“Know your Worth. If we think so little of ourselves it becomes all too easy for others to do the same.”

I love the shy wallflower + infamous scoundrel combination. The way that Kit and Alice both learned to believe in themselves all while falling for each other was just *chefs kiss*

Thank you Netgalley, and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC!!

This novel is the classic wallflowers asks rake for seduction lessons trope. But it was done really well. Loved Kit and Alice’s interactions and the chemistry was scorching hot. I also loved that the characters were whole with not just one defining characteristic. Their interest, passion, ambitions, insecurities were all explored. The angst level was also perfect!!!! Have to say , Alice’s chosen profession/interest was really unique to see in a historical romance.
All in all a very enjoyable if a bit predictable historical romance

Heiress Alice Lusk needs a teacher. Specifically someone to teach her the art of seduction. Her mother thinks that Alice will have no problem finding a suitor - especially with her large dowry. But Alice wants to marry for love. So she finds the one person who she thinks would be perfect in helping her become a vixen - Kit Ward.

Christopher "Kit" Ward is a known scoundrel. He likes to keep his relationships on the surface and is definitely not the settling down sort. So when Alice comes knocking at his door with a proposal to teach her how to seduce a man... he's at a loss for words. But Alice and Kit just happen to be at the same place at the same time - a house party thrown by Kit's friend Maddie. And Maddie has forbidden Kit to seduce any of the young women at the soiree.

But when Alice has a proposal for Kit - he has a hard time turning her down. She will help Kit with written recipes for the opening of his supper club and he will help her with her lessons. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh how I loved The Lady Gets Lucky. Kit and Alice had so much chemistry together and I loved every single scene where they were together. Their interactions always left a grin on my face. But with the sweet and funny was also the perfect amount of angst. I wanted these two to end up together right from the beginning of the book.

I will admit, I wasn't a fan of The Heiress Hunt, but absolutely loved the second book in the The Fifth Avenue Rebels series. I can't wait to find out who is getting their story next!

CW: parental verbal abuse, alcoholism, death of a friend by alcoholism

This book does not disappoint. Alice is a shy society miss who is browbeaten by her mother. Christopher “Kit” Ward has a reputation for being fun, but not much else. Alice wants to marry for love so she proposes that Kit teach her how to seduce a man. Kit finds he cannot say no to the intriguing young lady.

Kit and Alice find themselves drawn together as the lessons progresses. Both think they should not fall for the other. Will Kit and Alice be brave enough to love freely or will Alice be married to the society darling of her mother’s dreams?

Joanna Shupe’s writing is beautiful. Kit and Alice are complicated in a realistic way. I will re-read this book.

I received an ARC for my honest review.

Joanna Shupe is the queen of historical romance steam.

Alice Lusk, wallflower and heiress with an overbearing mother, approaches playboy Christopher "Kit" Ward at a house party for lessons in flirtation and seduction. A foodie and burgeoning amateur chef, Alice, for each lesson offer Kit a recipe from a French chef for his upcoming supper club opening. While initially reluctant, Kit finds himself attracted to Alice and invested in helping her get away from her mother.

Kit is sort of portrayed as this himbo and it's a stereotype he believes himself. While Alice believes she's unattractive and uninteresting. So their relationship becomes more quid pro quo. Kit finds Alice irresistible and Alice thinks there's more to Kit than he shows society.

This is the second book in the series and if you didn't love the first, I recommend reading this book. Kit and Alice work really well together and their reticence to getting together is not insurmountable or unrealistic. They both have obstacles internally and externally to work through. But when they do finally get together, it's magic. I really liked them as a couple and they work well together. Each brings their strengths and makes the other better.

This book was a definite improvement over book 1. It takes place concurrently to Harrison and Maddie's story. Their book was slightly frustrating and the conflict felt forced at times. This follow-up was more in line with what you expect when you read a Joanna Shupe book.

Finished this book in one night! Loved the banter between the two main characters. Really enjoyed this book and think it would make a great addition to our digital library.

I didn't realize this was the second book in the series, so I was a little bit confused. Would highly recommend reading, The Heiress Hunt before The Lady Gets Lucky.

Joanna Shupe writes such smart, outside the box historical romances and this one did not disappoint. I don’t usually love the “he thinks she’s too good for him” trope, but Kit was such a believable rouge (and the setup earlier in the series certainly helped). Can’t wait for the next one!

I enjoyed this one much more than my recent re-read of the first because the hero and heroine worked through their problems together. I especially liked the heroine’s roll in her own life towards the last 1/3 of the book, it felt like she had changed and then used that change for the better.

I love a good Joanna Shupe and this is definitely a good Joanna Shupe.

Basically all of my favorite tropes are in this book. Joanna Shupe + Fave Tropes = HOW COULD IT NOT BE FIVE STARS?!

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher, thanks Avon! And I realized that somehow I missed the first book in this series. Whoops. But never fear, romance readers, this one can definitely be read as a stand-alone! Obvs you get more if you read the whole series, but I didn’t feel like I was trying to patch up gaping holes in the story for having missed out on these characters from the previous book.

