Did I skip reading the first book because I didn’t realize this was a series? Yes. Whoops.

Did I feel like I was missing things? A little? But it was totally fine once I got more into the book and established. I DEFINITELY want to go back and read the first one.

Ok but this book was so good!! I mean Kate Bateman is never going to lead me astray, but FRIENEMIES WITH BENEFITS?!?!? Be still my beating heart.

I mean that just hits the spot. Long time family rivals and they’ve always sorta been into each other and she has a secret and THERES TEACHING MOMENTS AND SCANDAL! And bears! And the ever important “it’s only ever been you” moment

Am I just spewing out nonsense for this review? Yes. But it seriously SO good and my heart!!

Even from the first line, “Lady Carys Davies dressed to meet her blackmailer in the same way she dressed for every other social occasion: scandalously” you know it’s going to be amazing. And it did not let down at all. Will definitely be recommending this book!

Entertaining and well-written, this friends-to-lovers historical romance had me hooked from the very beginning. And the lively banter, the emotions, the characters, and the steam kept me reading past my bedtime.
Definitely recommend.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Two great characters!!
Carys needs to keep her family safe from an endless scandal, so she does everything she can to stay single, season after season - which means her name is always mentioned in conversation circles in a negative way.
But then Tristan, who needs to marry a respectable lady, actually can't get Carys out of his mind.
In a challenge made by her, he accepts to show her, for a short period of time, what advantage she could have by getting married. And of course, everything is on fire!!

But will all their shared passion make Carys change her mind, and let the secret come out?
And what a wonderful cover!
5 stars

4 1/2 stars

This book was a wonderful entry in the Ruthless Rivals series. It's probably one of the more enjoyable historical romances that I've read recently. One of my favorite tropes is enemies to lovers and it was done well in this book. Carys and Tristan come from families that have a history of feuding. The fact that they have a brother and sister that have married opens up the family relationships a bit but it's hard for everyone to leave the old history behind. Carys and Tristan come into this book with very set opinions about the other person. It's fun seeing them finally getting to know each other and finding out their initial thoughts might not have been accurate.

Kate Bateman did a lovely job with this book. The relationship between Carys and Tristan develops very naturally and doesn't feel forced. I loved that a large portion of the story took place at a house party. I always like books with those in them. They tend to lend themselves to the juicy side of things and that was definitely the case with A Daring Pursuit.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

Carys is a free spirit with a shocking secret. Tristan is a the exact opposite. They grew up in neighboring houses and have always each secretly liked the other. Tristan is planning to marry a boring, respectable woman. Carys has no plans to marry at all.

Once these 2 get together it is all fireworks. Tristan finds out Carys is being blackmailed and helps her. Shenanigans with all of her animal friends ensue. They find out that they are better together than apart and Tristan will go to great lengths to protect her when the time comes.

I received an advanced reader’s copy of A Daring Pursuit by Kate Bateman for review.

I loved the characters in this story. Enemies to lovers is one for my favorite tropes and this novel had all the elements making for a great read. Tristan and Carys were constantly needling each other and push/pull between them created a wonderful tension. I loved that the romance was at the forefront of the story and the events happening around them was secondary and didn’t take over the story. The story has wonderful tension.

Kate Bateman is a favorite author and I’m eagerly waiting for the next book in this series.

This is the second in the series. I loved how the characters were written, with the heroine being quite eccentric and the hero quiet, calm, and calculated. There wasn’t so much adventure in this story,it is more of a steamy romance, which is why I stopped reading it halfway through. I have always loved Ms. Bateman’s writing but I prefer the romance to be more simple whereas this one is all about sex. If you like steam you will really enjoy this story. I received this as an ARC through Netgalley and freely give my review.

I loved this book! That is exactly how my review of the first book of the Reckless Rivals series began as well. I visited Wales and fell in love after spending only a day there and so these books put me in a happy place just knowing they are mostly set there and not in the usual ballrooms (which I love also, it's just a nice change.) Carys and Tristan are supposed to hate one another and even act like it most the time, but do they really? After Tristan weedles Carys' secret from her, he wants to kill a certain person, but Carys in an effort to protect everyone talks him out of it. They are thrown together quite a lot now that her brother and his sister are married (book 1) and Maddie is throwing her first house party. Further discussions lead Carys and Tristan to an interesting agreement as tutor and student. Throw in a runaway bear, a political plot and a couple of naughty but hilarious ravens and you have the makings of a great book with well-rounded characters that you root for through-out the book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I want to preface my review by saying historical romances in general are my happy place. I quite literally light up with so much joy when reading them and I’ve never been as happy as I was reading A Daring Pursuit.

I’ll be honest, prior to ADP I hadn’t read anything by Kate Bateman, not for lack of wanting but a case of ‘too many books, too little time’. But that all changes now. I loved ADP so much I’m making amends and am currently prioritizing many of the author’s previous series.

I think it was love at first sight for me, I mean it literally started off with the first sentence, “Lady Carys Davies dressed to meet her blackmailer in the same way she dressed for every other social occasion: scandalously.”

