I really enjoyed this book and it was my first read by this author! It had a nice, slow burn when it comes to a romantic tension story and I adored the characters!

Henry Kincaid is a rigid and militant uncle who is stuck with his nieces and nephews for the next few months. To bring about some much needed order, he hires a governess. However, Georgina isn’t what he expected. She’s mouthy, free spirited, and.. kind of charming?

This story was fun, heartwarming, and amusing (especially the dinner party scene)! The children were precious and fleshed out. I found myself lost in this book.

My complaints in this section all stem from my personal preferences, so someone else might still find this to be a five star read. I never really like the cold, unfeeling man trope. I wouldn’t even call this grumpy c sunshine because he was a pure downer at first. I also felt his ex fiancée wasn’t necessary to the storyline, which was already a bit unbelievable before you add the ex and her antics.

If you like a good historical romance, spunky women, and when he falls first, you’ll enjoy this engaging book!

What happens when you are forced to take care of your wild nieces and nephews on a whim, but you are a captain in the queen’s navy so have too many responsibilities to take full care of said children. Well, you look no further than the towns local school for women trained as nannies. You think nothing of the fact that there seems to be the perfect nanny ready and available, especially since most of the nannies from this school are spoken for extremely quickly. More importantly when you get her home you find that both of your educational ideologies maybe are not quite on the same page. But darn it she is very pretty, and the kids do seem to like her.
This is a fun story. Both Harry and Georgie are quite fun characters with personalities that just fly off of the page. I love the witty arguments and quirky scenarios both characters seem to constantly find each other in. This is a fun first book in a series and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
Virginia Heath is becoming a top favorite in historical romance. All's Fair in Love and War was a slow burn, with lovable characters and an introduction into a new series that was beautifully done. I can't wait to read the next in the series and was delighted to be introduced to side characters (with future MC potential) without being slammed with their backgrounds right away.

The different POV chapters were done beautifully and gave great insight into the personalities of Harry and Georgie. I love to see my romance with a side of character growth.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC.

A cute premise with Georgie being hired by Harry to be governess to his sister's three kiddos who are left with him for the summer. Set in England in the 1800's, if you are a lover of regency romance, then this might be the book for you!

While I enjoyed reading this book, I found myself skimming over huge sections of the book that moved slowly to me. I enjoyed reading the dialogue between the characters more than the middle pieces that seems to drag on for too long. I liked the characters: Georgie, the unconventional governess and Harry, the hard-shelled Captain with the soft center.

A cute read if you're looking for something to pass the time.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Thanks to NetGalley for a ARC of this book. This was a fun historical romance about two people who learn to see past their difference and fall in love. This book is a fast read. I loved the charters and plot. I am excited to read the other books from this series.

A fun read! I enjoyed not only the relationships between the main characters but the relationships between thr main characters and the side characters. A great Sunny Grumpy book and the banter is chef's kiss!

This is a fun, entertaining read. Harry and Georgie are interesting, complex, strong, intriguing, relatable, entertaining, fun characters. I enjoyed them as individuals and a couple. I loved their growth throughout the course of the story. The secondary characters – especially the children and dogs – added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. I’m a lover of epilogues and really wish we had gotten one in this story – I did however love how the story ended. The story is easy to read and get into.

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

this was a cute and enjoyable read! I enjoyed the banter between the two love interests and I thought the interactions with the children were cute. this just didn't knock it out of the park for me. I wanted more tension between the two and there felt like there was so much backstory and details between dialogue that made it hard for me to not get bored at parts. BUT I still found it enjoyable and it wouldn't stop me from trying any of her other books!

Georgie Rowe isn’t your average governess. When she takes a job looking after Harry’s mischievous nieces and nephew it is clear she has her work cut out for her. Georgie accidentally makes a terrible first impression on Harry and must work to regain his respect. Meanwhile, Harry must try and balance his familial duties with the demands of being in the navy. As they care for the children, Georgie and Harry find themselves more and more attracted to each other. Will they keep their connection when the job ends?

All’s Fair in Love and War is a slow-burn regency romance. Readers who love stories about a governess coming in and sweeping a household off its feet will love this book. Georgie is a breath of fresh air to the household. While they initially seem to have completely opposing ideologies, Georgie and Harry slowly grow on each other. I would have liked to see a little more romance, but this is perfect for readers who love slow-burn. There were lots of good details about taking care of the children and Harry’s work with the navy. It’s clear the author researched many details about the building of ships. Readers who like tropes such as opposites attract, governess and employer, and slow-burn romance should check this book out.

Thank you to Virginia Heath, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Instagram, Storygraph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

I am always a fan of a historical romance. This is definitely one to read if you are a fan of the likes of Bridgerton or Downton Abby. The dynamic between Harry and Georgie is a classic enemies to lover rapport. This book is set to be published in May and I would highly recommend picking it up as your next beach read.

I've read a lot of Virginia's Heath's books, and I enjoy them. They are fun and interesting, but sometimes the plot gets slow or lost entirely in the middle, and that was true for this one. It is hard for me to read any book about a governess and not think about Sound of Music, and while it's slightly similar, especially with the military plot, it definitely stands on its own.

Harry and Georgie were interesting, but I hoped for more of their love story beyond them finding each other attractive. We see how Georgie's initial impression of Harry was wrong, but I feel like Harry just thinks she's hot, which cool, but not really plot moving or interesting.

The ending was satisfying for me, but I found it kind of abrupt, and I wanted to know how they actually resolved some of their main conflict issues. I felt like that was missing, but otherwise I enjoyed reading. Although I never want to read the euphemism "wedding vegetables" again.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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.

