This was a delightful start to a new regency romance series from Virginia Heath, and I look forward to the follow up!

Georgie and Harry are an adorable couple with a fantastic slow burn where you get to literally watch them start to understand one another, then that understanding turns to respect, and finally, fall in love. I loved everything about this novel and if you want a more updated take on regency romances, you can never go wrong with Virginia Heath!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book, my first from the author, and it was cute! I enjoyed the setting willed Georgie, all her quirks a seemingly perfect match for the atypical lifestyle of her charges, the charges themselves, little lovable trouble makers, and Harry, who is in himself such a juxtaposition of light hearted and quite serious. While each of their upbringings informed their temperament, the more each learns of the other, their commonalities grow as does their appreciation and respect, eventually to passion and love. While this book skewed a bit verbose, I did enjoy the story and there were several scenes that made me laugh out loud! I also thought the ending was adorable and came full circle!

I'm really loving reading regency books. They're so entertaining and fun.

I can picture everything I'm reading in my mind, and it's like I have a movie playing.

This book was amazing. I fell in love with the plot when I first saw it, and the writing only made me fall even more in love with it.

I can't wait to read what comes next with the following books. I'll definitely be back.

This book was super cute! Starting to read it, I had high hopes I would be met with some "Sounds of Music vibes". I will say, this book had tinges of that, but ultimately, I would have liked it to lean a little more into this theme.

Blurb: In the first installment of a Regency romp of a series, a governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.

When Harry Kincaid’s flighty older sister decides to join her husband on an Egyptian expedition, Harry, a former naval captain, is left in the lurch, minding her three unruly children and giant, mad dog. But Harry has a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all his attention, and he has no clue how to manage the little rascals or when his sister is coming back. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Young Ladies prepared to pay whatever it takes to hire an emergency governess quick sharp to ensure everything in his formerly ordered house is run shipshape again.

Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgie Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything hers wasn’t—filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational approach. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely.

Georgie and Harry continue to butt heads over their differences, but with time it seems that in this case, their attraction is undeniable—and all is indeed fair in love and war.

I will say, this author isn't new to me... and one of my original complaints with Never Fall For Your Fiancee, is that the story wanted to be fun loving and whimsical, but felt too slow moving- with the characters spending a lot of time in their own head, that it never fully hit the mark. These are the same thoughts I had with this book.

Overall, I love the grumpy/sunshine trope, I loved the overall premise, I just wish it would have leaned harder into the lighthearted tones.

Super cute, perfectly witty new release by Virginia Heath! I thoroughly enjoyed the Meriwell Sisters series, and this new Miss Prentice's Protegees is working up to be equally as enjoyable. With tropes like historical romance, slow burn, boss and nanny, miscommunication, and he falls first, All's Fair in Love and War is chock full of upbeat plot and thick romantic tension. I thoroughly enjoyed Georgie and Henry! The audiobook narrators are also amazing, particularly Shane East, who is an absolute FAVORITE of mine!

I do so enjoy reading period pieces that use old timey words like Mollycoddle [“treat (someone) in an indulgent or overprotective way.”] This regency era tale has fun characters including three adorable kids, an energetic dog, and a feisty governess who reminded me a little of Maria from The Sound of Music!

This was a charming story with some truly cute moments but it was also a bit slow and had unnecessary filler in many of the chapters. A lot of the story is told in the minds of the two main characters but I most enjoyed when the characters conversed aloud, the dynamic of those moments were my favorite and I wished there was more of that overall.

Those who enjoy the regency era, a slower pace, nautical terms, and fiery personalities will most likely find this a lovely addition to their summer reading.

Georgie Rowe has excelled ever since attending Miss Prentice’s School for Girls. The only problem is she has trouble holding her tongue and keeping her opinions to herself. When a desperate Captain Henry Kincaid is left with his two nieces and nephew he comes to Miss Prentice seeking a governess. Miss Prentice is more than happy to suggest Georgie for the job. At first Captain Kincaid is appalled by the disorderly Miss Rowe and doesn’t seem to think she’s up to the task. But he soon discovers that her ways seem to be working and having an impact with the children. He cannot imagine his life running without her. Slowly their feelings for each other come to light and Georgie and Henry must decide the kind of life they really want, together or otherwise.

