Thea and Jasper's story was a great addition to the Hartley's tales. I love getting to know this family. This story gives us intrigue and humor mixed in a steamy tale. Thea may have lost her writing spark, but the sparks sure fly with Jasper, even as he tries to stop her from telling stories that she doesn't know are about him. Jasper is a layered hero, pretending to be a dim-witted oaf, while masquerading as a highwayman at night. It's easy to understand his motivations. I'm not sure if any tales about the Hartley family remain, but if there are, I'll happily imbibe. If not, I'll revisit the past tales, like visiting old friends.

Althea Hartley is back in London for her third season on the marriage mart and she is not optimistic of his prospects given her failed attempt to bring the playwright she was courting up to scratch. All she got out of that relationship were doubts about her abilities as a playwright. She meets Jasper Trueblood, Viscount St. James at a soirée and he ends up spilling his drink on her favorite gown. Unbeknownst to Thea, Jasper is a highwayman who steals from the rich and distributes it to the poor and when he overhears her speaking about a robbery she learned from the owner of the bookstore, he has to stop her repeating her story. Unfortunately for Thea, the robbery story is the first opportunity she has received that rekindles her writing spirit. Later that night, Thea and her chaperone have to accept a ride home from Lord Abernathy, who is held up by the highwayman. Now Jasper has to invent further encounters with Thea to prevent her from sharing her stories of highwaymen amongst the ton. This Much is true is a fast paced, slow build adventure that ends in a HEA for Jasper and Thea. Another great story from Vivienne Lorret.
I received an ARC from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review

We meet Thea, who is entering her third season in the ton and is uninspired and disheartened after last season when she thought she had found a kindred spirit. Only to discover he was in fact a louse. Unable to write for over a year, she has little hope for her future but knows she must continue to seek a spouse.

Jasper St. James is also in a bit of a strain. Living under his uncle, the Earl of Redcliffe’s boot, he plays the role his uncle has led the ton to believe. That he is a hapless, brainless, clumsy lout. However after a meeting with Thea at a party, despite ruining her dress she has her doubts of the authenticity of the rumors of his character and is feeling a familiar tingle of inspiration again.

This is a slow burn with some fantastic humor, wonderful banter, as well as steam that will make you need to clean your glasses. These two have a zing almost from the start, but it’s not like an insta-lust zing. It’s a connectivity of sameness that just draws them to each other to the point where they just need the other. It is so good and I liked it so very much.

A female playwriter getting over a mentally abusive relationship and an abused Viscount turned Highwayman fall in love and face their demons in this third installment of Lorret's Liars Club series.

Jasper is my favorite kind of hero - nerdy with a heart of gold. He's kind to everyone except his evil abusive uncle. He has eyes for only one woman - Althea, our heroine, and has been pining for her for years. He makes her paper flowers! He also moonlights as a Robin Hood highwayman taking down mean rich dudes while putting on an idiot act for society. The man is not what he seems and Althea sees right through him.

Althea is the youngest sister in the Hartley family (whom the series is based around) and is getting over a breakup when she meets and has great banter with Jasper. She hardly even minds when he ruins three of her dresses trying to stop her from spinning incriminating tales about a highwayman.

I did find it strange that Althea didn't visit Jasper in jail or try to contact him. I wanted her to make an impassioned "I'm going to fight for us" speech. I guess that made the ending more surprising. I also wanted that Kellum guy to get some kind of punishment. I loved the evolution of Jasper and Althea's relationship (all the cuddles!) and the open-door spice gave me goosebumps. Its's a solid addition to the series, but book 2 is still my fave.

I thought this was Althea and Jasper were completely adorable. Jasper has been playing the bumbling fool for a long time to protect himself from his uncle, but whenever he's around Althea, he can't help but let his true thoughts out. And they are usually something that makes Althea laugh. I loved that Althea saw Jasper from the beginning. While everyone else saw who they wanted him to see and kind of treated him like dirt, even when he went out of his way to do nice things for them, she treated him with respect and knew he was a good guy. In turn, Jasper has complete confidence in Thea and her writing, which was stomped on by a man in her past, who almost made her want to put her pen down for good.. It's a good thing a certain gentleman came around and gave her exactly what she needed to bring that spark back.
They have some VERY steamy chemistry going on, and I really just enjoy every scene they are in together. Along with some wonderful moments with both of their family members. minus the dastardly uncle.
This was a great addition to this series, and I can't wait to see if we're going to get more in this series or something new!

I love this series so much! This family is just great. I’m holding my breath and hoping we will get a Truman book. He’s so sweet and mysterious and he could become my everything with his own book. Just saying.

Althea has gone off to London for a 3rd season but her goal isn’t really to find a husband. Her goal is to get her play writing groove back. She finds her muse in Viscount St. James who is an interesting character. He’s so much more than he seems.