This is pretty in line with what I have read from Virginia Heath. A nice story, with a great supporting cast, that drags in the middle.

Quick summary:
Think Sound of Music, but with not as many kids, no singing and no Nazis. Okay, maybe the only resemblance is that the governess in charge of taking care of the kids is super sunny and might break out with a song at any given moment, and the Uncle/guardian is an uptight navy man. Sunny meet grumpy.

My review:
I understand why Virginia Heath has a strong following. She can write really personable characters. However, for me, the pacing is off and it drags in the boring parts and speeds through the great parts.

I dont know if I'll pick up the next one, mainly because my TBR is huge.

Thank you #NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book is such a treasure! A new-to-me author; I was drawn in first by the title, and then the cover and description. Regency rom-com with a seemingly inflexible military leading man (Henry), and a governess (Georgina) with an adventurous spirit? Yes, please!

I loved the humor, chaos, and slow-burn romance. Henry's nieces and nephew and their dog provide most of the chaos; indeed, they are the reason Henry is forced to hire a governess, quite at the last minute, when his "flighty" older sister drops them on his doorstep and sails away with her husband on a several-weeks-long adventure.

Among my favorite scenes are those where Henry, the career naval man, misquotes famous military men and Georgina, having been raised by a loveless naval stepfather, smartly corrects him. Throughout the book, Henry and Georgina each struggle with their prejudices - his against chaos and flexibility, and hers against naval men.

I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

All's Fair in Love and Ware is the latest historical fiction book by author Virginia Heath! This book details the romance between Georgie and Harry - whose characters I really enjoyed. Due to his flighty sister dropping her children off without a word, Harry needs a governess for his nieces and nephew and after two years of looking for a governess job, Georgie is ready for her first assignment. Harry is extremely rigid and Georgie likes to find the fun in life and learning. From the beginning, we know these two characters will clash, but what is enjoyable is how they end up finding how much more they have in common than they first thought.

While I enjoyed reading this book, it was a bit slow placed for me. I too kept wanting to skip pages to find out what will happen next and that was frustrating for me. Some readers might enjoy this, but I prefer a book to move along more. I really didn't care for all of the extensive descriptions and they felt a lot like fill to me and didn't move the story along at all. Still a 4 star read. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Such a delightful romance!

Georgie is a true breath of fresh air! A bit stubborn, not conventionally beautiful, headstrong to a fault, yet devoted to her career and the young humans she takes care of. I really enjoyed reading her back-and-forth banter with Harry, a stick-in-the-mud who really needs to learn to loosen up, and she's just the one to teach him.

The children in this story are wonderfully written, with complex personalities and behaviors that are realistic and not always picture perfect. I adored Georgie's blunt, no-nonsense approach when calling them out on their unacceptable behavior, getting them to think about their actions without demeaning them.

Harry is a swoony work in progress. His personal growth as he examines just exactly what he really wants in a career was beautifully written, and I loved the resolution that he came up with in the end. His witty and heartfelt interactions with the children and their governess was always on point and so much fun to read.

My only complaint about this book is that it could really benefit from an editor and proofreader. One expects children to lack proper grammar and syntax in their speech; however, one expects better of a highly trained governess.

Harry and Georgie get a truly splendid HEA and I'm really looking forward to reading more in this promising series. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

All's Fair in Love and War is a historical romance novel that's pretty low on the steam and spice but high on relationship development, and I really enjoyed it. The outspoken Georgie ends up as a governess in rigid, proper military man Harry's household when his sister Flora up and leaves her three children in his care while she and her husband go off on their latest adventure. Mired in getting a flagship ready to sail and myriad of management tasks, Harry offloads the daily care of the mischievous minions to Georgie, who desperately needs a good reference from Harry for her next position, but chafes under the rigid instructions he leaves for instruction. Needless to say, the pair clash right away, and have a trio of children and their unruly dog in the middle of it. But Heath doesn't make Harry too frigid, and Georgie can quickly see that he loves his nieces and nephews very much, contrary to the circumstances of her own upbringing. The relationship that forms between them and their relationships with the children are sweet and amusing and there's plenty of comic relief in the story too. Beyond Georgie's refusal to be in a relationship with a military man, there isn't a lot of conflict in the story. Those spots were more filled in with funny moments, and I found myself okay with that. The past of Harry's where he fell for a beautiful woman that cost him his opportunity to capture a ship felt a bit tired, but I enjoyed him, Georgie, the children and the dogs enough that I mostly overlooked it. If you're looking for historical romance that's on the lighter side, this was a good read. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A new historical fiction series from Virginia Heath! All’s Fair in Love and War is a delightful historical romance that follows Georgie and Harry - two delightful characters - and their slow burn romance. Harry needs a governess for his nieces and nephew and Georgie is ready for her first assignment. She can’t seem to keep her opinions to herself and Harry is strait laced to a fault. They clash until the chaos spark something more…

I really enjoyed this adorable historical romance. It gave me laugh out loud and swoonie giddy moments. A perfect mesh of romance and character development. It also had a trouble making doggo and that's my krypton.

I spent most of this book hating on the MMC because he was honestly, basically, a prick the whole time who was far too rigid and emotionless to be interesting. But. The further the book got the more he thawed and became more human. I still wouldn't say this was my favorite read, but the FMC made up for everything because she was his complete opposite in every way and she was able to loosen him up in a way that made him tolerable at the end.