3.5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Of Trust & Heart is another fun twentieth century historical romance by Charlotte Anne Hamilton, this one set during the 1920s. Hamilton captures the time period, one not often portrayed in historical romances (at least not with regularity), vividly giving us an impression of life during the Prohibition era.

Harriet is a sympathetic lead and I really liked her. I appreciated that she was conscious of what she needed to do for security, even if it rivaled her own inclinations, but also that her family weren’t pushing it on her as some historical parents have been known to do, both in fiction and in real life.

I felt pretty mixed on the romance, especially as the story is told solely from Harriet’s POV. I did get a good impression of Rosalie from Harriet’s perspective, but she never felt fully fleshed out to me.

I love how unapologetically queer it is, providing visibility for not just the sapphics, but gay men and even non-binary people that is more or less positive. I also appreciated the way it takes into account the historical reality, crafting an HEA that is believable for what some queer people did at the time.

This is a sweet romance, and while I did have some issues with the execution, I still more or less enjoyed it. If you’re looking for a sapphic historical set in a different time period from the norm, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

I love the cover and thought I'd enjoy the book written in a time period I don't usually read about. It is 1923 and Lady Harriet Cunningham, the daughter of a Scottish Earl has come to NYC to find a husband. Staying in the care of her aunt and uncle it is her cousin (and friend) Charlie that takes her to a speakeasy. There the beautiful singer Rosalie captures her eye.

I was interested in the club during the times of prohibition. And I liked Harriet. She is honest, straight forward. and fully plans to marry, to give herself and her family protection. Her family is aware of her inclinations and will not force a wedding but encourages it. I just didn't find this much of a romance. The attraction is instantaneous and really without any build up or conversations. It is all told through Harriet's POV with only minimal background for Rosalie. I also didn't love the resolution, but after checking I found it was a legal option. It is a good story but I needed more excitement, romance, character development or something to rate it higher.

I did enjoy the authors last book and will look for future works by her. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC in exchange for a review.

DNF 8%

I requested this book because I read and enjoyed this author’s recent sapphic Titanic historical romance. I was enjoying the setting and loved how there was intentional inclusion of nonbinary people, which can often be erased in historical romances. But then I felt that whole inclusion was demolished when the love interest said, in direct response to commenting on another character’s attraction to men, women, and those who are neither, that she didn’t understand why anyone would be attracted to men and continuing by saying people are scared of women. It felt very old school feminism and hit me poorly to the point I couldn’t move past that line. Based on experience with author’s previous book, I’m sure this would be an interesting and well-done historical romance with good research and setting, but I personally don’t feel comfortable continuing, especially as that line came from the love interest and not a random side character (which still would have been squick, but I’m supposed to root for this character and I feel uncomfortable with that kind of mentality).

the cover is what drew me in and I really enjoyed reading this. The characters felt like they belonged in the 1920s and enjoyed going on this journey.

This was an enjoyable sapphic historical story! It foll0ws a Scottish heiress in the 1920s visiting family in Chicago and falling in love with a dancer at a queer underground speakeasy.

This time period was so fun, and was absolutely the most captivating part of the story for me.

It's told in single person POV, and I'm increasingly growing to understand that books with this POV are really hard for me. I didn't feel like I had any grasp on who Rosalie was, or what their love was like together, and for that reason it really didn't feel like a romance to me. At one point very late in the book it turns into an epistolary exchange for a chapter, which is the only time we get a glimpse into Rosalie's mind at all, and I really found myself hungering for more of that. There also didn't seem to be much of a conflict between the two; there was very little in the way of them falling in love. The story did feel grown up to me and the heroines are 24, so I'm also unsure why it's labeled as New Adult.

There was some really wonderful queer representation all throughout, including a heartbreaking and charming interracial secondary romance between two men. I really enjoyed myself while reading, and was so transfixed by the setting of the novel, I just really wouldn't call this a ROMANCE novel, so it didn't meet my expectations in the romance department.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled for the ARC.

CW: Death of a parent

When her noble family sends Harriet from Scotland to New York, it is with one task: find a husband. But while she finds love, it's not with a suitable man like her family hopes, but with the beautiful Rosalie, a singer at a speakeasy.

There is nothing I love more than a queer romance that ends with actual happiness, and while this is rare enough in contemporary romances, this is even rarer in historical romances. Of Trust & Heart had all the trappings of a story I would absolutely adore: Scotland, speakeasies, 1920s, a lesbian MC, an almost exclusively queer cast of supporting characters, a sweet and happy ending.

Harriet, Rosalie, and Charlie were all such wonderful and endearing characters, who you can't help but root for. Secondary characters like Jeffrey, Henry, and Martha too were all so well-written, and I looked forward to every additional crumb of information I could get on them. The romance between Harriet and Rosalie was fast-paced but sweet; I ached for them through all their difficulties and cheered for all their little victories. The same goes for Charlie and Jeffrey: the pain both so clearly felt hit me just as hard as my joy when they finally managed to make everything work. There wasn't much real conflict between the main couple themselves, which I loved; the main pressure came externally, and Harriet had the support of her family every step of the way,

Both the plot and the setting were wonderful, too. I love a good 1920s story, and I love one that can highlight some of the sexier aesthetics without hiding any of the cruelties of the time period. The author makes it clear exactly how hard the world is for someone who doesn't love in a way that's acceptable to the time period--Harriet thinks on it often, how ridiculous it is that love can be illegal, and how it's both heartening and tragic that those in queer or interracial relationships (or both) have the speakeasy as one place they can be themselves. There are themes of grief and loss, too; all the characters are still affected by the war. In all, I loved how the author made it clear that the 1920s was not at all a perfect time period, without showing all the outright homophobia and racism; the stakes were clear without making the story any less light.

I loved this book..... up until about 92%. And here's where the spoilers come in, so while I'll try to keep it as vague as possible, look away to avoid. One final conflict happens in the last few chapters, and the author sets up such an easy fix for it, wherein everyone could live happily ever after and remain with the person they love.... and then the story decides that, no, incest is actually a better solution. I understand that the two cousins will not ever perform their "marital duties" and in fact will only ever appear as a couple in public, and that both of them have their own life partners, but I can't get past the solution being first cousins getting married. Especially when there was a solution that could have avoided it readily available. It just left me uncomfortable and with a bad taste in my mouth, which is really disappointing since up until this point it was a solid 4 stars.