This was a fun historical romance. Lady Charlotte starts the book in a panic because she has just been told she is to be engaged to a future Duke, whose last 2 wives have ended up mysteriously dead. So, Charlotte hatches a two part plan to try to earn some money and establish herself as part owner of a coffee house for both genders, and to try to find evidence of the viscounts misdeeds to save herself. As she is trying to rescue herself, she runs into her twin brothers best friend and the brother of her future husband Matthew. Matthew has grown up since Charlotte has last seen him, and as they work together to bring down Hawley sparks start to fly. This was a fun childhood friends to more romance, with a great mystery thrown in. I hope this is the start of a series as there were so many great side characters, and fun animals, I’d love to visit with again! I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man

Lady Charlotte is a sharp tongued upper society woman suddenly betrothed to the twice widowed Viscount Hawley. Upon suspicions of his hand in his wives’ deaths, Charlotte decides to do some digging for evidence ahead of the official engagement announcement.

Enter Matthew, the best friend of Lady Charlotte’s twin, the younger brother of Hawley, and a surgeon who has been ousted by his family because of his chosen profession. Matthew knows something dark lies inside of his brother, and he’ll do anything to ensure Lady Charlotte escapes the fate of his brother’s previous wives.

THE BANTER. Lady Charlotte cowers to no man, and that is something I absolutely loved to see in this historical romance. Women of society are often expected to be demure and doting to those with more power than them, but Charlotte does not let societal expectations stop her from pursuing what she wants, and I admire her for that.
This book had an entire cast of characters that kept the story incredibly interesting, and a mystery thrown in the midst of the romance to draw in readers across multiple genres.

This book is much darker than I expected from the cute rom-com cover. It’s not clever or funny, just very cut-and-dried good vs. evil. The plot might have been interesting if the writing style were more mature. DNF.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man starts in the typical way most historical romances do which is Lady Charlotte being forced to get married to someone. Of course, she decides to take matters into her own hands and join forces with her estranged cousins. Since women weren’t allowed in coffee shops, this was scandalous, to say the least.

Then you add in the mystery plot which is honestly two-fold. Charlotte is trying to find out what happened to her fiance’s previous wives and also find out what’s the deal with her brother’s best friend who is her fiance’s estranged brother, Matthew. All of this might seem like a lot but Violet Marsh pulls it off.

We very quickly have a case of brother’s best friend with a dash of friends-to-lovers with tons of adventures for both of them. When it seems things will slow down for these two or get better, the author throws a curveball and we’re back in the action. To put it simply, Lady Charlotte is a romance heroine you don’t want to mess with.

Then you also have Dr. Matthew Talbot who has a secret side to him that Charlotte is dying to see. While I won’t give anything away, the reveal made me love him even more. Plus the book also features a romance between a monkey and a bird. How unlikely is that? Either way, I ended up really enjoying Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man.

For those wanting a historical romance with a bit more, then Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is the must-try this March.

This was my first time reading something by this author and I found it to be quite an entertaining read. It's an historical romance with an interesting mystery woven in. Charlotte and Matthew were complete opposites but complemented each other well. She was such a strong-willed character. Trying to escape a marriage to someone rumored to have killed his past two wives, she runs away. Matthew is shy and sweet, and had his own issues, keeping secrets trying to protect those he cares about. When Charlotte sets out to prove the crimes of her betrothed, who happens to be Matthew's brother, Matthew agrees to help, only because he wants to keep his own secrets from coming out. As they spend more time together, they grow closer, but in the process, they also grow closer to danger.
An intriguing story that kept my interest from start to finish. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them grow closer. A very well-written and entertaining story!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Such a fun historical mystery. I would say this book is definitely for those who are into historical fiction more. Although I did really enjoy the main character and how she became such a head strong woman.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is an interesting, enjoyable historical romance with mystery and adventure added to the mix. There are serious subjects addressed such as slavery, child forced migration, misogyny, and childhood abuse among others.

The main characters are likable, the secondary characters are interesting and quirky, the villain is a right psychopath, and there are animals and pirates and roof jumping. The love story is a good friends to lovers with mostly non-descriptive scenes.

