Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What an absolute delight of a novel. I loved how well-rounded the characters are and how the romance and chemistry between Joan and Rowles is built up through conversation and mutual admiration rather than just physical attraction.

What the novel lacks in steam it makes up for in real human emotion and I found myself invested in a stronger way than usual with the characters and what happens to them.

I like Morgan, although I am not sure I agree with all of his choices. And I truly loved the way Rowles respects and treats Joan.

i really lovely read.

I feel like the blurb is doing it a disservice to find the right audience? First and foremost, the MMC is a theology professor at Christ’s College at Cambridge. This is not inherently bad by any means whatsoever, but he’s a bit two-dimensional in his thoughts for teaching so I feel like he’d be better off as a vicar (but that could be my own preference for a having a theological discussion in a collegiate setting). The romance hinted at both of the MCs being sapiosexual, which I found adorable and a good match with low angst.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advance reader copy. All thoughts are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written historical romance. It was sweet, fun and action-packed. I appreciated that the two main characters had conversations and got to know each other, building their connection and attraction. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

They both have a secret...

Rowles, the second son, who was a divinity professor, is now a duke with a secret. His mother suffers from mental illness, which was little understood in 1815. He;s drawn to Joan Morgan, a new debutante with a big secret. She works for the war office. She's clever and though only nineteen, she's more mature than most girls making their debut. Both Rowles and Joan have lost a brother to a fire.

I liked this book, with well drawn, very human characters, even though I don't normally read Christian books. This book deals extensively with the conundrums of Christianity and peoples actions and perceptions.
Recommend.
4.5

This is the second installment in The Cambridge Brotherhood series, in which the scholarly spare son, inherits the family title. Kristin Vayden has created a lovely and gentle series so far, that can be read as standalones, and give an interesting look into the mindset of a son who must step up into a role that he has not trained for and has little desire for. Vayden's writing is comfortable and easily accessible. Vayden's plots are gently paced and the romance is sweet and simple. If you are looking for a very lightly sensual romance that is softly romantic and respectful, that is for sure what you will find in the pages of a Kristin Vayden novel.

Rowles is a reluctant duke who would much prefer the writing of scholarly papers, he has always stayed out of society's eyes in the hopes of keeping a family secret hidden, that has to do with his Mother's mental health and the potential that it is hereditary. (Content Notes for death of a parent). But now that he is the new duke he knows that his responsibilities must be shared and he has a duty to his title, so when he reconnects with Lady Jane, the sister to his best friend, he is intrigued and drawn to her. Lady Jane also has a secret that she longs to tell Rowles but she is not at liberty to dispose of it.

I think the driving force of this novel is really the relationship building that is happening between Jane and Rowles. They both have secrets that the other can feel masked below the surface which is the tension that draws them together. They also just have a charming banter and dialogue in every interaction they have. They are both intelligent and find an equal match in the other to explore questions and learn new understandings. As they both open up about their secrets it is really lovely to see that neither of them judges the other. They are always open and honest with each other which creates a really lovely foundation for a romance between them to grow. While their romance might not be sparking with fire, there is a really lovely gentleness to the respect they have for each other, and the choices they make in keeping their minds and hearts open to what the other person needs.

If you go into this romance with the right expectations, knowing that the steam level is very low and that Vayden really explores Christianity as a driving believe and commonplace for her hero and heroine, then I think you will enjoy this novel. Vayden has a lovely writing style that is easily readable and her characters are interesting and open with each other in a really refreshing way. If you read the first in this series and enjoyed, definitely give this one a chance, I found it to be an enjoyable romance and continues to make me interested in more of Kristin Vayden's works.

This was an exciting new book by one of my favorite authors. Ms Vayden writes a splendid tale of two people who have secrets they hold dear. The characters were fully developed with thoughts and feelings of their own. Even though this book is #2 in a series, it can be read as a stand alone.
You meet a man who didn't want the title of duke and a lady who has an unusual talent.
Lord Rowles Haywind, Duke of Westmore has always been in his element writing scholarly pages and isn't comfortable around the ton. Since he is a Duke now, Rowles shies away from things that involve courting. His mother's mental illness keeps him from wanting to marry and produce children.
Rowles needs a bit of help now that his responsibility of the Dukedom is his to take care of. He connects to an old friend, Lady Joan Morgan. She can size people up with her insight of working for the War Office. Joan keeps this a secret from Rowles as their confidences become more personal in nature. If she tells, Joan is afraid they will become distant with each other.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between them at first page. It only took trust and love to have a happy every after.
I appreciate Net Galley for the ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

Dukes and realizations!