This is a brilliant start to a new series by the talented Virginia Heath and I cannot wait for the next installment!

I breezed through this book in a day and absolutely loved it!! I’m always a sucker for different social class historical romances, and I really fell in love with the characters in this one. The FMC and MMC had a cute love story with just the right amount of build-up (and some enemies to lovers elements.) And I enjoyed the vibrant side characters, including the kids, who all had well-defined personalities.

The burn in this book was a bit too slow for my taste, but there was great yearning so it helped to make up for the wait. This story did a wonderful job of being a series opener. The women this series is focused on are introduced, some briefly and some a little more. I did wish there had been more of the beginning of their friendship. However, that could have made this book too bulky if it had been included.

Georgie is loving, smart, witty, and strong. She knows her mind and doesn’t hesitate to speak it, which can be a huge problem when you are a governess. Harry likes order and is, at first glance, a cold slab of immovable marble. Turns out there is actually a very gooey center to Harry, especially when it comes to his family. These two have an instant spark, but both realize it is ridiculous to even think about such things when they are so different. Harry represents something Georgie hates after her upbringing, and Harry has no time for distractions if he wants to keep his career on the right path. Of course, they cannot resist each other forever.

When Harry and Georgie are working together they are fantastic. Whether it’s getting on the same page regarding the children or attending an important dinner together, they have each other’s backs and work well off each other. Those are my favorite parts of this book. Like I said, this is a very slow burn and there were times during the first half of the book that I wished they weren’t so adversarial. The deep longing was phenomenal though.

This is a first book in a new series called, Miss Prentice's protoegees. It's about 4 girls who attend a special school to learn how to become governesses.
This story is about Georgie. She has been raised by a cruel step father and is so happy when she is finally able to leave and attend a school for girls. When she finally gets a job, it's with a man who seems very much like her step father.
Harry is a Captain in the navy . He lives his life by the book and by the clock. His life is thrown into turmoil when he unexpectedly finds himself responsible for his sisters 3 children.
Georgie is everything Harry isn't. She believes children should have freedom not structure. Harry believes everything, including children, must be scheduled. To the minute.
Who's POV will win out? In this story of opposites attract, you have romance, attraction, laughter. With 3 kids and a dog , you had some very funny moments.
I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.
5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

While I really loved these two together, the pace of this book did not work for me. I loved Georgina and Henry, but I slogged through this book for their happy ending. The children provided a fun bit of comedic fun, but overall I was just waiting for these two to figure themselves out. This one was fairly steamy, but still overall very sweet.

Charming and fun, I truly enjoyed this romance. While it is very much its own story, this book did have me experiencing some very "Sound of Music" vibes. I really liked Georgie's spunkiness and Harry's stuffiness, and together I thought that they balanced each other out beautifully. I'm very eager to read more of this new series.

I love reading new authors who reconfirm for me that the historical romance genre isn’t dead!

All’s Fair In Love and War is the delightful love story of an outspoken governess and a strait-laced naval captain stuck in a dead-end desk job in the Admiralty office. All of Georgie’s training at Ms. Prentice’s School for Girls may be for naught if she can’t keep her frank opinions about children and teaching to herself in job interviews. Harry might lose all hope for his dream promotion if he can’t find someone to discipline his nephew and nieces left temporarily under his care. Neither can decide if the other will be their destiny or doom as they spend more and more time together playing at parenting.

The author makes great fun with classic tropes like governess/employer and forced proximity from meet-cute to HEA, with lighthearted banter, sexual tension, and emotional obstacles that aren’t too serious but serve up a satisfying conclusion for the star-crossed lovers. I love the main characters, especially Harry, who is so tightly wound he can’t help but come undone when Georgie attempts to reign in the household havoc. I love Norbert and Cuthbert and that they’re just as responsible for making love come to pass as Harry’s family and household staff.

This is a perfect beach read for the summer as it’s light and predictable in that comforting way that regular hist-rom readers look for. It's also a great book for new readers to historical romance who are looking for something to satisfy that post-Bridgerton craving. I look forward to reading more novels by this author.

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.