I enjoyed the novel and am looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you to Forever (Grand Central Publishing), NetGalley and the author for the advance reader copy. All opinions are solely my own.

Charming! Set in London in the mid 1700s, ladies, scholars, pirates, coffeehouse owners and dastardly villains waltz in and out of this start of a new series. Historical in spirit rather than fact, Charlotte and Matthew are fun characters, although they are sometimes overshadowed by the other cast of characters introduced in this book. While I enjoyed this book, I do have to admit that I can't wait for Alexander's story next.

While I generally enjoyed reading about Charlotte’s adventures, something about the pacing or repetition made it challenging to feel entirely drawn in to the story. What I think the book does well is the deep cast of characters whose personalities and individual stories single them out as worthwhile costars.

Lady Charlotte is desperate to escape her betrothal to the despicable Viscount Hawley whose wives and mistresses keep dying in mysterious circumstances. But she needs to find proof that he is as sinister as she believes, so she strikes a bargain with her cousin who--with her business partners--owns and runs a coffee shop for people of all walks of life. While Charlotte's business ideas prove to be successful, her attempts to secure proof of her imminent danger are more elusive. She has to start relying on Hawley's youngest brother, Dr. Matthew Talbot, the family outcaste, in the hopes that he really does revile his brother and isn't secretly being manipulated by him. As Charlotte and Matthew are thrown together more and more, secrets emerge and traumas are unearthed--and could it be that there could be something more to their partnership them than a common enemy?

This is a mismatched pair of people on the surface: she's a beautiful star in society with a perfect reputation and he is an awkward man choosing to work in a lower trade despite his high birth. But I appreciated their unity of purpose and character. My favorite part was a toxic belief that is often perpetrated in the romance genre, and that is that one person can not only change another, but can then be that person's ultimate fulfillment. This story recognizes and promotes the reality that you have to believe that you are valuable enough by yourself before you can find true connection with someone else. No one can give that to or do that for you. Sure, people help along the way, but waiting around for someone else to validate you instead of working on yourself only creates more suffering. I loved that, especially in this 16th Century setting.

Rating: 3.5/5

This Historical Romance is much more mystery and intrigue than romance, but that's what made it an enjoyable read!
When Lady Charlotte finds out that she's betrothed to Viscount Hawley, who is rumored to have killed his previous two wives, she does what she must to prove his guilt before the engagement can be announced. Enter Charlotte's twin brother Alexander and his best friend Dr. Matthew - who happens to be the Viscount's youngest brother.
I loved the history of the coffeehouse and the group of friends that banded together to help bring the Viscount's activities to light. The story covers serious themes and is not as light as I was expecting out of a "brothers best friend historical romance", but bonus points were definitely given for having a parrot being a part of the hijinx! I loved the strong characters and can't wait to see if we will get more books about this group.


Thank you, NetGalley and Forever Publishing, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh
Overall Rating: 4/5
Publishing Date: March 5, 2024

I loved how you jump right into the story - I felt like I was immediately immersed in her world. There are quite a few characters introduced rather quickly, but I didn’t find it overly difficult to get them all straight.

I liked the pacing of the book overall and found the scenes didn’t last longer than they needed to.

I love Charlotte’s character - she is so intelligent and perceptive and it was intriguing to see her interactions with people and her ability to manipulate conversations from both her perspective and from his perspective.

I will totally be watching for more books by this author!

Such a fun read! Charlotte was a great character and I can’t wait to see what future adventures she gets up to.

I gave this book 5 stars for it’s fast paced murder mystery, the colorful cast of characters, and Charlotte’s pluck as a leading lady. The book opens up with Charlotte being told that she's going to marry Hadley the heir to the Duke of Lansberry. Charlotte is so upset by this news that she jumps out of window (not to her death or anything it's more of a short hop) and runs away. The reasons for her actions have everything to do with the rumors that Hadley killed or had a hand in the untimely deaths of his last two brides. Charlotte just needs to prove it if she wants to avoid being dead bride #3. Charlotte isn't alone in this investigation and joins forces with Hadley's younger brother Matthew who has been trying to bring to light his older brother's dark secrets for years. I loved every twist and turn of this book and a second book is hinted at in the epilogue that I will be keeping an eye out for.

