After designing a weapon that was used in a bombing that killed an innocent man and then accidently shooting Arthur Kneland, Lady Phoebe Hunt, one of the founding members of Athena’s Retreat, was exiled to America and warned not to return without permission. But when her father dies, she does return to sell off the unentailed estate and ensure her mother and sister are taken care of. She approaches Sam Fenley, brother of her once best-friend Letty, to post an advert in his paper about the estate auction, never expecting any further contact with him. But when Sam shows an interest in both the estate and her sister Karolina, it is clear that she isn’t going to get rid of him any time soon. They travel to her family’s estate, Prentiss Manor in North Cumbria, a place of unknown horror and pain. Phoebe has to come to terms with the past and fight her attraction to Sam, but that is easier said than done. When they return to London and learn that there has been another bombing, one that Phoebe is a prime suspect in, it becomes clear where Sam’s affections lie. Phoebe admits to herself that she loves Sam, but with her past and the new accusations against her, she believes she is not worthy of him and thinks it would be better if she just returned to America.

Sam Fenley is a self-made man, but he longs for acceptance among the upper echelons of society. When Lady Phoebe askes him to place an advertisement in his newspaper, he sees an opportunity for success and insists on helping Phoebe. He makes an offer on the London townhouse and makes his interest in Karolina known. He then offers to accompany the ladies to Prentiss Manor to catalog the contents of the manor. Raised in a loving family, he is shocked by the air of despair and horror lingering in Prentiss. Slowly, he begins to chip away at the thick shell encasing Phoebe and finds himself falling in love with her. But Phoebe has no intention of making their road to HEA easy, but lucky for her, Sam can be just as stubborn as she is and never gives up on what he wants – and he wants Phoebe.

This story was a lot darker than I was expecting and featured a sort of reverse Grumpy/Sunshine trope. I loved Sam, he was so gentle and kind with Phoebe. I will be honest, I had a hard time liking Phoebe, I understood her pain and tried to be compassionate, but she doesn’t make it easy for the reader or Sam. She fought him at every turn, but ultimately, he won her heart. This book is filled with emotion, secrets, past abuse, self-harm, kindness, compassion, steamyish love scenes, forgiveness and finally a very hard-won HEA. This story does touch on some dark issues and may be triggering to some readers, I would strongly suggest reading the content warnings before reading this book especially if you are sensitive to self-harm and physical/emotion abuse. This is the second book in the spinoff series, and while it could be read as a standalone title, you will have a better understanding of Phoebe if you have read The Secret Scientists of London series.

3.5 stars

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

The Lady Sparks a Flame by Elizabeth Everett is a captivating romance novel that serves as a heartfelt tribute to women who defy the constraints of patriarchal society. Set in the Victorian era, this book beautifully showcases the power of love in overcoming adversity and shedding light on the most shadowed corners of society. It is a story that will undoubtedly linger in my thoughts long after I have finished reading it

My favorite of Everett's books to date, Phoebe's story is everything I could have hoped for her. A Villainess of Majestic Proportions, Phoebe is given a character arc we see often in historical romance but almost never for women. I can think of a hundred romances with deeply scarred and traumatized male main characters who have acted violently out of misplaced rage, but it wasn't until reading Phoebe's story that I realized how rarely we allow women to be vengeful, angry, violent and wrong on page. Phoebe's decisions hurt people she cared deeply about and the violence she engineered did not achieve the ends she hoped for. There is nothing glamorous about her actions and no moment of catharsis, and this feels so unique to this story.

To understand Phoebe, we have to return to where she came from, and the first half of the book takes us to her definitely-haunted childhood home. It's unsettling and dark and reflective and the perfect gothic backdrop for our black cat x golden retriever pairing in Phoebe and Sam. And as the story moves back out and welcomes back our larger cast (all of our faves from the first series!), the trust they've carefully built through extended time together becomes pivotal. I loved every beat in this, and I'm going to be thinking of Phoebe and Sam for a long time.

3.5 ⭐️ This book started off slow, but once it picked up, I was hooked. Sam is the ultimate golden retriever MMC—funny, clumsy, and completely obsessed with Phoebe, who’s the perfect black cat FMC. Their banter was top-tier, their romance was sizzling, and the found-family vibes were amazing. It had a gothic feel, tackled heavy topics with care, and delivered a beautifully slow-burn love story. Loved it!