I love the beautiful world JS builds in this story. The food descriptions, the scenery. Gah. So amazing! If you haven’t dove into the Gilded Age of Joanna Shupe, I highly highly HIGHLY recommend them! No one does the Gilded Age quite like her!

Loved this book! Gobbled it up in a day! Definitely recommend this goodness!

From what little that I've read, there weren't major flaws to this historical romance. I simply lost interest ⅓ through. The characters were fine and the direction of the story seemed to be going somewhere but the writing style wasn't engaging. At first, I thought I was was in a weird funk since the reading slump took a toll out of me early this year then after putting this read aside for a few days to clear my head, I've realized I simply didn't care enough about the story and if (which is obvious they are) the characters will end up together. I've lost all interest in going back to finish this. I'm sure some readers would find this historical romance entertaining enough to complete but to me, this novel was more so 'It's me, not you' type of read.

No one writes the golden age as well as Joanna Shupe. In every story you can feel things changing all around the characters - from the way women are treated to technology and industry evolving. Alice is definitely among those changing along with the times. Alice isn't a traditional young lady - even though she plays one to keep her mother happy. She's fascinated by food and is a talented chef in her own right. But in the socialite world of New York society - she is a bit of a wallflower. Kit is basically her total opposite. But he has his own baggage as well.

When Alice approaches Kit about learning more about the art of seduction and flirting - he is very much drawn to her. And they really are adorable together. Despite his outgoing, playboy nature, I would put Kit more in the Beta hero category. He's definitely more in touch with his emotions and feelings than the average mand of his time. He is definitely more forward thinking as well.

I truly enjoyed this book - and can't seem to get enough of this series or really anything Joanna Shupe writes!

Now - please can we read about Nellie and the Duke? Pretty please???

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

Alice Lusk, an heiress to a shipping empire, is longing to be married and have a home of herself. She is also tired of being overlooked by the eligible men in society. For Alice marriage is the only thing that will help her get away from her overbearing and verbally abusive mother. Since she is unable to catch the eye of any potential suitor, she turns to Christopher "Kit" Ward, whose reputation of seducing women is legendary, for help in acquiring a husband. Kit ends up needing recipes that Alice has for his upcoming supper club. As they spend more time together, both develop feelings for each other but Kit's fear of marriage keeps them apart.

The book and plot were excellent but the reason the book only received four stars is that both the beginning and ending of the book felt incomplete. There were no introductions to the characters or setting at the beginning of the book which made the first few pages difficult to follow. However, I have not read the first book in this series so that might attribute to my confusion. (view spoiler)

Over this was an amazing read and I would recommend this book to all fans of historical romance!

Unfortunately I don’t think that I like this author. The premise of books set in this historical time period in America I have come to realise I don’t like as a much as other historical romances.. ideal for fans of the authors of previous work, but not the book for me.

A first-rate scoundrel. A desperate wallflower. Lessons in seduction.

Christopher "Kit" Ward is a scoundrel. He has a reputation and doesn't try to hide it. Alice Lusk is a spinster and is planning on taking matters into her own hands. When Alice convinces Kit to teach her everything he knows about seduction, he can't imagine how good of a pupil she would be.

This historical blew me away. I was not expecting to be obsessed with both Kit and Alice. From page one, I was hooked on the characters and the plot. Alice is the typical spinster but wants Kit to teach her everything he knows about seduction and WOW. He really does teach her. The chemistry between these two is off the charts. Kit and Alice is one of my favorite couples in a historical romance ever!

In Joanna Shupe's second installment of her Fifth Avenue Rebels series, we follow a shy heroine desperate to find herself a husband in order to be away from her horrible mother. However, because of her lack in success with talking to men and her low self confidence due to her mother's scathing remarks about her behavior and appearance, Alice Lusk needs help. And who better to teach her the ways of seducing a good husband than Christopher "Kit" Ward - a well known rascal who is able to charm any lady he chooses? What begins from page one is a lovely, entertaining, and sweet friends to lovers historical romance! Kit and Alice will make you fall in love with them before you know it.

I loved the development between Kit and Alice. How their "lessons" eventually started to turn into them genuinely liking to spend time together, a friendship forming, to then mutual attraction. But obstacles stood in their way. Kit doesn't believe in marriage and Alice's parents would never accept Kit as a potential husband for her. But, with love growing between them, each of their walls break down and those obstacles are taken care of. The only reason I'm not going full five stars here is because I felt as though it took Kit a bit too long to accept the fact that he did want to marry Alice. It became a little frustrating.

Another thing I loved is how Kit and Alice both had interests and goals in their personal lives. Alice loves to cook. She loves food. And Kit is opening up a supper club. It was cool how both their interests came together in the story and they both helped each other pursue them.

The side characters in the book were an enjoyable addition to the story. I loved Nellie, Preston, Katherine, and The Duke. I genuinely hope they all get their own books eventually.