Genre: historical romance
England, 1820

Miss Georgina Rowe hasn’t had a lot of luck securing a position as a governess, despite her training pedigree, because she finds she can’t keep her opinions of raising children to herself during interviews. When Captain Henry Kincaid is suddenly left with his nieces and nephews while his flighty older sister and her husband run off on an expedition, he’s in need of a governess very quickly, and it looks like Miss Rowe is his only option. Unfortunately for Henry, Georgie is exactly the kind of woman who makes his head turn, and even if she’ll only temporarily be in his employ, he nearly lost his career over a woman once before.

I always enjoy Virginia Heath’s books, and this is no exception. This is a classic governess romance setup well-executed. It’s a nice twist that Henry is responsible for nieces and nephew rather than not knowing how to handle his own children, and that Georgie isn’t thrust into a stepmother role for the HEA. The nibling relationship also sets up a better “spoiled misbehaving children” plot - they aren’t acting out solely because they’re poorly disciplined, they’re acting out because they’ve always been able to twist Uncle Henry around their little fingers.

While the children are obviously the driving factor of Georgie’s necessity in the plot, the book remains well balanced with the central romance without sacrificing the believability of the relationships with the children. Henry, like most romance naval officers, is delightfully starchy, while Georgie has rougher personality edges from years of rebelling from barracks life as the ward of an officer herself. I always love a match like this, where the characters are so complementary that they initially appear opposite. It sets up tension without animosity, and makes the HEA that much more believable.

This is the first book in a new series by Heath!

If books are tropes, it’s tempting to say that this one is “grumpy v sunshine”; the label doesn’t quite fit, though as neither character is actually humorless or angry. What it very much is, is an “opposites attract” story.

Captain Harry Kincaid is all work, all the time; he has very specific career goals, set before him by his very-career-oriented grandfather when Harry was little more than a child. And by all that’s holy, Harry will not disappoint the man: come hell or high water, Harry Kincaid will one day be in charge of the Admiralty.

In the spring of 1820, all signs indicate he’s well on his way–then his sister drops off her three unruly and willful children, ages five through 10, and their large hound, on him for the summer, and his orderly household is thrown into disarray.

Georgina “Georgie” Rowe has a good education, some very definite ideas about teaching and raising children, is constitutionally incapable of holding her tongue, and is in dire need of employment.

It’s a match made in desperation.

Beware: domestic abuse; fatphobia; slut-shaming; explicit sex.

Despite having a couple of her books in the huge TBR, this is my introduction to the author’s writing; the story is the first in a series centered around four friends who attended Miss Prentice’s School for Young Ladies.

As the first chapter is entirely exposition, we learn that the eponymous founder of the school educates impoverished girls of good bloodlines, so that they may become governesses to the children of the aristocracy and other wealthy people. It’s not the life little girls are told to dream of, but it’s one with a measure of independence and security for girls who would otherwise be shunted around their wealthier relatives as unpaid companion-cum-maid of all work.

When the story properly starts in the second chapter, Georgie is 23-years-old, and despite being a good teacher, she has yet to secure a position a good year and a half after finishing her studies at the school. Some people test well, some people interview poorly; Georgie is incapable of exercising a bare minimum of diplomacy when disagreeing with prospective employers.

Things are getting very dire indeed for Georgie, when Harry desperately appeals to Miss Prentice for a governess willing to take on the three boisterous heathens who have taken over his house, disrupting his routine and engendering the kind of chaos he’s spend more than half his life trying to forget. And even then, the only reason Georgie gets the job is because Miss Prentice ensures she keeps mostly silent during the interview.

Things get off to a rough start when Harry expects both children and governess to follow a strictly regimented schedule, while Georgie plans to tailor her lessons to the children’s needs–and as none of the three have ever had a governess or any form of structured learning, that means mostly chaos. And so a three-way battle of wills ensues.

Allow me to sum up:

Georgie’s mother was very poor when she married an Army colonel, Georgie’s stepfather. It was not a good match; in fact, it was an abusive marriage, but needs must: when her mother dies a decade later, the child is safe, well-fed and, theoretically at least, well-looked after. By the time she turns 16, all of Georgie’s life ambitions can be summed up as escaping the suffocating life of a military dependent.