THE LADY SPARKS A FLAME was another engaging story set in England in 1845. Sam is part of the rising middle class and resentful of the glass ceiling that separated him from the aristocracy. Lady Phoebe Hunt is the abused and angry daughter of a Marquess. She also a scientist who invented an explosive that was used to kill a man.

Her friends sent her to United States in a sort of exile. She back in England to help her mother and sister close out her father's estate after his death. She plans to return to her life as a detective in the United States as soon as things are settled for her family.

The psychological issues had great impact on the romance in this one. Phoebe turned to cutting to relieve her pain as an abused child. She also turned to anger using her words to cut anyone who tried to get close to her.

Sam is the product of a loving home and the brother to a number of sisters. He is also a stubborn man who won't let the woman he's fallen in love with manage to scare him away.

This is one of a series of romances. We get a chance to catch up on some of the characters in earlier books in this one too.

Thanks to @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for the gifted e-ARC and to @prhaudio for the ALC!

Historical romance is one of my favorite genres. Combine my love of history with the warmth of connection that romance brings and you’ve got a winner! It was fun to read a histrom set not in regency times for a change.

This Victorian era romance is the second book in a series, but references characters from the author’s first series, The Secret Scientists of London. So it’s really basically book five in a series. I definitely felt at a disadvantage, having not read any of the preceding four books. This a redemption arc for Pheobe, who was the villain in a previous book. But without understanding all that history I struggled to understand her character and that affected my appreciation for the chemistry between the two main characters.

I still gave the book four stars because the black cat/golden retriever vibes were on point. Pheobe has a lot of baggage from her childhood, and that was unpacked in a very sensitive way while still being authentic to the time period. The creepy setting of them spending time at her childhood home was very atmospheric and also really illustrated Pheobe’s background. This is very much an opposites attract book with a strong female lead and Sam, a man who is willing to let her lead. Their spicy scenes were so tender but still hot!

I started listening to this one but eventually switched to the ebook. I found the narrator’s accents and voices for the characters to be a bit inconsistent. There were a lot of male characters and I struggled to understand who was speaking from the narration. I found the printed copy easier to follow.

Overall, I thought the story was good, but without the previous four books I was lost for a lot of the book. I would recommend that people read this one after the other books in the series.

Combine an emotionally traumatized exiled scientist with an upbeat and fairly emotionally happy kind of guy, and we get this absolute gem of a book. Phoebe is back in the country to deal with her late father’s estate, after having been exiled off to America for inventing a bomb that killed someone. She’s all sorts of detached and cold to everyone around her, and we learn that it’s because of her horribly abusive father. Somehow, the wealthy shop owner and newspaper owner Sam gets involved in her affairs, first by offering to buy her house and second by trying to court her sister. Sam’s just trying to improve his overall station in life and thinks a titled wife is the way to do it. But of course, Sam is more interested in Phoebe than anything else and wants to soothe all of her hurts. Tons of emotional angst here as we dig up all of Phoebe’s traumas and come to some resolution. Excellent read.

I love this book so much it was a lil different from what I was expecting of this historical romance.

📌The book touches some pretty heavy topics like self harm and Mental Health so I will recommend to check for triggers if you have any.

Also what I was not expecting was for this book to have a gothic feeling it gave me Jane Eyre and Wuyhering Heights vibes. But it was also a very fun book, Sam has such a charisma I just love him so much. I love this quote of him when he was talking about Phoebe “Imagine the set of ballocks on the man who tried to court her sister, Lady Phoebe. Ha. That woman was a dragon; beautiful scales on the outside that were hard enough to break steel. Passionate fire on the inside, ready to burn anyone too stupid to spar with her”

And this brings me to the next point, tell me why Phoebe reminded me so much of Nesta from ACOSF but I did like more Phoebe’s character I love how she explained the reasons for every of her character decisions it help me to understand her character more.

The romance was such a slow burn I loved it. I definitely need to read the first book to know what events they were talking about throughout the whole book.

The Lady Sparks a Flame is another fantastic historical romance from Elizabeth Everett. Not only does she feature her trademark women in STEM, but she pulls off a redemption arc that’s truly impressive.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lady Phoebe Hunt has temporarily returned from American exile to help her mother and sister after her father’s death. Her fellow scientists at Athena’s Retreat aren’t sure what to make of their former friend’s return, but their protective spouses are apprehensive. Merchant Sam Fenley knows an opportunity when he sees one, though, and wants to buy the Hunt estate, hoping it will give him a boost when trying to deal with the aristocracy. But as these two spend more time together, and confide in each other, can they ignore their mutual attraction?