Whilst I rather liked the characters of Rowles Haywind, Duke of Westmore, and Lady Joan Morgan, I felt the storyline meandered far too much.
A nobleman whose mother’s mental illness makes him wary of ever marrying in case he passes the illness onto his children. He was at his best at Cambridge. When his older brother died he had to ex-chance Cambridge for a Dukedom. His love of challenging conversations has never left him and that’s what Joan provides, stimulating discourse, and maybe something more.
A young noblewoman who hides considerable talents for detecting, exposing forgeries and works secretly for the war office, Joan wants a normal life, but how much will her secret make a husband shudder. There’s a hint of presence but didn’t fully develop. Joan also wants a world where the freedom to be equal and have the same opportunities as men is normal.
Mental health conditions of the time and the addiction to laudenham, are discussed. The terror of such situations is talked about but these ideas didn’t flow comfortably, rather they’re inserted and somewhat stilted. Rowles makes sure his mother is cared for even though the attempts to reason with her are fraught. I must say it was rather shocking that his mother and brother had discussed putting Rowles into Bedlam should his scholarship and attitude to servants cause concern amongst the ton.
Chapters are headed by supposed quotes from Joan of Arc. I was finding the relevance somewhat scattered. Although Joan’s code name is Saint. So there’s a hint.
There are many positive interactions but it all felt slightly off key.
I had no problem with content having a Christian flavour, but there was just too many other threads at play.

A Sourcbooks ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

An incredible love story about the meeting of the minds as well as the heart. I enjoyed the philosophical discussions but the book also deals with women’s rights, orphanages, adoptions, mental illness, loss, mystery and investigations as well as family and sibling love. All these woven together seamlessly and with great skill.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and leaving my review voluntarily.

DNF ~50%. I enjoyed the characters but the plot was thin. The author seemed to over-focus on manners and propriety rather than on telling a compelling story.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one was not for me. I never felt the connection between Rowles and Joan. Right when I thought they were going to give me that tension and feelings, they talked about politics. Between theology and politics, the romance seemed overshadowed.

Lord Rowles Haywind was a professor of divinity at Cambridge but following his brother’s death he's now the Duke of Westmore & he has more responsibility than he ever dreamed of. He needs help, but he's not sure he can trust anyone enough. Until he reconnects with Lady Joan Morgan...
Lady Joan's penetrating insights reassure Rowles as no one ever has. But she has a secret of her own that would cause a terrible scandal. She longs to tell Rowles the truth about her work for the war office, but she's afraid it'll ruin the connection they've rekindled. But the longer she waits to tell him, the worse the outcome could be for them both once the truth is out
A well written book with strong characters but it was a very slow burn romance. I did like the connection between Rowles & Joan, their conversations & how they overcame their grief together. There’s also the issue of Rowles’ mother's mental health, which is handled sensitively. A thoughtful book, which I found myself delving into over a period of about a week, yes it was that slow!
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I’m sorry but I had to dnf this book just after 20% .
I don’t think I will enjoy it further and the characters felt shallow and not interesting at all. The whole story is not for me and while I love a good historical romance, maybe the next one will be better for me.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Lord Rowles Haywind was never envious of his brother’s role as Duke of Westmore, instead enjoying his position as a professor of divinity at Cambridge. With his brother’s tragic death, Rowles is left to assume the responsibilities of the dukedom as well as care for his mother, who suffers from a mental illness he strives to hide from the eyes of London’s gossips. Rowles is concerned this trait could be passed on to him or his children, but that doesn’t stop him seeking out a wife to help him face all the responsibilities he's been saddled with and when he reconnects with his best friend’s sister, Lady Joan Morgan, he believes he’s found the perfect woman.

Lady Joan seems to see right through to Rowles’ core in a way that no one else has ever done. She has longs to confide in Rowles her own secrets about her role within the home office, but she fears his rejection. Joan doesn’t want to destroy their burgeoning attachment, but she also doesn’t want to make things worse if he were to find out in some other way.