Being selected by Miss Prentice to attend her school is salvation and hope: she will stay in the same place for a few years, and when she leaves, she will have the means to make her own decisions about her life. She will keep far, far away from humorless, controlling and abusive military-type people, thank you very much, and she will do what’s best for the children in her charge, no matter what their parents or guardians say about how “sparing the rod spoils the child”. (You can see why she’s struggling to find a position.)

Of course, all of these lofty ideals are put to the test when her only opportunity of employment is with a seemingly dour naval captain, and her charges are three wily and spoiled heathens.

For all that Harry is the grandson of an Admiral, and himself a very organized soul, he grew up in a very different environment; his parents were flighty and his upbringing chaotic. And just as some people suffocate in strictly controlled environments, a life without any order can bring immense anxiety for those who need order. When his maternal grandfather took him in and guided him towards a career in the Navy, Harry thrived.

More than fifteen years later, Harry still lives “by the clock”, his every waking hour devoted to the work he does for the Admiralty. He’s exhausted, hasn’t gotten laid in over a year, and barely gets enough sleep to keep function; he’s so busy keeping the wheel going that he hasn’t asked himself whether he really enjoys the running. However, after a slight stumble a few years prior that cost him being appointed captain of his own ship, Harry is determined to stay the course: one day, so help him, Karry Kincaid will set the course for the entire Royal Navy.

Having three children and their dog wreaking havoc in his household for several months is not conductive to efficient performance at work, however; no matter what bribes he offers, the demons won’t behave for more than a few minutes if that long. So even though the pretty governess with the impressive references doesn’t really meet his expectations of transforming his nephew and nieces into well-behaved and quiet children in a matter of hours, he can’t afford to fire her until–and unless–he has an immediate replacement lined up.

Children aren’t generally easy to write, and I appreciated that the three kids at the center of the setup are more than plot moppets. There is nuance in their behavior and individuality in their dialogue; they each have a distinct personality, abilities and preferences, and not just according to their age or to gender expectations.

So while ten year old Felix is obsessed with insects and can draw better than many an adult, he struggles with math–all math. At nine, Marianne is obsessed with dance, has very pretty handwriting, and can do math in her head. Grace struggles to learn her letter (likely dyslexic), has an excess of energy that makes her clumsy and accident prone, is anxious and shy, and utterly terrified of storms. All three are very articulate, with vocabularies above her years, as a result of being read to by their parents every day for their entire lives.

And all three have learned that they can blackmail their loving uncle Harry into showering them with treats and gifts, simply by agreeing to tone down their antics. “Oh, you want us to behave for the governess? what’s in it for us?”

One of the best parts of this book is that there is no Mary Poppins magic; Georgie has to work at getting the children to obey her and to earn their respect, and that even after she has, there are setbacks and stumbles–because children are children, who need adults to take care of them.

Norbert the dog is just a delight, of course; an absolute disaster of a good boy.

The real conflict, of course, is that both Harry and Georgie are powerfully attracted to each other and that they each have childhood trauma to resolve. And then the Admiralty actually gives them an opportunity to work those out by sending the lot of them to Plymouth–coincidentally, where his sister and her family still live, in the house where so much of Harry’s traumatic memories took place.

I struggled with Georgie because, while there is some lip service to the precariousness of being a woman without family or fortune in the 1800s, relying on a good reputation to secure employment, and then being entirely dependent on the decency of the family, neither her nor her three closest friends actually behave or think in ways consistent with such fears–two of them have changed employment several times in the months they’ve been “out in the world”, and they just blithely go back to Miss Prentice’s house while in between positions. The fact that it’s a school full of other young girls, with physically limited space, let alone other resources like money, is hand-waved.

Harry’s characterization was better; his need for order was innate, reinforced first by his chaotic early years, and later by his grandfather and the Navy. The late Admiral didn’t hesitate to intervene when, in his mid-twenties, Harry fell head over heels for a girl, putting the old man’s ambitions for Harry’s career at risk. Like his early childhood, the incident left a mark on Harry’s personality; however, he’s neither humorless nor unbending; he loves his family dearly, even as they exhaust him, and is willing to go to a great deal of trouble and expense to do his best by his nephew and nieces.