Everyone in society knows who St. James is but they tend to see him has a bumbling oaf because of his cruel uncle. St. James just accepts his uncle cruelty because he has the money and power and St. James is just trying to protect the who people in his life he loves.

One person not quite in his life is Althea who he has loved from afar for a long time. Now she is causing him some problems and he has to get in her way to stop her 😏

What I liked: I liked the gentleman highwayman concept. I wish it would have been a more involved part of the plot. The female main character was strong and resilient. I also enjoyed the forced proximity. There were some satisfying kisses and a good spicy scene.

What I didn’t like: I wasn’t sure how accurate the concept of a female playwright was to the time period. Of course, I couldn’t tell what time period the book was set in, and that annoyed me. The female main character struggles to trust seemed a bit over the top. And the ending and resolution happened much too fast.

Overall it was a mid-tier historical romance with some decent spice.

Thank you to @Netgalley @avonbooks and @harpervoyagerus for the chance to review this ARC.

I wish I remembered the earlier books in this series in greater detail because I think it would have helped my appreciation of this story. The main characters are Thea and Jasper. Thea was a frustrated playwright and Jasper was the misunderstood heir to an earldom. Their romance was fun and exciting but the overall plot of the book moved slowly. It felt like the author tried to squeeze lots of things in at the end of the book which caused me to lose sight of the main storyline. Nevertheless, the writing was often humorous and the characters were endearing. The books written by this author are always enjoyable. I received a free ARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review.

Everyone is lying here and it’s kinda sorta confusing til we figure it out. Althea is in her third season following a toxic courtship with a playwright last year and in massive writers’ block for her own plays. And for some wild reason, she makes up stories about encountering a highwayman when she’s out in society, mostly because she’s a storyteller and partly because she wants to attention. Unfortunately, Jasper is an actual highwayman and worries he’ll be found out, so he keeps clumsily ruining her gowns to distract from her stories. Jasper has his own problems with an abusive uncle, so he pretends to be a clumsy oaf in public, even though he’s a clever highwayman who’s protecting his family. Oh, and these those are pretty much attracted to each other at first sight. Their relationship is messy and chaotic and loads of fun to read.

Thea and Jasper both have both faced abuse—Thea’s a romance the season before that has cut her self-esteem and frozen her creative inspiration, Jasper's a life living under his Uncle’s thumb. In wake of this, both of them face self-esteem issues. Thea and Jasper have to overcome societies’ limitations in order to find their HEA—but they also have to overcome the emotional guards they’ve put in place that make them think they have to face off against their challenges alone. It is about two love interests who can see through the ideas that society-at-large may have to the truth of a person. And it deals with very real stakes in both of their lives.

Thea is a fun and spunky heroine, even if I would have loved a hair more of the playwriting aspect beyond talk of her writing. I especially appreciated the moments of emotional vulnerability from her, like explorations of her feeling like the odd-man-out amidst her loving family, sensing that they don’t truly see her and that constantly relive memories she plays no part in, even if they still love her. And Jasper was a particularly compelling hero as he is not held in high esteem by society. Feeling a little bit Percy Blakeney inspired, yes, the secret identity as a highwayman is interesting, but it doesn’t come as much into play beyond Thea discovering his identity—until it is suddently *very* important. I think there were opportunities to more actively explore both of these aspects of both characters.

However, it is about Thea helping Jasper find the courage to fight for himself in society as hard as he has fought for others in the dark. At the same time, Jasper’s obstacles are very real. For instance, he initially tells Thea he cannot marry her if her reputation is compromised (purposefully this time to help protect his identity) as his uncle controls his entire estate, in essentially a conseravatorship.

“He’d been on the receiving end of his attacks for so long that all he’d known was the necessity to shield and protect. In fact, that was still his first impulse.”

The book explores how narcissists impact the lives of both Thea and Jasper (at one point even being named as such in a way that did have me googling if this was anachronistic). But also the more general havoc that narcissists in power—both in the arts and politics-- can wreak. And the idea that Jasper seeks vigilante justice in the first place because he knows the systems as they stand will continue to protect men like his uncle.

And still, this is balanced by, at times ridiculous (including frequent references to Thea’s mother’s birds and the bees puppet show, that has haunted Thea) humor and heart (Jasper leaving Thea paper flowers, his mother’s favorite). The first half feels like it leans into the humor and hijinks and secret identities a little more in order to really explore the emotional and societal stakes and angst of the second half. I have been known to critique a book, romances especially, when it feels like it avoids real emotional messiness, and, while I do think there were opportunities to dive even deeper in places here, I don’t think this book suffers from that problem, and Thea’s revelations at the end of the book, in particular, were cathartic.