This wasn’t too bad but it’s also not particularly good.

I noted that the descriptions tends to be pretty wordy and the internal monologues can border on overly treacly. A lot of virtue signaling by the “good” characters while the villains are over the top cartoony, sinister AND bumbling at the same time. Some word choices feel incongruent with the time or just sound wrong (like “scooched”). Pacing of the story is all over the place. So much of the buildup takes incredibly long and then the action happens with nearly no set up.

For a book set in society you barely see any world building, or proof of Charlotte being a society miss. Even her friend is painted very shallow and her interactions with Hawley are minor. All of the main settings and characters could all be more fleshed out, which less time spent on characters who may be important in the future but don’t add much to the current story.

I don’t say I won’t give the sequels a chance but it won’t be a race to get to them on my TBR.

Honest review in exchange for ARC, thanks NetGalley.

This was a fun historical, romantic ride! It was cute from start to finish! You will love this lighthearted, brothers best friend period romance <3

Lady Charlotte Always Gets her Man is a whimsical and romantic tale about a woman determined to avoid marriage to a dangerous duke and the quiet, bookish, surprisingly mysterious man who ends up stealing her heart.

I loved this book. The story kicks off with Lady Charlotte running through the streets of Covent Garden desperately trying to think of a way she can escape the engagement her parents are arranging for her - an engagement to a future duke who has already buried two young wives under suspicious circumstances. She is determined to get away from him and the world her parents inhabit when she stumbles into an infamous coffeehouse and comes up with an idea to achieve her independence.

Matthew is the third son of the current duke and the younger brother of Charlotte's intended. He is a university lecturer, surgeon, and naturalist, and he is secretly investigating his brother's misdeeds when he runs into Charlotte and realizes the danger she is in. They are childhood acquaintances, but Charlotte doesn't know if she can trust Matthew to help her implicate his older brother in his crimes, and they end working against each other with the secrets they keep.

The romance that unfolds between Charlotte and Matthew is rooted in strong support, friendship, and the deep sense of safety they share with each other. I love that Charlotte takes such an active role in her liberation and that she and Matthew both get to have meaningful character development within and outside of their romantic storyline. The pace and writing style make it accessible for ADHD readers, and the mysteries and twists keep you engaged.

While the book has plenty of romantic tension and some steamy kissing scenes, the author avoids utilizing explicit content (apart from the bawdy pub song they sing to calm a certain anxious pet).

I recommend this book for fans of friends to lovers, historical romances with progressive characters, and a sprinkle of romcom style hijinks.

Thank you Forever Publishing and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute, fun story. It had a lot of quirky side characters and creatures—parrots, monkeys, pirates, and highwaymen. I enjoyed the romance the most—it was hot and sweet at the same time. All the history was fun too. I learned new things about coffeeshops and ancient Scottish tribes and English physicians in the 1700s, etc. The mystery didn't really draw my attention very much—mostly because it wasn't actually much of a mystery. You know from the beginning that the duke is a murderer, and they're just setting out to prove it, and I never was in much doubt that they would succeed. There was a tiny bit of mystery about the male love interest's vigilante pursuits, but even that wasn't very surprising. I did enjoy the other stuff enough to make up for the lackluster mystery element, though, so I still give it four stars.

A cute and lighthearted Historical Mystery/Romance! I can agree with the Enola Holmes vibes.
Just the right mix of mystery, thrill, and romance.
I loved both of the main characters and their character development.
The word use age and verbiage was a little odd for me at times, but maybe I just prefer a historical romance that has the tone of a current romance novel. Overall a good read.

Lady Charlotte Never Fails to Secure Her Gentleman is a charming historical romantic comedy that weaves together familial mysteries, a love affair forbidden by her brother, and a scandalous enigma. This enchanting and clever book had me eagerly craving more!