First in London and later in Devon, there are a number of uncomfortable realizations for Harry, as their acquaintance grows into friendship and then love.

I struggled to get into the story, for a variety of reasons; the rhythm of the dialogue feels very much 21st Century. Georgie’s internal dialogue got on my nerves from the start–at one point, she thinks about “her outspoken flapping jaws” and there’s oft-repeated “inner St Joan of Arc” line; Harry’s Navy captain’s uniform is referred to as “regimentals”; one character says “malarkey” (firs recorded use in the 1920s), and several others go on about Harry going on “shore leave”–a term not in use for about sixty years more–as a euphemism for him finally getting laid after a couple of years of work-induced celibacy.

(Ironically, his staff being privy to this level of intimate detail about his life is one of the things that rings true about the whole thing for me.)

The story has heart, but I found the writing voice just a tad too frothy, and the beats of the story too predictable, so I caught myself skimming some while reading. The one thing I really didn’t care for was making Harry’s first love not just an ambitious social climber, but also the promiscuous butt of all the gossip.

All’s Fair in Love and War gets 7.25 out of 10

Another excellent book, and the start of a great new series, from Virginia Heath! 4.5-stars from me, for this one, All’s Fair in Love and War.

I enjoyed the Merriwell Sisters, and now Miss Prentice’s Protegees is starting out very strong. I’ve read some books about governess schools before but this one was unique in how Miss Prentice finds girls who have nowhere else to go, trains them up and finds good placements. Miss Rowe, Georgie, ends up losing a lot of opportunities because she believes children should not be disciplined but encouraged, and parents don’t like that idea. She winds up in an emergency placement situation when a military man is left with his sister’s children as she goes off gallivanting around the world and he needs help with the terrors and their monster dog… (they’re really not that bad, just unruly and don’t want to do lessons, and the “fun” uncle actually has to work)

It’s such a fun story of complete opposites attract, basically a nanny and single dad (since he has the guardianship of his 3 nieces and nephews and she has to take care of them), forced proximity and travel romance as they have to take off across the country to his new military ship posting. I enjoyed it and read it very quickly. I definitely recommend it to all regency romance fans, especially if you enjoyed her Merriwell Sisters series - it’s even better than those!

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (St. Martin's Griffin), and this is my honest feedback.

I enjoyed All's Fair in Love and War. A wonderful slow burn rom com, I enjoyed the chemistry between Georgie and Harry. And I loved that he was such a pushover for his nieces and nephews (I can relate). This may have been my first Virginia Heath book but it will not be my last. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.


Thank you to NetGalley and SMP for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think Never Fall For Your Fiance may have just been a fluke cause I've tried to read three other books now by Virginia Heath and haven't been able to get into them; I may try again one day, but for now, it's a DNF.

This delightful Regency romantic romp is the first story in a new series. The story is witty and entertaining. Georgia is a governess who has yet to find her footing. Henry is an overworked naval officer whose sister just left her three precocious children in his care while she and her husband travel to Egypt. Georgie became the children’s governess, and from there the story becomes a slow-burn romcom, with all sorts of distractions on the side. The characters are well developed and likeable. The well-written story is full of humor, wit, sassy banter, romance, and the changes love brings. The audiobook was a treat. Eva Feller and Shane East did a splendid narration. I look forward to the next book in the series.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

My Sound of Music loving heart simply swooned over this sweet, heartwarming story! On paper, Georgie and Henry shouldn’t work being quite opposite in their views of the world - he’s a bit starchy and carries two pocket watches while she believes learning is just as meaningful outside of the classroom and that children should be free to express themselves - but at their cores, they were two souls adrift looking for a place to anchor and call home and to heal the hurt of their pasts. While they were both established as individuals, I enjoyed seeing Georgie and Henry’s minds expand and their compassion grow as they got to know each other better. Henry’s grand gesture and groveling was quite excellent.

Heath’s storytelling was not only heartwarming, but incredibly witty and vivacious. The entire cast of characters was positively delightful and the scenes with Georgie and the children (and Norbert!) were my favorites. I thoroughly enjoyed the moments where the children took advantage of Henry and made him “twitchy.”

This story was such a delight and brimming with humor and heart, and I am so excited to continue the series with the other governesses, especially Lottie!