The structure and third-person dual-POV of this was familiar and comforting. I do think there were places the pacing could have been slightly tightened, which may have also made room for some of those more active character explorations previously mentioned. I was a little sad there was no epilogue, but I’ll get over it.

Having missed the first titles in the series, this reads fine on its own, but I will definitely be swinging back. It is romances like this that made Avon historicals my go-to. Please keep publishing them and showing your long-term readers you see them.

Why was there no epilogue? I need an epilogue. There better be more because I need more from this couple.

I really enjoyed this one. I haven’t been pulled into a book in awhile the way I was pulled into this one. I’ve always loved Vivienne Lorret’s writing style, and this book was no exception. She’s an amazing writer for historical romances and one I can always count on. I thought the plot was very interesting. And the character development and background’s of both were well done. I loved how they both had something from their past that made them think they weren’t good enough, but were able to overcome that in the end. Overall this book is perfect for any Vivienne Lorret fans, or those who love historical romances with kidnapping, Robin Hood vibes, and playwriting.

A dangerous game!

Into her third season, Althea Hartley, from an eccentric creative family is not looking forward to this latest round in London. Last season she had her playwriting hopes shot down by her romantic hope, playwrite and swine, Sir Kellum Archer. Althea has lost her mojo!
Jasper Trueblood, Viscount St. James is playing the long game. He’s his despicable uncle’s heir. His unrepentant uncle punishes anyone involved with Jasper. Society however accepts Silas, the Earl of Redcliffe. They only see his perfect presentation, not his victims, not his venal attude, not those he’s sucked the life from.
Cohesive Control is Redcliffe’s game, his imperious disregard for all is hidden from his acquaintances, including the Prince Regent. Jasper plays the game by presenting himself as a bumbling awkward oaf.
Ahh! But by night Jasper is a highwayman robbing from those like his uncle to give to the needy.
When Jasper holds up the coach Althea finds herself in, Jasper doesn’t realize he’s met his match. Althea however feels the tingling that is a precursor to her mojo bursting forth. She was trying to climb up Jasper at that moment. Hmmm!
The attraction between the two is explosive. Jasper has to carefully negotiate his swinish uncle to obtain his inheritance. Redcliffe will not allow this. So it’s imperative no-one understands the true strength that is Jasper. (Slow down Althea!)
Of course Althea’s brilliant family lends a hand.
Meanwhile Althea’s storytelling does throw some boulders into Jasper’s path.
Fun, passionate, with a truly hateful villain, this tale is just what I wanted.

An Avon & Harper Voyager ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Book three of this series takes us on the ride with Jasper and Althea. Althea is a writer who creates a highwayman story. Jasper, a Viscount and highwayman must stop the story before he is discovered. There is a villain who adds moral complexity to the story. Overall, interesting, and noteworthy. A great series to join. Well paced.

I generally adore Vivienne Lorret's books, but "This Much is True" is not the best example of her work. While main couple Althea and Jasper were fairly appealing and had a good connection, the overall pacing was off and some of the plot devices just didn't work for me. That said, the Hartley family is still entertaining and the book a decent way to pass a few hours in the historical romance genre.

3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written historical romance. It was fun, steamy and kept me reading. I enjoyed this historical romance and will continue to look for more books by this author.

Tropes: MMC with a secret identity and a dark past; MFC wants to be a playwright
Steam level: 2-3
Part of a series, and although it works on its own, previous characters are mentioned and are part of the action, so best if the 1st 2 books are read first.

3.5 stars squeaked up for the premise and a few scenes in the early chapters that made me LOL. The writing is strong and sharp, as always. I like the cat-and-mouse games that ensue when a MC is putting on an act to totally mislead others but the other MC sees through it. And, as usual, this author's sense of humor almost made the book for me--until it became OTT and didn't mesh well with the seriousness of MMC Jasper's dark storyline.

My quibbles in a bit more detail:
--Pacing can be an issue. At times the ideas are repetitive and lead to the plot dragging in the first third (yes, Jasper is seen as less-than by the Ton; yes, MFC Thea is insecure due to a toxic relationship, let's move on, shall we?).
--Plot elements that don't make a lot of sense. POSSIBLE SPOILERS..............For example, if Jasper wants the Ton to continue to see only him as a bumbling fool and he wants Thea to lose interest in him, why does he continue to find ways to ruin her gown in public and embarrass her, but then pursue her at the theater? And if he's actually a crafty fellow, why a silly kidnap plot with no real justification?
--The uncle is a flat character with way too much control over Jasper's behavior.

