usual with Matthews, leap right off the pages. I think I fell in love a little with St. Clare myself! His character was so heroic, chivalrous, courageous, romantic (oh!) that a girl just can't help from loving him. And Miss Maggie Honeywell did, as a young girl, and as a grown woman. She never stopped loving him. That's what made their story so precious: they knew from childhood they were meant for each other. I loved every single minute. Totally. I highly recommend this author.

*My thanks to Perfectly Proper Press for an advance copy of this book. The review is expressly my own.

4.5 stars for Mimi Matthews's latest! Although we generally prefer seriously sexy romances, sometimes we're in the mood to relax with a slower-paced, low-angst historical romance. And when we're in that mood, we turn to Mimi Matthews. ⁠
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Her upcoming release, Gentleman Jim,⁠ doesn't disappoint. Maggie and Nicholas are childhood sweethearts. When Nick leaves town, accused of a crime he didn't commit, Maggie decides never to marry. Years later, Maggie meets Lord St. Clare, a young nobleman with a striking resemblance to Nick. ⁠
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Although Matthews identifies The Count of Monte Cristo and Tom Jones as inspiration for her novel, we saw shades of The Return of Martin Guerre, by Natalie Zemon Davis, and Stranger in My Arms, by Lisa Kleypas, as well. Matthews does a great job of keeping up the suspense of St. Clare's identity throughout the novel. The denouement keeps you guessing until the end, with smaller mysteries solved along the way to keep the reader satisfied.

In sum, if you're looking for a well-written cozy Regency to add to your fall TBR and you're not looking for anything more explicit than some heavy makeout sessions, Gentleman Jim fits the bill.
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Our objective review was based on a complimentary ARC provided by NetGalley and Victory Editing.

Once again Mimi Matthews writes a story that presents the h & H with insurmountable odds. However, in the end she resolves conflicts and tension so well it's as if she wrapped the story neatly with a bow for the reader to feel fully satisfied. The story story didn't feel formulaic or on the nose. The h has some spunk and was feisty. I enjoyed the twists and turns. Mimi Matthews has the ability to write so I can feel the array of emotions the characters are feeling. I would give this a 4 out of 5 stars. The quality of the writing is very much still there for 5 stars. For me personally, this story did get a bit spicier my personal preference in a scene than her other novels. Though things are kept above the belt so to speak. A couple of times I thought does h's actions fit the era. Though, I do know the author is does a lot of research so I'm willining to admit I could be off base.

Margaret Honeywell lost her childhood sweetheart, Nicholas Seaton, due to the actions of Frederick Burton-Smythe, the neighbour that her father intended for her to marry and unite the adjacent estates. She has spurned all advances in the hope that Nicholas would return to her but now feels that she has to fulfil her fathers wishes and marry the odious Fred to save her beloved estate. John Beresford, Viscount St. Clare has returned to London to satisfy his grandfather’s wishes to marry and continue the family line. However, he is stunned to encounter Margaret and can’t seem to stay away from her despite the danger to himself and his future. Entrancing story, another beautifully written and entertaining story from Mimi Matthews. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Gentleman Jim
By Mimi Matthews
I was a pleasure to read and review Gentleman Jim. Gentleman Jim is a story of patience and redemption. Childhood friends who are separated by society’s rules and cross paths again.
The uncertainty as to how the author was going to solve the problems that separated them had me on the edge. But the author is a genius, and all worked out: justice, love, redemption.
M. Matthews has a way of being so descriptive with her characters that you can easily picture everything in your mind. Gentlemen Jim is a cross between Gift of the Magi and The Count of Monte Christo. It is a very good read. I truly loved this story.

This is a great read! Mimi Matthews has once again written a story that is romantic, thrilling and well planned out . Her characters always unique and spirited! I loved that Maggie and St. Clare's story was not predictable. Maggie was so stubborn, resourceful and quick thinking. St. Clare was protective, very physical and had a temper. But it was a story full of love and tenderness.
I loved every line and the story even ended very satisfyingly! The bar fight scene especially was a great romp! And the villain was great. I recommend it highly!
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley . The opinions are entirely my own.

