Cute story about a widow who gets snowed in at an inn with a viscount and has a romantic rendezvous. He ends up disappearing without saying goodbye and then they reconnect several years later at a house party. The story is cute and different. Definitely not your usual clueless compromised virgin trope, which I was glad of. I could've done with a little more building up of the relationship between them, because it was mostly just physical. But hey, I guess thats what romance novels are mostly for, right? Overall, I really enjoyed the story. It was spicy and a quick read. Thanks Netgalley and the author for letting me have a copy to review!

4/5 stars
3/5 spice

Caught in a snowstorm with one bed... you know it's going down.

Tropes:
Class differences
Viscount & Widow
Forced proximity
One Bed
House party affair
Single dad
Older MCs (both in 30s which is older in historical romances)

Juliana and Lucas were caught in a snowstorm and ended up sharing a room so a family of six could stay safe from the weather.

I loved how likable these two characters were. Right off the bat, they are amiable, charming, easygoing, and obviously attracted to each other. Their short time together in the inn awakened something inside the both of them and they were better for it. Unfortunately when their time was up the Viscount ran away instead of facing the obvious connection he had with Juliana.

I liked how there was very little conflict and the pace of the story was quick. I finished this book in a day! I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys low conflict, low angst, and steamy romances.

I was provided an ARC from Netgalley and Zealous Quill Press in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the majority of this novella, but I very much disliked the epilogue, and for once I thought the story was better without it. From being snowed in with just one bed for a moment in time, to not being able to keep their hands off each other at a matchmaking house party, the chemistry between the MCs was everything I could have hoped for! Ultimately the revelation driving the third act conflict was not only incredibly convenient but it wasn’t a good look for the MMC. I did think the FMC acted very warm and graciously, so I didn’t mind it in the end.

Now for a spoiler because I need to vent. If you make the FMC barren, and she opens her heart and arms to the bastard child of her man, for the love of all that is good in this world, please let the family be. They are whole. They are happy. They do not need a miracle baby thrown in the epilogue. It left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I’m now conflicted over the entire story.

Thank you to the publisher for the advance reader copy via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you NetGalley. Widow Julianna is caught in a snowstorm on her way home. She meets the Viscount Audlington and he gives up his room for a family with small children. Julianna offers her floor in her room the first night and the second after the spend and enjoyable day together to share her bed. He leaves in the morning before she wakes up. She has thought about this for two years. She is invited to a house party and the viscount is there. They can not resist each other. After a time in which he asks her to marry him, he leaves again without saying goodbye. It is a fun story of kiss and makeup.

A fun, engaging and sweet novella, perfect for historical romance fans. I enjoyed the banter between the main characters and how it culminated into affection for one another. I also loved how the protagonists were older, more established, which is not something I see often in historical romances! All in all, a great read to start the year with.

Two strangers meet in an inn and are instantly taken with one another to the point that they share a night together that sticks with them almost two years later when they reunite at a matchmaking house party.

I found this premise to be intriguing and exciting, but the overall execution was a disappointment. So much of the relationship hinged on the physical, and the emotional development was entirely left out of the equation. I was told rather than shown why they love one another. The heroine even asks why he loves her and I was hoping that I would get a satisfactory answer, yet his response was that he just does. There is no building of a connection with an almost two year absence in which they both are with other people.

While this relationship and the execution of this story did not work for me, I did enjoy the first half of the book with all the potential that it held.

I read and reviewed an eARC of this book thanks to Zealous Quill Press via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this historical novella: a fresh appealing story with a confident and endearing female lead.

Juliana Sheldon has been widowed for 3 years when she meets viscount Lucas Trask, stranded at the same inn on a cold snowy night. Juliana is not looking for a marriage and the one passionate night they share agrees with her, if not for the viscount leaving at dawn and letting her wake up to an empty bed, with not so much as a farewell or a note. Which makes him the "Runaway Viscount" in Juliana's memory.

Two years later they meet again at a matchmaking house party, reciprocally not knowing the other would have attended. Lucas sees the opportunity to rekindle their affair and maybe more, Juliana is determined to enjoy torturing him, by tantalizing him to then be unattainable. But not everything goes as planned: it's hard to tease when you are falling in love.

I liked Juliana and Lucas. Especially Juliana, her independence, self-confidence and directedness. I enjoyed their interactions and seeing how they meant to just have fun, to realize that it is all growing into something more, in spite of their preconceptions.
I also liked the house party group and the side characters.

I found some exchanges and reactions too modern and out of time, which spoiled the historical setting for me. It was still very enjoyable with some spicy scenes, but they did not seem to fit the Jane Austen flavour expected by an older times context.