This book was very sweet, but I didn’t find it to be particularly romantic. It was very centered on grief and loss, as well as dealing with a loved one who has dementia. All of these topics hit very close to home for me personally after a year laden with loss and grief and I think that tanked my enjoyment of this story. I did find comfort with some of the Biblical references and verses mentioned in the text, but I read romance as an escape from reality and that was definitely not what this book provided for me. Those issues aside, I think it is also worth mentioning that most of the conversations between Joan and Rowles are really just erudite debates of religion, philosophy, and social issues. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy a smart romance, because I do, but these conversations were nearly the only interactions to be found between these MCs and they almost always ended in Joan being offended and going off in a huff without explaining herself, leaving Rowles to seek her out another day to explain himself and mend things. I know some readers will adore this because he really fell for her mind, but it just was not romantic to me.

Also, as a side note: Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we didn’t have to deal with any hesitation to marry and have children on Rowles’ part, however, I am also surprised that we didn’t have this because of how frequently he mentioned his fear of ending up like his mother, and also because of the blurb description. Another oddity of this book.

With the romance already suffering in this one, it was further hindered by Joan’s brother and his disapproval of her attachment to Rowles. He went so far as to ask Rowles to distance himself from her, which Rowles thankfully couldn’t bring himself to do because he somehow already loved her, and of course later on he supported their love and could think of no better match for Joan. I was just left super confused as to why he disapproved in the first place, and this was never explained. The feeble concerns he did have were about Joan’s past and her role within the home office and it seems to me that those factors would’ve made Rowles a much better candidate for her marriage than some random lord since he was at least a friend to the brother. The two men also have a random fist fight after Rowles has a painful experience with his mother and is having a bad day and seeking the comfort of his friend. They definitely didn’t seem especially friendly, and I could never really make heads or tails of their dynamic. It just made absolutely zero sense to me and yet it was a plot point for a good third of the book for some reason. Unrelated but also annoying for me was the fact that Joan referred to her brother, her only remaining family in the world, by their shared surname. It just felt off to me and I found it irritating for some reason.

There is an attempt to add some intrigue with relation to an issue Joan and her brother have been working on for the home office, but that peters out to nothing very quickly and it just becomes an odd side trip, and her secret was not a big deal at all. This whole book was a bit like that, with a lot of different plot threads going on, and yet at the same time I found the story to be pretty slow and boring. I’m not sure how that happened, and I’m sure other readers will find a lot to love about this story, but it was too sweet and yet also too sad and grief-focused to be a hit for me at this point in my life.

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

This book surprised me, as while I expected it to be clean like the previous story, I did not anticipated it to be a Christian romance.
It should be labeled as such, as while I do not mind them even they are not my favorites, other readers might not receive it well.
It also deal with insanity and how people were mistreated at that time, plus the black mark it would put upon a bloodline.
Yet as the hero is a duke, so his lofty title should make do about the « taint ».

After there were many misguided thoughts, all related of the mind illness, the hero fearing he might suffer the same affliction, the heroine afraid to be labeled as such because of her intensive learning, the heroine’s brother and friend of the hero blowing hot and cold, happy with his friendship yet repulsed by the idea of a romance between his sister and his friend, with no real explanation of why.
Then there is the adoption subject addressed in the story, how was it accomplished as adopting a child had no legality until much much later.

In all, I never feel the chemistry between Joan and Rowles, their conversations were nice but not enough to explain the pull they feel between them.
I was never really sucked into the pages and in part felt the story dragged when some passages could have been resolved faster.
3 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 kisses

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

This Regency romance series begins with an interesting premise. A fire at a party with the loss of several lives turns the second sons into the future title holders and heirs. This is the second book and can be read as a stand alone. Lord Rowles Haywind was a Cambridge professor until the death of his older brother. Now only in his mid 20s is he a Duke and responsible for his mother who is driven mad from her losses.

Lady Joan Morgan is 19 and having her debut in society. Rowles attends as best friend of her brother and is unprepared for the connection he feels towards his friends sister. This is a fairly straight forward romance. But it is complicated by a few things. First the brother is actively against their courting because of Rowles mothers malady. Secondly, Joan herself is a little unusual. She secretly assists the home office. She is an expert as figuring out forgeries and is keenly observant and uses those skills to help her brother as he serves the country. She even has a code name Saint, referring to the saint she is named after. The third thing throw in is the mother herself who is mentally ill. It gives some idea how a person would be treated in those times.