I get that a lot of this is supposed to be OTT; Thea is theatrical and comes from a theatrical family, but the comical, outlandish elements don't lead to much time for the MC's to relate on a down-to-earth level. For me, the romance is in all in the way characters get to know each other. But beyond giving Thea paper flowers, Jasper didn't convince me that he loved Thea, while Thea seems to fall in love with him quite quickly. I wanted her to be more assertive and for take-control Jasper to really meet his match. I think this must be an issue I have with most of this writer's MMC's in this series; they could be more cinnamon roll-ish or fall first. They always have issues that keep them from being full-fledged nice guys.

The angst kicks up toward the end, with the plot becoming rather head-scratchingly dark and then loopy, and I felt that the author just tried to do too much. An epilogue, at least, was in order, because everything happens super fast.

I did like this book, there's plenty of humor in the set-up and some well-written scenes, but it didn't quite proceed the way I'd hoped.

This book was terrific and written by one of my favorite authors. Ms Lorret gives the readers a spectacular historical romance. Even though it's #3 of the Liars Club, it can be read as a stand alone. I felt the characters were fully developed with thoughts and feelings of their own. I really enjoyed the joy and sorrow of Theo and Jasper. She was in a difficult breakup with a abusive boyfriend who always put her down with hurtful words. Thea is a woman who has tried to be what she thought her ex wanted.
Jasper, the Viscount St. James, is a man who is a protector of the innocent. He meets Thea and there is a connection between them. He is a large man, who acts like the bumbling persona around his awful uncle. Jasper is a highwayman who helps people like a Robin Hood character.
Jasper and Thea begin to let their guard down towards each other. They begin to fall in love which makes for a happy ever after.
I appreciate Net Galley for this ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

This was my first book by this author and I loved the writing, character development, spice, and most importantly the humor. It was subtle and unexpected at times, perfectly lightening a scene when it was needed.

I feel like I’ve been reading more stories set outside the aristocracy lately but the setup for this one was different that I enjoyed returning to ballrooms and musicales. Both MC are aristocratic but neither hold a lot of relative influence or wealth. While there is more to the plot it comes down to the MC having to figure out how to overcome the obstacles standing in their way to be together without having wealth and influence readily available. It leads to a unique resolution but was fitting to the story.

The character development for Thea and Jasper was so well done. On the surface they’re a vigilante highwayman and purposeful bumbling hero and a playwright heroine. Underneath, they’ve both been subjective to narcissistic people that have made them feel less than. They each see one another for who they are and provide the things they need to be their best self. I loved the passion they had for one another and Jasper not knowing what to do with his feelings.

The side characters were great too, offering a found family for Jasper that was endearing and a supportive family for Thea that allowed for honest conversations and healing.

For as much as the rest of the book felt fully fleshed out and purposeful, the ending felt rushed and not as thought out as the rest of the book. Even with all that though, it couldn’t overshadow my feelings on the book as a whole. The characters are memorable, the humor was spot on, and the spice was delightful.

This Much is True is the third book in The Liars Club series.

I had no issue reading this as a standalone.

A slow burn with three open doors explicit encounters.

I received an advance reader copy from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"'𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔,' 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚. '𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓, 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒛𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆...'"
"𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆'𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈."

𝘔𝘺 "𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘴" was scolding Vivienne Lorret for bringing me to tears with 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 & adoring her for writing yet another novel that had me feeling all the feels.

I feel as though I do not have the correct words (or the caption length) to articulate just how much this novel meant to me. How much I saw myself in both Althea & Jasper in how they viewed themselves & fought against the identities that had been forced on them/they had been broken down into becoming. How their individual strengths were balms for the other's "believed" weaknesses. How their flaws made them worthy because they always were. How they truly saw the other beneath the mask they donned for the ton.

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
-Masked Highwayman
-Playwright Heroine - MMC is her muse
-'Light' Kidnapping
-Found Family/Extremely supportive family
-Secret/hidden identity
-Slow Burn (well we all know I love a faster paced burn - light me on fire ASAP - yet it worked for Althea & Jasper and just made the steam hotter!)

From the opening line "𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒂 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒍𝒆." following up with a second chapter of hilarious antics/outcomes Lorret showcases how her witty banter & way of creating such heart felt moments in outlandish ways cements her as a favourite historical romance author. There was so much depth to the characters both the MCs as well as the supporting characters. Again, showcasing how every player is integral to making an outstanding narrative.

What is it about historical romance and scheming, evil uncles? Not my favorite trope. But this one was well written - the threat he posed felt very real and I understood why Jasper did the drastic things he did.

Althea felt so relatable. She’s moody sometimes, sunshine sometimes, and observant as hell all the time. I loved that Jasper couldn’t keep up the facade around her. She was the only person who drew his true self out of him, and she never believed the persona anyway, and I thought that was a lovely foundation for a relationship.

This series has honestly been so much fun. It’s dramatic is the best ways, with wacky side characters and swoony couples. I don’t know if the last member of the family, the only brother, will be getting a book, but I’d read it in a heartbeat,