And then I read the second, “Her clothes were both her armor and her weapons, and although outright murder—however justified—was out of the question, there was still a slim hope that her outfit would induce a fatal apoplexy in her tormentor, Christopher Howe.”

I really want to add in the third and fourth sentences but instead I’m going to highly recommend you reader checking it out for yourself because… 🤌🏻🙌🏻

Carys and Tristan’s whole dynamic and narrative was fantastic. I loved them from beginning to end. I loved their banter, their chemistry (literally leaps off the page 🥵), but most of all the piiiining. When I say I want that pining tension in the books I read, this is what I mean. It was incredibly well done, so much so I was too hooked to set ADP down.

I also just loved the whole dynamic of the characters and storyline in general- the feuding families, enemies to lovers kind of thing here is my favorite depiction of it and I genuinely can’t recommend it to enough!

I am eagerly looking forward to so much more of this series ♥️

A Daring Pursuit is the second book in the Ruthless Rivals series but can definitely be read as a stand-alone!

I received an early review copy in exchange for an honest review. A huge thanks to St.Martins Press and SMP Romance for the gifted copy!

After reading <i>A Reckless Match</i> last year, I have been anxiously awaiting the next book in the Ruthless Rivals series. And Kate Bateman did not disappoint. I can't rave enough about <i>A Daring Pursuit</i>. It is easily one of the best enemies to lovers books that I've ever read.

The banter between Carys and Tristan is brilliantly written. And the supporting cast is perfection. It was nice catching up with Maddie and Gryff, but also seeing more of Morgan, Rhys, Harriet, and the rest of the Montgomery and Davies clans.

If you have not read a Kate Bateman book yet, you are truly missing out.

Thanks to SMP and NetGalley for receiving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I've read lots of books with rakes, rouges, scoundrels and villains' before and this story takes the cake. Not only has Christopher Howe ruined Carys Davies when she thought he might offer for marriage but he now has the gall to blackmail her about it. Her only recourse is to remain unwed so that no future husband would find out that she was no longer a virgin. She is alone in her worries until her arch nemesis Tristan Montgomery finds out about the blackmail by accident.
These two have grown up together in feuding families but there seems to always have been something magnetic between the two. He is upright and maybe a little uptight - always perfectly groomed and disciplined. She is a bit of a wild child always up to something. When they finally get together sparks fly. He offers to show her what she is missing by not marrying thinking they would both enjoy it but instead he finds himself caught up in feelings for her.
The heat index is high in this book and when they find themselves in danger it becomes clear that they have moved from enemies to lovers. Once that happens they are able to find their Happily Ever After.
I received an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.

I absolutely adore this book. The first one was good, it can be read as a stand alone. Carys and Tristan are enemies, and then to enemies with benefits and then I've been in love with you for years. Their banter and bickering is the best. Carys is known a Devilish Davies, from her extravagant wardrobe to her attitude. Tristan is the exact opposite with an impeccable reputation and a war hero. These two together and its fireworks. Man I loved this book.

My first read from this author and I will definitely be looking for more.

I really enjoyed Carise and Tristan’s frenemies to lovers romance. Family feuds don’t stand in the way of true love!

Plenty of witty banter, great chemistry and a few moments I genuinely LOLd had me power reading this one.

I am so upset I could cry 😭😭 Of course, this book gets all the stars there’s no doubt about that BUT I am so upset it ended and I wish I could be reading more of Tristan and Carys. If there were 20 more books about these two, you better bet I’d read and love them all. This is one book that I just didn’t want to have ever end and it’ll for sure be one of my top five books of the year.

This was the historical version of The Hating Game with a slight Romeo & Juliet twist but just SO MUCH BETTER. Two rival families; the Davies and the Montgomery’s have had a feud for the longest time and Carys Davies and Tristan Montgomery have been in their own personal feud for as long as either can remember. But there is a very very thin line between love and hate & when Tristan discovers a secret that Carys (the woman who shocks the ton at every turn) has been hiding afraid of what it’s discovery would mean for her reputation, Tristan offers up a sort of .. partnership. What these two don’t realize is that once they start to give in even slightly towards their feelings for each other, everything else comes crashing right in. (At some instances, that crashing in is even quite literal 🤯😍)

I could just go on and on about these characters and if like me, you’re having Daphne Bridgerton & Simon withdrawals, do yourself a favor and pick this book up RIGHT NOW. As for me? I’ll go back to pining for more of these characters 😭

Kate Bateman is one of the best rising stars of romance authors! Her sense of adventure and fun definitely show up in her books. I love her take on the Montagues and the Capulets type family feud in this series. These enemies to lovers just steam of the page! On top of that she throws in some animal capers with the heroine's way of rescuing animals and it's a totally enjoyable story.

