I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. When Eloisa Holt and her family go to a ball, they are shocked to find a nude painting of their mother. They are asked to leave the ball and Eloise and her sisters feel they will never be received again. Lord Cornelius Chichester Eloises brother Timothy's friend purchases the painting. Eloisa leaves her brother's house late at night to go speak with her mother, and is intercepted by Cornelius. He takes her to see her mother and they find out that there are more paintings. She dresses up as a footman and goes to aa showing of the paintings. Lord Cornelius is there and recognizes her. After she throws paint on the paintings to destroy them, they escape. Then she finds out that there is one more painting in Brighton. Lord Chichester makes up an excuse that his maiden aunt needs a companion and they are off to Brighton. The book was thoroughly enjoyable. I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical romance.

Eloisa Holt and her sisters are just beginning their first London season. It looks like their mother could ruin everything for them all.
Lord Cornelius Chichester wants to help his bestfriend and his sisters, but that seems impossible.
This is an amusing historical romance where none of the characters behave in the normal way of Polite Society. All the rules are being broken. Can any of them recover??
Good Fun.

The Secret Life of a Debutante is a short book that tales the story of Elosia and Cornelius. They come together to destroy nude paintings that are of her mother. I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn't for me. The characters seemed very immature and Cornelius seemed like a child in some scenes. There was a scene where he whines that he's brave too. I will say it was written well, but I like when the characters have more substance.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A short and sweet historical romance about a verboten romance between Eloise, a debutante shunned before her first ball, and her brother's best friend, a commitment-phobe rake. Eloise is shunned due to her mother's scandalous behavior so this would make a nice series with subsequent titles about her sisters' fate.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and this is my freely given review.

This was a very short novel, and while I enjoyed it, it felt like there were many questions leftover for me.

Eloisa Holt and her two sisters are debuting in London, sponsored by her brother Timothy and his wife. The night of their first ball, at Lady Richmond's, their plans are cut terribly short. She had decided to show off her daughter to one of the eligible bachelors, Cornelius Chichester, by having her showcase her art knowledge with one of Lord Richmond's new purchases by a new, popular artist, Julius. A crowd is gathered in the library when she unveils the new piece, which ends up being a scandalous painting of a woman in the nude. A familiar looking woman to many of them, including Cornelius...

As the Holts enter the ball, they realize things are not quite right, by the reactions of some of the guests, and are horrified to find out that the woman in the painting is the mother of the three Holt sisters, who all bear a close resemblance to her. This leads many to assume one or all of them modelled for the painting, and they are all kicked out of the ball by Lady Richmond. This ruins the Holt sister's social prospects.

Cornelius is a good friend of Timothy and gains possession of the scandalous painting. When he gets there, he finds the eldest, Eloisa, sneaking out. She had decided to find their mother to confront her about the paintings. Timothy is unable to persuade her to go home, and follows to help her. They find out that Mommy Dearest not only willingly posed for the one painting, but also doesn't care how it affects the family, and that there are several others. Timothy had the same idea as Eloisa, and finds her there with Chichester, and is infuriated.

Timothy, being the supportive and helpful brother that he is (insert sarcasm here), decides the only thing he can do is find them all positions and send them off, as governesses or companions, since they are likely never to marry. After all, even if it is not one of them in the paining, they are all tainted by it and ruined.

Eloisa and Timothy come together to prevent the other paintings of nude Mom from harming the reputation of her family and further. In the process, they become closer and fall in love.

I did enjoy this short novel; it was a fun and quick read. I found that Mom was a bit of a one dimensional character, there was only the one scene for her, and she came off quite selfish and uncaring of the consequences of her actions on her daughters, but one senses that maybe there is more to why that is. Perhaps a bad marriage of convenience to the father. She is the second wife, with Timothy being her stepson, and there appears to be hostility from Timothy against her. Also, he is quick to dismiss all his sisters as being unmarriageable after the ball, and to think of sending them off to positions as governesses and companions. Is this a sign of disregard for them? Residual resentment as they are his half sisters of a woman he does not like? Why not also work to diminish the scandal, save their reputations, or at least try to find them suitors in other less popular areas, or lower in status so they at least could have families, homes of their own, and potential future happiness and security?

Regardless, I enjoyed the developing attraction between Chichester and Eloisa, and some of the antics they got into to get access to the other paintings. I am also curious as to the hostility towards the Holts that another neighbour has, and why he is so determined to despise them, and try to ruin them further. His mechanisms to ruin the innocent daughters with the paintings of the mother seem very hateful and ungentlemanly, and this incurs some curiosity on my part as to why he would do this. I am hoping this is answered in a future novel.

A 3.5 out of 5 for me.

The Secret Life of a Debutante by Bianca Blythe is a novel by a newer author. The novel is an historical romance with a couple of twists - just to keep you surprised. Eloisa Hunt is a debutante and while excited and nervous, has a problem. She discovered her mother, a scandalous person in her own right, is the subject of a series of nude portraits. This is enough to make Eloise lose her chance to become a wife and mother. The scandal is enough to make it so that Eloise ended up as a governess or a companion so as not to ruin the chances of the rest of the family.

Eloise takes matters into her hands to confront her mother and then to save her reputation. Lord Cornelius Chichester is Eloise’s brother's best friend and he knows that the sisters are off limits, but how can he not help Eloise. Together, they hatch plots to destroy art and not get caught or worse yet fall for each other.

The Secret Life of a Debutante by Bianca Blythe is a romance novel with a couple of twists that makes it stand out.

When scandal breaks over the Holt family's head due to the careless actions of their mother, Lord Cornelius Chichester has no choice but to intervene. Although he has a reputation in society as a rogue, he nevertheless cares deeply about the shame that is being rained down on his best friend and his sisters. Despite his promise to Timothy to stay away from his sisters, Cornelius cannot with good conscience allow Lady Eloisa to tackle her mother on her own. Discovering that more scandal is about to be unleashed, Cornelius and Eloisa have a race against time to resolve the matter. The plot of the story is one that earns the reader's sympathy, however, it becomes secondary to the attraction between the main characters, which diminished the adventure somewhat. Ultimately this turned out to be a quick and easy read that comes to a happy conclusion. I received a copy of this novella as a gift through Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

A very scandalous, historical romance that it'll make you laugh and think how lonely you are at the same time.
The storyline is very simple but I appreciated it. The painting business was very intriguing
The characters are also enjoyable!
So in conclusion I appreciate this book as a simple night reading's and I rate it 3 stars!