This was my first time reading Joanna Shupe. I had heard great things about her other books among the romance community. It wasn't until I saw this book pop up on NetGalley that I decided to give her a shot. I'm so glad I did. This book was fantastic! I got a very sweet and delicious love story paired with interesting characters, a compelling plot, and swoon worthy romance. Everything I could ask for that I love in my historicals, this had it. This will not be the last time I read a Joanna Shupe book, that's for sure. I had no problem understanding or following the events of this book even though I didn't read the first in the series. So this is definitely a standalone in case anyone wanted to skip book one.

In conclusion, you should not miss out on this book if it sounds up your alley!

A great addition to an enjoyable series. I found the main characters delightful . I would recommend this author to others.

This book follows Alice, who is shy and unassuming, but has a big dowry, making men only want her for the money she would provide. Wanting to marry for love, Alice decides that if she can adequately seduce a man, she could then marry someone of her choosing and have a happier life. To learn the art of seduction she enlists the help of a known scoundrel, Kit, while they're both guests at a house party in Newport. But of course, things don't go as planned, and these two may or may not end up catching feelings for one another!

My reading experience was quite mixed while reading this book. In the beginning, I was really enjoying myself. I thought that the consent was fantastic, the interactions between the love interests was really cute, and the side stories were engaging. But the second half let me down in a number of ways.

I think the thing that disappointed me was the fact that the lessons in seduction trope isn't used to its fullest. From the cover alone I expected more steam, and then when the book started out with Alice propositioning Kit, I figured things would escalate quickly. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case. While they were at the house party in Newport things were more manageable. Alice's mother wasn't as involved and the two could more easily spend time together. However, once the setting switched to NYC, my feelings started to sour a bit.

Firstly, Alice's mother is absolutely insufferable. I understand that she was written deliberately to be antagonistic, but it frustrated me to see such controlling and abusive behavior constantly thrown at Alice. I appreciated how Kit handled Alice's mother's terrible behavior, but just wished that the interactions had been more limited.

In general, I wish there had been less conflict and drama. Besides for Alice's mother standing in the way of a relationship with Kit, there were other unnecessary plot points and hurdles that just didn't sit well with me. For example, there is a very weak love triangle in the book, that didn't need to be in this book. Especially since that plotline was repeated twice in the span of one story. Plus, it was clear that Alice was going to end up with Kit for several hundred reasons, and therefore anytime interactions occurred with this other gentleman, I was just annoyed that Alice wasn't using that time to spend with Kit.

There also was a graphic death towards the end of the book that I just didn't understand the point of. It felt very dark for a romance, yet I didn't really care about the character or the effects of their death. I understand how it was used to move the plot forward, but that seems like a terrible reason to kill off one of your characters.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, I wanted both more steam and more romance, and the second half of the book failed me in that area. The cuteness and sweet moments from the beginning were always tinged with some concern or plot point that took away from my enjoyment of watching Alice and Kit fall for one another.

However, there were quite a few things that I enjoyed about this book, that I want to mention! There were so many characters that supported Alice throughout the story that I adored. Alice's friendship with Nellie was so sweet and lovely, and I was so happy that Nellie kept popping up throughout the story.

Additionally, Alice loves to cook and bake and I really enjoyed that element of the story. Watching Alice in the kitchen shows the more independent and resourceful, confident side of her that helped give her some dimension. Additionally her friendship/mentorship with Chef Angelo was adorable, and I loved their interactions as well.

All things considered I gave this book 3.5 stars. The first half was really good, the second half was okay, and the cover is amazing. If you enjoy more plot heavy books with equal amounts romance and plot, this might be the book for you!

Two people, each raised by emotionally abusive parent, find value in themselves as they help each other achieve their goals. Kit’s father was a confidence man and a gambler, even going so far as to having his mother committed to an asylum. He was told he was shallow and worthless. As an adult he became the charming life of the party. Alice’s mother kept her isolated and friendless. Telling her she was plain and stupid. No man would want her except for her money. At the house party featured in the first book, Alice sees Kit’s skill with charm and flirtation and decides to ask him for lessons in seduction. Thinking if she had Kit’s confidence and flirtation techniques, she could find a man to want her for herself. It was her only way of escape from her overbearing mother. Kit is planning to open a supper club. A way to achieve self-respect and prove to himself and others that he could use his brain and be successful. Unfortunately, he needs an exceptional chef for his club to be a success and he can’t convince one to take the job. He learns that Alice has known a famous chef most of her life and knows his recipes. They bargain a recipe per seduction lesson. In a lovely way, two people grow to realize their worth as a person. I enjoyed seeing the house party from the view of other guests and look forward to revisiting it again with other characters.

I could not put this book down! I read this one before reading the first in the series but I immediately bought the first one when I finished. I hope we get a third book with Nellie. I will also be checking out the author's other books. The banter in this book was *chef's kiss*. The characters felt real and well-developed and nothing really felt rushed. I was captivated from Kit and Alice's first conversation. I will definitely be recommending this series!

I absolutely loved this book! The first chapter caught my attention. I finished this in less then a day! I loved both Kit and Alice.