Mimi Matthews' books should be on an IV drip into my veins. So when a new one comes out it just gets replaced and I can just feed off it until the cycle repeats.

This book was intriguing when I read Chapter One after finishing her most recent book. I have a secret obsession with books with heroes with hidden identities, or people trying to rebuild themselves.

Let me just say, Mimi keeps outdoing herself that I finish each book asking how she is going to top the situations, the romance, the characters.

Her women are always my favorite. Maggie/Margaret is someone who can level with men, shoot a man's hand, and could probably wrestle a man to the ground and put him in a headlock. She is that cool and someone you just absolutely gotta love. Nicholas is the perfect match for her, and honestly, the book had me second-guessing and confirming, then second-guessing and confirming. Shows how good she can write intrigue.

I recommend this book when it comes out if you enjoy Count of Monte Cristo, friends to lovers, adventure, and intrigue

3.75/5.

Growing up, Maggie Honeywell and Nicholas Seaton always had each other's back. Their differences in social status (she, the daughter of wealthy squire, and he, a lowly baseborn groom) never stood in the way of their firm friendship-turned-romantic love. A malicious accusation of theft by a petty, jealous bully finally tore the two apart, but Nicholas promised he would come back for her and so she waited. For ten years she waited, rejecting all suitors and defying her father's wish for her to marry the neighbour's son, Fred Burton-Smythe, the odious man responsible for Nicholas's exile. However, time is running out because thanks to her father's oppressive will, Fred has been left in charge of her beloved estate and funds until she marries. Only problem is that her marriage must take place within the next 6 months and be approved by Fred, and the only suitor he will ever approve of is himself.

Maggie heads off to London in a last ditch attempt to find a way out of her predicament. While she despises the loathsome and small-minded Fred with a passion, killing him is not going to solve her crisis, because the estate will default to a distant male relative. So she was most unimpressed when she finds out that an enigmatic viscount, newly arrived from the continent, has engaged Fred in a duel. Drastic measures must be taken to stop the duel and Maggie is just the person up to the task. A prolonged illness has left her a weak and pale version of her previous vibrant self, but where she is now lacking in physical stamina, she more than makes up for it in fortitude and intrepidity.

When John Beresford, Viscount St Clare, accepted the challenge of a country nobody to a duel, he did not expect have a petite, winsome fury scandalously knocking on his door to plea the case of said unworthy nobody. Maggie is beyond his wildest dreams and yearnings and he has had many wild dreams and unfulfilled yearnings for far too many years. But he is his grandfather's heir to a powerful earldom and he cannot allow himself to deviate from his hard-fought goal. Although Maggie might just have shifted those goal posts by a large margin and his disorientation is not helped by her insistence that he is the exact image of her erstwhile youthful first love.

In my opinion, this is the closest Mimi Matthews has come to writing popular HR, because up to this point, her characters are often ordinary unglamorous people and her settings had been away from the ton and fancy ballrooms. This is also more light-hearted than some of her other straight and somewhat gloomy stories. I definitely welcome the humour which I have missed in most of her other books.

Unless...Are you saying that your conduct at dawn hinges on whether or not Mr. Burton-Smythe can refrain from irritating you?" She was incredulous. "If that is so, then he's as good as dead."


There are some gaps in the plot. (view spoiler) The concept of the three forfeits was silly and unnecessary. The plot also got quite predictable and a bit cheesy towards the end and cheesiness is not a criticism that is usually applicable to the work of this esteemed author. Still, it is an enjoyable read and the writing is of high standard as expected.

Gentleman Jim is a regency romance by new-to-me author, Mimi Matthews. Right away the cover catches my interest – historical heroes alone on the cover are rare-ish, and the pose here is not suggestive in the least. Then again, it is possible that maybe this isn’t intended to portray the hero. It could be his father, the eponymous Gentleman Jim. Who – minor spoiler – doesn’t actually appear in person in the pages of this novel.