Phoebe and Sam are fantastic characters, and I adore a story where she’s grumpy and he’s sunshine. Even when the plot focuses on darker themes, the quips are fantastic, especially when Sam dubs Phoebe “a villainess of majestic proportions.” Sam is unique among the men Phoebe encounters, since he sees her as a person, not a possession. Phoebe also has dealt with a lot of abuse throughout her life, and I recommend reading the author’s CW before jumping in.

This book can be reads as a standalone, but the redemption arc is much stronger if you’ve at least read A Lady’s Formula for Love. Phoebe’s upbringing and motivations go a long way to explaining her previous behavior. An added personal bonus is that my favorite characters Grantham and Kneland are still featured in the best bromance in historical romance.

The Lady Sparks a Flame features everything I love about historical romance. If you are a fan of smart women, golden retriever heroes, forced proximity, and an impressive redemption arc, Elizabeth Everett’s latest is a must read.

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

The Lady Sparks a Flame is an emotion driven novel. The romance here is about intimacy and truly connecting with one another which was so refreshing to read.

The one thing this book does well is make the previous villain a sympathetic heroine. I thought Phoebe's journey was compelling and heartbreaking. She had been through a lot so she definitely deserved a golden retriever hero who thought the world of her. I really enjoyed their romance. It was slow burn but also had so much focus on building the intimacy between them. Forging a true and deep connection between these two made the romance come alive. The love story is gentle but still passionate. I adored them!

The plot can feel slow paced at times, especially in the beginning, but once it picked up I found it enjoyable.

A beautiful love story!

The Lady Sparks a Flame is a sharp, empowering historical romance that brings the heat—both in passion and in its feminist undertones. The heroine is bold, the banter crackles, and the tension simmers just beneath the surface. This isn’t just a love story; it’s about agency, ambition, and defying expectations. The romance unfolds with depth and intensity, making every moment between the leads feel electric. If you love historical romance with wit, heart, and a heroine who refuses to play by the rules, this one’s for you.

Phoebe Hunt is back in England after being exiled to America in the wake of her fatal bomb explosion. All Phoebe wants is to help settle her mother and sister following her father’s death, then head right back to America. Entrepreneur Sam Fenley sees helping Phoebe’s family as fortuitous and possibly his way to finally getting a title. But the more time he spends with Phoebe and her family the more their traumatic past comes to light. And Phoebe and her cold exterior begin to make sense. Sam is determined to help Phoebe see she is not the villainess she seems. The chemistry between Sam and Phoebe is electric, but will Phoebe finally set her self-loathing free and let herself be happy? Or will she return to America as the independent female scientist she is?

This second installment in the Damsels of Discovery series once again highlights science, feminism and the healing powers of a of loving and supportive group of women.

I would do anything for Phoebe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much of myself in a romance novel heroine, from her flinty sharp rage to her deep conviction that she is unworthy of love. Elizabeth Everett wrote about self-harm and the lasting pain of abuse with compassion and tact, and Sam is the perfect lover for a woman so fiery and hurt. I’d cross the Atlantic for both of them.

I absolutely love Elizabeth Everett and this book was no exception. Lady Phoebe Hunt - who readers will remember from Everett's first series - left for America after a bomb that she developed was used in a fatal incident in London. She's back now, briefly, because her father is dead and she needs to help her mother and sister get settled financially. Ready and willing to help her is Samuel Fenley - brother of Letty (from another of Everett's books) and brilliant financial mind behind Fenley's Fripperies who is interested in elevating himself to fit in more with the aristocratic class. Sam wants to buy one of the Hunt homes and help them sell the others, and if he can manage to get a betrothal to Phoebe's sister, then all the better. The problem is that he's not actually all that into the sister, but he does have some serious chemistry with Phoebe. As the story progresses, Sam (and by extension, the reader) learns more about Phoebe's past, which is pretty tragic. Dealing with the aftermath of lifelong abuse from a cruel father, years of secret self-harm, and deep guilt that her invention led to the death of an innocent man have made it hard for Phoebe to love and trust anyone, and despite what she grows to feel for Sam, her plan is always to get back to America (where she works as a private investigator) so that she has more distance from her past. I really liked the connections back to the Secret Scientists of London series, and honestly the only thing that I was a little confused by here was that this seemed to connect a lot more to that than it did to the previous book in this current series, the Damsels of Discovery. Phoebe is an agent of Tierney & Co, but otherwise, this didn't feel as connected to the Love Remedy as it did to the Secret Scientists. Still a great book, and I love a prickly heroine. I'll read anything from Elizabeth Everett. Content warning for abuse, self-harm, and political violence.