Carys Davies was burned so badly her first season she has no wish to ever be married! Men cannot be trusted with her heart, well except for her brother, Lord Gryffud Davies. She's being blackmailed by the devil who violated her person so she rebels against society dressing flamboyantly to push suitors away. She longs to be free to be herself and not stuffed into the cage of a Regency wife. When she slips into her blackmailer's carriage and is discovered by Tristan Montgomery instead the story begins to come to light. Tristan just won the carriage from the pompous Lord Christopher Howe in a card game and thinks Carys is having an affair. He quickly ascertains it's blackmail, not an affair. They strike a deal that night to that she'll help him find a wife if he'll help her bring down Lord Howe. The relationship between them soon steams off the page. Throw in an abused carnival bear and a few animals from her rescue menagerie and it's a heck of an adventure!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my second Kate Bateman book and I loved it just as much, possibly more than the first book of her Ruthless Rivals series. As in the previous book, the Mongomery and Davies families have had a long-standing feud between their families. This feud has been somewhat quelled by the marriage of Madeline Montgomery and Gryff Davis in "A Reckless Match." For our heroine in this book, we meet Gryff's sister, Carys Davies, who is trying her very hardest to not get married to hide a secret that could be her undoing. Tristan Montgomery is the man that she has always pined after but enjoyed the banter the two of them share when in the same social situations over the years. Tristan has wanted Carys for as long as he can remember but has always had restraint when it came to wanting a Davies.

I quite loved Tristan's personality in this book and it really shined when he was with Carys. He is the perfect combination of charming, witty, and amusing that I love in a man.
"If I ever decide to become a male tart, I'll use that quote on my trade cards. 'Tristan Montgomery: a hundred times better than your previous love."
Tristan learns of Carys' secret early on in the book and endeavors to show her the opposite of what it has cemented into her mind about men and sex. I love the teach me sex trope in romance and this one did not disappoint.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of the above opinions are my own.

Carys Davies has every intention of avoiding marriage. Thanks to the need to hide a secret that could be potentially ruinous to her family, she doesn’t have much choice. Instead, she’s occupied herself by keeping high society guessing what her next outrageous outfit might be, using her ever-wild behavior as a way to discourage suitors. Beneath the mask she presents to the world, Carys is very unsure if she even believes in the possibility of love anymore, but everyone believes in the persona she presents. Everyone, that is, except Tristan Montgomery.

Lord Tristan Montgomery is all that is proper and correct. Having returned from battling Napoleon, his interest now lies in establishing his career as an architect before he inherits his father’s title. He’s always wanted Carys though, so when she challenges him to show her all she’d be missing by not marrying, he calls her bluff. He’ll arrange furtive meetings for them during his sister’s week-long house party, after which they’ll go their separate ways. But passion between them ignites much hotter than either expected and when they stumble upon a treasonous plot, Tristan and Carys are forced to evaluate their true feelings in a hurry.

This book was enemies, more like frenemies really, to lovers in the best way. There were no heaps of unnecessary angst or drama, and I was so happy about that. The chemistry between Tristan and Carys fairly leapt off the page, it was so palpable. Everyone around them could see that they belonged together, it was just the two of them who had to catch up. I loved that once he’d realized his feelings, Tristan wasn’t afraid to ask for what he truly wanted, even if Carys had a hard time believing his sincerity at first. His protectiveness of her and her scandalous secret was like catnip to me and, although I think it took a bit for the plot to really get going, the bedroom lessons trope was so well-employed here. I think both Tristan and Carys had some learning to do about intimacy and I loved the fact that they made those discoveries together and it caused them to realize they had probably always loved one another. Add in a bit of adventure to catalyze Tristan and Carys’ getting together and this book had just about everything I like in a romance. This has been a delightful series so far and I’m looking forward to the next installment.

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

Wow what a great story. I loved the tension between Carys and Tristan both romantically and as enemies. Those uptight and proper heroes are always the best and when they fall, they fall hard. Tristan was no exception. I found I wanted to keep reading, even when the clock told me I should stop and get some sleep. These are the best kinds of books. I’m looking forward to Morgan’s story. Hopefully he’s next.

Carys Davies is doing everything in her power to avoid getting married, because she has a secret that would ruin her family if it got out. So, she wears outrageous outfits and acts too brazen with future suitors to throw them off. There is only one problem - her greatest rival, Tristan Montgomery, doesn't believe her act for a minute. He is also the only man who's ever held her interest.

Tristan may be a proper architect, but he needs to get married and he's never stopped wanting Carys. She jokingly suggests he illustrate what she's missing by not being married, he proposes a week of secret meetings after which they will go on with their lives separately. It turns out they're as good at kissing as they are at arguing.

Soon they find themselves in the middle of a plot to commit treasons and they need to trust each other to get out alive.

This book was such a fun read! There is my favorite of all tropes, enemies to lovers, along with some hot chemistry between the lead couple, along with side plots of mystery and intrigue to keep me reading.

A cute story, though as a fan of enemies-to-lovers, I wish there had been more background on it besides them just being from rival families. Like maybe more flashbacks? I didn't realize this was book #2 in a series when I started, so definitely felt like I was missing something at times. The heroine was intriguing, if a bit dense. Their interactions were sweet, though I wish there had been more banter before they got together. Enjoyable & light read.