So if you’re looking for a romance where the outlaw stuff is the main focus, this is not that book. Instead, I’d say it’s very true to the basic formula for the genre, making Gentleman Jim a quick, snappy read that overall feels comfortingly familiar. The villains are childhood bullies and grasping relatives, meaning the stakes are primarily fortunes and reputations. Interestingly, the hero’s reputation is primarily the one under threat.

The romance, however, is assured from the start – so it doesn’t really change or grow much over the course of the book. Maggie Honeywell and Nicholas Seaton/John St. Clare (it’s complicated) fell in love as children, when he was a servant in her father’s employ. However, due to the previously mentioned bully, he was forced to flee in the night and seek his fortune. I felt rather hopeful at this point – I thought we were going to have a Dread Pirate Roberts situation. Alas, it was not quite to be.

The seeking happens during an offscreen timeskip and mostly relates to finding his paternal grandfather who, it turns out, is an earl in need of an heir after disowning his only son. That, and squeezing in a complete education as befits a lord’s heir. I understand why you wouldn’t want to go over all that in detail.

So, post timeskip, St. Clare and Maggie reunite accidentally when she goes to visit with a friend in London. St. Clare spends a few chapters courting her, mixed with some gaslighting – he insists he isn’t who she thinks he is. At around the 50% mark, he can no longer deny his identity and she forgives him without a fuss. Come on, Maggie, the narrator really wants to convince me you’re fiery and spirited. You’re allowed to be mad for more than 2 seconds.


Really, Maggie is extraordinarily forgiving – to the point that it honestly got under my skin. She makes excuses for the hero’s mother beating him as a child. Meanwhile, Fred, the bully from earlier, has shrunk this woman’s life down to nothing, using her health as an excuse to control her home and fortunes. (Endorsed by her supposedly doting father’s will – she can only keep her inheritance if she marries someone Fred approves of, and of course, he’s only likely to approve himself.) Even so, she doesn’t even plan to fight him after an attempted sexual assault (stopped by the hero, thankfully.)

The only escape Maggie finds in this situation is pledging to marry St. Clare even if it loses her everything else she loves. Even though he also expects to lose everything as his scheming relations narrow in on proving the illegitimate nature of his birth. Romantic, sure – but dark.

This being a romance, it ends in a very tidy way regardless. Even Fred gets a happy ending for some reason. I think Gentleman Jim is a good choice if you want to turn your brain off for a bit and enjoy short, predictable romance (albeit one with no sex in it.) However, the more I dwell on it personally, the more uncomfortable I am with some of the situations depicted. If you are sensitive to reading about coercive control and abuse, I would consider giving this one a skip.

First sentence: Beaten and bloody, Nicholas Seaton sat on the straw-covered floor of the loose box, his legs drawn up against his chest and his forehead resting on his knees.

Premise/plot: Margaret Honeywell is head over heels in love with Nicholas Seaton. The problem? Well, he's an illegitimate child of notorious 'Gentleman Jim' and she's the daughter of a wealthy squire. Though they come from different classes, both feel the other is home. When a bully--and her father's pick for her future husband--frames Nicholas Seaton for a crime he didn't commit--theft--Margaret helps him escape in the night before he can be brought before the magistrate and punished. Will she ever see him again? Can she bring herself to marry another?

Flash forward ten years and Margaret Honeywell just has months left to find a husband before she loses everything to that same old bully--Frederick Burton-Smythe. The problem? Well, he has the final say in who she marries. And he has a mind to marry her himself. (Of course he does.) Of course, there's also the fact that she is still very much broken hearted over the man who never came back home--Nicholas.

When she hears that Frederick Burton-Smythe is going to be fighting a duel...against an opponent who has skills...she realizes her position. IF he dies what will happen to her? There's no reasoning with him--she's had most her life to try to talk sense to him--but what about this other fellow, Lord St. Clare???

There meeting is enough to take her breath away...