I really enjoyed this story! Phoebe's story was so heartfelt and sad. I resonated deeply with her feelings for needing to self-harm and for recovering from that sort of abuse. I think it was portrayed beautifully and accurately. Sam was such a cinnamon roll golden retriever and I adored his gentleness towards Phoebe. He was so chaotic and bubbly. I will say that the story took a long time for me to get fully invested. I read a few other books in the time it took me to even get to 50%.

I didn't realize that Phoebe was a character in the author's previous series and I do feel like I was missing a little bit, but this does work pretty well as a standalone. This was definitely not a light read but I appreciated the depth and care Elizabeth Everett put into writing Phoebe's story. I love an icy heroine and really enjoyed watching Sam figure her out.

In The Lady Sparks a Flame, Lady Phoebe Hunt, the villain of Everett's first novel, A Lady's Formula for Love, gets her own story and perhaps a bit of redemption. Delving into Phoebe's past and witnessing her thought processes allow her to be painted as a much more sympathetic character than in her first outing. Sam the shopkeeper is steady and true and everything a (somewhat) evil genius can hope for in a man. Recommended for fans of the series and those who like a bit of angst in their historical romances.

While I didn't read the first book in the series I certainly will be going back and reading it now!

The Lady Sparks a Flame is a complex love story about Phoebe Hunt, and incredibly complex FMC who you can't help but learn to love. While I think some of the depth for me was missing because I hadn't read the first book I still readily enjoyed it! Overall the story of Sam and Phoebe will warm your heart and overall a unique refreshing story!


Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Romance for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review!

The second book in The Damsels of Discovery, The Lady Sparks a Flame is definitely a standalone title, as one did not have to read NYPL’s 2024 Best Book The Love Remedy in order to enjoy and understand it. The titles are tangentially related as it is the same universe, and Athena’s Retreat (mentioned in the prior title) is visited. The Lady is draped in cobwebs and painful secrets, most often dealing with the abuse women have endured at the hands of a male family member. Phoebe is back in England after the death of her monstrous father, working to make sure her Lithuanian-born mother, Moti, and younger sister Karolina, will be taken care of after the sale of the estate and everything inside it. Sam Fenley, five years Phoebe’s junior, tangles himself up with the family in first an attempt to win Karolina’s hand, and then, to both his and Phoebe’s horror, he and Phoebe fall in love. Two bone-headed characters, Phoebe who is caustic and acidic, and Sam, who is full of light and love, work out. Definitely recommending others to read this, as it is a mid-1840s historical romance.

Big thanks to @elizabetheverettauthor and @berkleyromance for the eARC of this glorious book, The Lady Sparks a Flame, which publishes March 25, 2025.

I think The Lady Sparks a Flame may have one of the most complex FMCs in romance books. Phobe Hunt was a villainess in the Secret Scientist’s of London trilogy and boy oh boy are people surprised that she has returned to England after living in exile in the United States.

One of the few people to see past her past… complications… and see Phoebe for who she is and was, is Samuel Fenley who, much to Phoebe’s chagrin, becomes the person who can set her family up for a respectable future after the death of her father. However, the more time they spend together, the more they find themselves wanting to be together, even though society, friends, and even their logical brains are telling them they shouldn’t.

Of course, there’s intrigue, there’s suspense, there’s science, there’s women who are incredibly intelligent and refuse to follow society’s ‘rules’ and instead are choosing to forge their own futures.

Elizabeth can write historical romances that are full of emotion and intelligence, and write about social issues that, sadly, we are still seeing and experiencing in modern society. Elizabeth’s books serve as a reminder that it’s been women, brave, bold, spirited women, who have often been at the forefront of social, economic, and political change. Women who have pushed society forward, aiming for us all to be better versions of ourselves. Women who can do all that and also have a happily ever after with a partner who chooses them, and loves them for all their strengths and weaknesses, even when society says otherwise.

While this book can be read as a standalone, I strongly recommend reading the Secret Scientists series to fully appreciate Phoebe’s character arc in this book. I think reading the Love Remedy is also an excellent decision, but there isn’t as strong of a connection between Remedy and Flame. But you should still read it because it’s about a woman’s right to choose.

Reading this book was a joy and I hope other’s like it as much as I do!