A nice historical novella for a quick pleasant read.

I had not heard of this author previously, so was unsure of their writing style.

The tropes in this book are: insta-lust, only one bed, one-night stand and infertility.

It was clear to me after only a couple of chapters that this author is not for me. I found the emotional aspect of the plot to be missing and I could not relate in any way to the characters.

Also, while they claim to have fallen in love, the main male character, Lucas, had a child by his mistress (who he then employs), and the main female character, Juliana, had her own affair. With these two things going on, I didn’t buy the love aspect at all.

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Two years ago, independent widow Juliana Sheldon spent a blissful night with the Viscount Audlington at an inn during a snowstorm, and the next morning, he left without a word. Juliana doesn’t realize how much his abandonment upset her until she encounters him at a matchmaking house party. He’d like to rekindle their affair, but Juliana prefers to torment him instead. Until she finally surrenders to temptation—only to be dismayed when he begins to talk about the one thing she doesn’t want: marriage.

Lucas Trask, heir to an earldom, has left his rakish reputation behind in favor of finally taking a wife. He never forgot Juliana and reconnecting with her seems like fate is telling him who he should wed. However, Lucas has a secret, one he’s never dared share with anyone. If he can convince Juliana to be his wife, he’ll reveal everything. But when tragedy strikes, he must leave again. This time, the runaway viscount may be all out of luck.
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Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

A relaxing read. A lady and gentleman are stranded in a snowstorm and get on rather well for one night. They meet years later and this is where the story of their romance builds. A good read, typical of a Darcy Burke book where the story progresses quickly and with a mix of excitement and humour.

This was a delightful, yet sensuous novel. There will be some.spoilers in this review.
The book opens with the heroine searching for an inn during a snowstorm. She is lucky to find one that had a room available and it was clean and well kept. She signed in and put her items in her room. The door did not latch properly and a man called.out if anyone needed help. The heroine was upset that he just invited himself into her room and was a bit snippy. He apologized and he invited her to the dining room for supper. As they walked down, he introduced himself as Viscount Aulington. He is the hero of athis story. A woman with four children come into the inn and request a room. They are told no rooms are available and they can sleep in the main room. The hero offers his room because it was large, with a large bed and smaller bed for a servant. The hero offered to sleep in the tap room, even though he is nobility. After eating, the heroine decides to ask if he wants to sleep on the floor.of her room instead. The heroine is a widow of 29 years old and thinks he is attractive. The hero is 31 years old and thinks the heroine is attractive. When they get ready for sleep, they both agree to share the bed and the attraction moves to lust. The next morning, the hero leaves with no note or anything. The heroine goes about her life. Almost two years later, the hero is invited to a house party where there will be widows looking for husbands or just some company. The hero is happy to see the heroine, but doesn't realize that she is mad that he left her with no note and has given him and nickname. She calls him the runaway viscount and is not as happy to see him.
This book was such an immersable and quick read. It was over before I realized it, but it was a complete novel. This was such a good story. I do not want to give more spoilers, but the ending is just appropriate for the couple. There are trials and tribulations, since no romance is a walk in the park. I enjoyed the story very much and I feel the characters were wonderful. They had a nice age gap and good rapport. The settings were very descriptive and I felt as if I was there. I give this book 5 stars and a recommendation to read.

This was a zippy and sweet little romance that made me want to read more in the Matchmaking Chronicles series.

The book begins in a snowed in inn (see what I did there?) where Juliana, an intelligent and witty widow, and Lucas, who can probably best be described as a rake with a heart of gold who isn't very good at the rake part, encounter one another for the first time. Sparks fly and clothes fly off, but when the snow dissipates Lucas leaves without a word. A few years later they encounter one another at a house party and Juliana might have held just the tiniest grudge. The rest of the book is dominated by will-they-or-won't-they and misunderstandings, which are generally very well done.

I especially loved the wildly entertaining house party shenanigans. Juliana and Lucas' efforts to get one another's attention when, in fact, they already had one another's full attention were both heart-warming and hilarious. It was so obvious that they were besotted with one another that it always felt more like a when will they than a true will-they-or-won't they, but waiting for the when became so very satisfying. The Blind Man's Bluff game, in particular, was perfection.

I also appreciated the author's relatively realistic approach to sex-- clitoral stimulation is needed, when he is carrying her Lucas needs to set Juliana down to open doors and doesn't just kick them in, and the sex itself, while steamy enough, doesn't consist of feats that people who have actually had sexual partners know aren't possible for mere mortals.

However, a few things really weighed on me while I was reading and prevented a higher rating.