My thoughts: Gentleman Jim is a Regency Romance. It opens in 1807, but most of the book occurs in 1817. It is a thoroughly satisfying romance. If you like regency romance or historical fiction in general, then this one might prove worth your time.

Is it a clean read? I'd say it was more PG-13. It's more steamy kisses fade to dark.

I think it would make an awesome movie!!!

I absolutely loved this historical romance! I was hooked from the very beginning and could not put this down! This is the first book I have read from this author and I can't wait to read more.

Maggie is the only child of a well to do landowner and Nicolas is a lowly groom. Usually I am not a fan of romances between servants and their upper class employers; the social and education differences, society’s acceptance and the unequal power seem too great to overcome. Because of the headstrong, stubborn Maggie, the equally determined Nicolas and their deep love, this romance was believable.

The mystery of Gentleman Jim, Nicholas‘ transformation, Maggie’s wonderful spirit and the villains kept me up reading into the night. Another wonderful historical romance from Mini Matthews

A brilliant historical romance! I have never read a book by Mimi Matthews before, but I'll certainly check out her previous releases now. Gentleman Jim has all the ingredients required to make a historical romance, it sometimes bordered the predictable but is always so entirely charming and heartwarming you don't really mind.

Wonferful! I don't know how she does it book after book, but this was amazing. I've loved every Mimi Matthews book I have read. She never disappoints.

A groom and a Viscount. Could they possibly be the same person?

Gentleman Jim by Mimi Matthews is an emotional, cross-class historical romance where characters had to face their choices and fight to become who they wanted to be without losing their essence.

Our thanks to the author and NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy.

Nicholas Seaton was a groom in a country estate in Somerset, England. He was the son of a scullery maid and an unknown man, but it was said that he was the bastard son of a rogue called Gentleman Jim.

Raised without love, Nicholas found in Margareth Honeywell, the daughter of the estate owner, an unexpected friend. She meant the world to him, but their class difference was an insurmountable barrier.

When unjustly accused of theft, Nicholas fled Somerset, and Margareth never saw him again.

Years later, Maggie was on the verge of succumbing to her neighbor's marriage proposal to keep possession of her estate when she met Lord St. Claire.

St. Claire strongly resembled Nicholas, but he was a Viscount, grandson of the Earl of Allendale.

I loved all the mystery around Lord St. Claire and how complex was his relationship with Maggie and his Grandfather.

Maggie was lovely, so full of energy and loyalty. It hurt me to see the situation she found herself in. I connected to her from the beginning and enjoyed every minute of her journey to HEA.

Mimi Matthews is one of my favorite authors, and Gentleman Jim is another winner for me.

Highly Recommended!

Disclosure: I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

*This review will be posted on https://lureviewsbooks.com on 11/10/2020*

Mimi Matthews has more talent in her little finger than most writers can eek out in a lifetime. Her stories are always super entertaining, compelling, and swoony; Gentleman Jim is no different. This book has all the elements a reader looks for and then some. I will note, however, a slight trigger warning for some. Because of the Count of Monte Cristo themes, there is some gaslighting going on by the hero to the heroine. This made me slightly uncomfortable, although I knew why he did it. But for someone that’s been a victim of gaslighting before, they may have a problem with this element of the book.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was another great read by Mimi Matthews! The characters of Nicolas and Maggie has such great gristh, dialogue, and chemistry I was cheering them on from the first page. This was a very clean romance that still conveyed the desire each of the main characters had for the other. I enjoyed the nods to the Count of Monte Cristo throughout. I would love a separate novel about Fred and his wife or Mattingly and Jane. Wonderful 5 star read!!!;

Gentleman Jim was another entertaining historical romance from Mimi Matthews. There was a good balance of adventure and romance, and the story moved along at a good pace throughout. Both Margaret and John came across well as characters, and the resolution of the tale was pleasing and nicely portrayed. The world building, meanwhile, presented enough information to set the scene and establish the period without resorting to info dumping. Recommended to fans of historical/regency romance. A solid 4.5 stars from me.