Overall I liked the story. I enjoyed the second where Rowles has declared his intentions. The first half has he and Joan debating ideas and I found that more tiring than endearing. I liked it better when they were more plainly talking to each other and expressing their feelings. I am looking forward to brother Morgan’s story next year. This is a clean or proper romance with nothing beyond kissing. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (3.5 stars)

This is a new author for me and I expected to like this from the description as I love a bit of cloak and dagger in my romances. However I found this dragged too much it was slowed down by the constant debates and the intrigue implied never really came off. The character's were boring and never really kept my interest. 2.5 rounded up. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A different setting and some unique occupations you dont often find in historical romance. In saying that, it wasn't my favorite by this author. It did have some sweet touching moments that I enjoyed though.

2.5 stars, rounded up.

As a professor of Divinity at Cambridge, Lord Rowles Haywind was happy with his lot in life, but all that changes when his brother is killed along with several others, and Rowles finds himself in a role he isn’t prepared for, the new Duke of Westmore, with not only the responsibilities of the dukedom but also the care of his mother, who is mentally ill and had declined since his brother Robert’s unexpected death. His mother’s care is something he takes seriously and something that worries him, will he be afflicted? Would his children? To be safe, he decides not to marry, but that is before he meets his best friend’s sister, Lady Joan Morgan, and is intrigued, even though he tries his best to keep some distance between them.

Joan is drawn to Rowles, as they not only have an instant intellectual connection but also share a tragic common bond by way of the deaths of their brothers. Joan’s eldest brother died at the same bachelor party as his brother did and her brother Collin “Morgan” became the Earl of Penderdale. Joan and Morgan work for the Home Office, Joan is an expert at detecting forgeries and reading people, but if this ever got out, it would mean scandal and ruin. But as get to know each other and they begin to engage in a lot of deep and theological conversations, she starts to fall for him, and she longs to share her work with him but fears his reaction, and the longer she waits, the harder it is to tell him.

This was not a hit for me, it was a book of missed opportunities, and based on the blurb, I was expecting so much more action and drama, but instead, I got a very sweet, slow-moving story about two people dealing with grief and their journey to healing. This is a slow-burn, no-steam romance with likable characters each with their own issues to overcome. I did notice a lot of reviewers seeming surprised by the Christian undertones in the book, but Rowles was a Professor of Divinity, so I wasn’t really surprised by the references, and I don’t think I would go as far as to label it a “Christian” romance. Overall, the book was not what I was hoping for, it was a slow, and at times boring read. This is the second book in the series, but it could be read as a standalone title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

This was about 4 books In one and none of them were done well and none of them were what I wanted. The love story was younger sister and brothers best friend and it was a very lame attempt to keep them apart and then it fizzled. She was a spy, he had a crazy mother and she turned out to be adopted. All of which could have been their own driving narrative in a more focused book, but instead made a muddle in this one. Not only was it closed door, we did t even get a decent kiss and there was no heat. None. Btn the two. The plot zooomed past attraction and went right to soulmates.

A reluctant duke who'd rather be writing scholarly papersA lady with a unique and scandalous secretThe tempting chemistry between them they can no longer denyAnd a truth that will either set them free or tear them apart...
Lord Rowles Haywind has always shied away from the spotlight of his brother's dukedom, worried it would bring too much attention to the family secret. His mother suffers from mental illness, and he dreads that he may turn out to have it to, or worse, that any children he may have will inherit her disability. Now that the title of Duke belongs to him, he has more responsibility than he ever dreamed of. He needs help, but he's not sure he can trust anyone enough. Until he reconnects with Lady Joan Morgan...
Lady Joan's penetrating insights reassure Rowles as no one ever has. But she has a secret of her own that would cause a terrible scandal. She longs to tell Rowles the truth about her work for the war office, but she's afraid it'll ruin the connection they've kindled. But the longer she waits to tell him, the worse the outcome could be for them both once the truth is out...
I couldn't quite get into this book but I did finish it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.