The first two chapters, which set the scene for everything that comes, were by far the weakest part of the book, and I actually thought about DNF toward the end of the second chapter. This would have been a mistake, but having never read Burke before I had nothing but those chapters to go on, and I wasn't impressed with them. These chapters were dialogue heavy, without describing much either about the setting or the main character's feelings. Juliana and Lucas did say in the dialogue why they were attracted to one another, but at that point in the book this was very much told and not shown-- for example, Lucas tells Juliana that he is impressed with her wit, but at that point we had not see her be the slightest bit witty. Brazen, perhaps, but not witty.

I also really couldn't buy into the book's stated main conflict. Juliana and Lucas were both very clear during their encounter at the inn that they only intended to be together sexually, and only until the weather improved enough for them to travel. Maybe it's because I'm in my 30's and don't have time for the pettier things life has to offer any more, but I struggled to understand why Juliana was so upset that a one-time sexual partner, who she herself only wanted to be a one-time sexual partner, failed to say goodbye to her and left when he explicitly said he would leave. Did she really have nothing better to stew on in the ensuing 2 years? It would have been different if she had wanted more to come of the liaison, but at that point she was quite insistent, even in her own mind, that she did not want more.

Now, there was a secondary conflict that was in fact far more compelling-- the fact that Juliana "was afraid to acknowledge her true feelings, let alone embrace them." At one point, after finally having this realization, she muses that maybe she is the "Runaway Widow" rather than Lucas actually being the Runaway Viscount, and that resonated with me and gave more dimension to why she was actually so upset that Lucas left. But there was no hint of this whatsoever in the book before her epiphany about it-- in fact mere pages before she was declaring loudly to Lucas and to anyone else who would listen that she didn't want to marry again. I wish this epiphany had somehow been hinted at instead of coming out of the blue.

Finally, there were a few plot threads that left me with very mixed feelings. Minor spoilers do follow. I appreciated that Burke chose to grapple with infertility in the book. I can only recall one other Historical Romance that I've read that approached this topic, and I liked how it was handled during the courtship here-- somehow both matter-of-factly and with the nuance and consideration it deserved, especially in that time period for the nobility. I also appreciated the existence of Lucas' illegitimate daughter. This is something that is also almost never written about in Historical Romance, and given how prevalent illegitimate children actually were during that time period, it was nice to see the topic get attention.

However, I wish the author had the courage to follow the infertility storyline through to its logical conclusion rather than reverse course to give the cliché happily ever after we all already know and love. And it was very hard for me to believe how overjoyed Juliana was at the existence of Lucas' illegitimate child. The fact that she had no mixed feelings about this bombshell after he failed to mention the child's existence for the whole of the house party, even after they were engaged, was really too much for me. Perhaps, though, it's more a matter of the fact that I can't relate to the things Juliana is upset about versus those she isn't--most of what really gets her going in this book seems petty beyond belief to me, but she just accepts things I'd think of as potential deal breakers of epic proportions with barely a word.

I would recommend this to fans of Historical Romance with a slightly humorous bent and a super sweet Happily Ever After.

Thank you to netGally and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book for my review.
The story starts with Juliana whose been alone for two years when she meets Lucas a count with an inheritance. Stuck in a snow storm at an inn they get together and have some descriptive sex. He leaves without a note. They meet again 2yrs later at a upscale matchmaking party. Juliana torches Lucas with another man. But, they get together both love each other and discuss marriage. Not on Juliana’s plate.
Turns out he has a secret at the end, even though he leaves again.. It ends on a good note.

I must say this is not my taste in books. The plot didn’t seem plausible and I couldn’t wrap myself around the characters. It’s a quick read. I’m glad I gave it a try, but it’s not for me.

This is because I love Darcy Burke writing. Her books are fast paced, her characters impossible to leave behind and the dialogues are super engaging.
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Juliana lives a quiet life since her husband died three years ago. On a winter night, she is stranded in a lodging waiting for the storm to subside so she can continue the journey back home. There she meet Lucas, heir to an earldom, who is going back to his family home
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They both hit it off instantly and decide to spend a night together, but the next day Lucas leaves without leaving any message. Juliana decides that from that moment on she is going to live her life in a different way and find someone to share her passion with, even briefly, without the need to tie herself to marriage
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But two years later she finds herself face to face with him when an old group of friends invites her to a house party where several singles hope to find a partner
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Lucas is willing to do whatever it takes to remedy his mistake, but Juliana has other plans for him
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The Bickering between the two is very funny, at times I hated Lucas but I enjoyed how everything happened between them and the ending seemed perfect to me
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Thanks to Darcy Burke and Zeallous Quill Press for give me a copy of this beautiful book in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion

This story I could not put down it was really well written! I loved how it was like a one bed trope, runaway viscount. A guy afraid of the word marriage. She meets him and they are stuck in a inn together in a snowstorm and they have sex and then he leaves her. Then she finds him a few months/ not quite sure when later for a season and he is the one there and they remeet and she’s mad at him for disappearing and she is a widow but he tells her that he told someone to tell her that it was raining. Obviously the chemistry between both of them is still there and they again fall in love again but he’s afraid of commitment but with her i guess he wants to be with her. The story had a HEA at the end she also cannot have children so she was afraid to be married to him in the end it worked out for her because she could not have children and he had a kid with his mistress but the mistress died under unknown they never said how she died so he got to raise his daughter with her.

The widowed Juliana Sheldon and the bachelor Lucas Trask, Viscount Audlington, spend a passionate night together in a snowbound inn, but she wakes the next morning to find that he has left. Two years later they meet again at a house party organised by the matchmaking Lord and Lady Cosford. Juliana has neither forgotten nor forgiven Lucas, so she sets out to torment him and make him jealous. Lucas regrets leaving Juliana the way he did and thinks of her often, so he is determined to renew their liaison. Marriage does not seem a possibility to either Lucas or Juliana but, as well as the enormous lust they feel for one another, they enjoy each other's company.

This short book is written in bland, simple language using a narrow vocabulary. There's a lot of sex, not a lot of plot, and not much tension.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I was drawn to the book by its cover, knowing full well what I was getting myself into. A will-they-won't-they period romance novel. I am not usually a fan of these sorts of books, but wanted to mix up my reading diet a bit and for what it was, it was fine if a bit anachronistic. But I don't think the book claims to be historically accurate.

At a 166 pages, The Runaway Viscount is a fairly short, Bridgerton-esque read about the chance-encounter of a viscount, Lucas Trask, and a widow, Juliana Sheldon, in an inn. He's headed to London for the Season, she home to her house in Skipton. They wine and dine together, sparks fly and eventually they end up sharing not only a room but a bed. After two nights, he leaves without saying goodbye. Two years later they meet again at a house party. What ensues is a back-and-forth between a hurt Juliana and Lucas who is considering marriage for the first time in his life. Will they get a second chance at love? Or will he run away again?

I enjoy stories by Darcy Burke and liked this one as well although I wouldn't rate it as one of my favorites by her. I didn't care that much for the female character in this story but I would still recommend this book.

This book is the third in a series, but I hadn't read the first two prior to this one. It stands alone just fine.

Darcy Burke is a fairly new to me author, and I've enjoyed what I've read so far. That includes this book, which features a second chance romance between a widow - Juliana Sheldon - and kind-hearted Lucas Trask, Viscount Audlington. They meet by chance at an Inn during a snowstorm, and share a memorable night together. However, when morning comes Juliana finds herself alone in bed and Lucas already gone. Deciding it's for the better, Juliana determines to put him from her mind.

Two years later, they meet again at a house-party made up of widows & gentleman looking for wives or liasons. Lucas takes it as a sign they are meant to be together but Juliana is determined to keep her distance this time. Of course that doesn't work, and they find themselves working towards their happily ever after.

I enjoyed the story, and the characters very much. Nothing new or groundbreaking, but the writing was good and the story moved along nicely. The steamy parts were very well done also. It's a good book, and anyone who enjoys historical romance will love it as well.

A Mysterious Widow and a Rakish Viscount meet at an inn during a snowstorm. Instant attraction leads to sharing a room and a bed. When the viscount leaves without saying goodbye, she dubs him the Runaway Viscount.
Time goes by and they meet again at a house party. She is still angry. A little torment may be just what he needs, but her plan backfires. A reformed rake is changed by a widow when he falls in love. These two keep the pages turning fast to find out what happens next!
Heat level is lots of steam.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Juliana is free. A widow with a comfortable living. She has no need to marry again, and she does not want to. She is free to take lovers and do what she pleases. Just the way she likes it.

Lucas Trask, heir to an earldom is a rake trying to reform his ways. The Viscount Audlington is also not looking for marriage but is an honourable man.

After one blissful night together in a snow storm, they are reunited at a house party. Are they able to rekindle a romance that neither of them has been able to emulate? Will Lucas leave Juliana again without reason? What is Lucas hiding?

This is a wonderful regency love story, including forced proximity and character development. The second chance romance aspects include both can they love again and can they love each other again. I really enjoyed this story. A little light on the spice for me but it is a very solid 4 stars!