Lord Guy Harrowby, Viscount of Wennington, was humiliated nine years ago after a romantic gesture went wrong. His mother holds him to the promise of grandchildren by age thirty, and he's almost thirty now. He focuses on his land and work, so his mother holds a weeklong house party to find a wife. Guy only finds out when the women arrive. Lottie Travers failed as a governess and is now a lady's companion. All of the training she had at Miss Prentice's couldn't erase her tomboyish ways, yet she's the one who catches Guy's attention. She returns his affections as well. Could they be a perfect fit?

This is the second novel in the Miss Prentice’s Protégées Regency series. Lottie is wilder than women are supposed to be for this time period, which she attributes to having older brothers and growing up on a farm in Kent. She loves the outdoors and riding horses fast, so she tends to get in trouble for borrowing horses to go riding when she's supposed to be a governess. Guy is a country Viscount and disinterested in the social whirl after his past humiliation, instead focusing on crops, horses, and helping his tenant farmers in Kent thrive. Even before we learn that Lottie is hired on as his aunt's companion, we know they'll fit. On top of the forced proximity of the weeklong house party, we have the grumpy and sunshine trope, the cross-class romance, and a mother and aunt combination who will trick Guy into finding a great love of his life.

Lottie is a lot of fun. She's irreverent and spunky, cares for others, and is a joy to get to know. Guy covers for his worry and awkwardness with a gruff and grumpy exterior, but truly wants to help those he cares for. It's a great combination, and their interactions with Guy's families as well as the awful houseguests are really enjoyable to read.

3.8 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I wish I received this ARC sooner. I received it 4 days before its publishing date, so I finished the book afterwards.

Ahhh! This book was better than the first book of the series. It reminds me so much of Pride & Prejudice, and I love that book! If you like Mr. Darcy, well I prefer the Vicount in this book. 😉

Writing: 4/5
Pace: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Ending: 4/5
Enjoyability: 4/5

(More in-depth analysis below)

👩🏻‍🏫💡 I received this book to read as an Advanced Reader/Review Copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own.


💕Would you recommend this book?
Actually, yes! If someone were to ask for a regency romance, this would be a good choice!

🪶Favorite Quote(s):
“You know what they say, my lady: you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. Your son has to make his own choice. He won’t allow you to push him off a cliff, he’ll have to decide to leap himself. ”

🌶️ Spice Level: 🔥
Woooow. The yearning was worth it! And to have it happen during a regency period… unmarried?!!! SCANDALOUS!!!

——


📝Writing Style: 4/ 5
Written in third-person POV, alternating between the two MCs. The diction and prose matches that of the regency era. I will say Virginia Heath’s writing has gotten better. However, I still don’t like the random use of today’s generation’s slang! “Cringe-worthy” appeared here again!

🏃🏻‍♀️Pace: 4/5
The story has good pacing. Some parts seemed a bit slower only because of the slow burn romance, but it’s a shorter novel and had no extra fluff!

🗺️Plot: 3/ 5

Plot Themes/Tropes-
* Grumpy x Sunshine
* Societal Class Difference
* Enemies to Friends to Lovers
* Forced Proximity
* ⚠️Trigger Warnings/Other topics: Parental death mentioned, mention of attempted sexual harassment/assault, premarital sexual explicit scenes

Short Summary: Lottie loves horses… so much that she loses her job after “borrowing” her master’s horse to run off and ride it into the wild without permission. As her family is struggling with their farm, she is desperate for a new job and ends up becoming a “lady’s companion” for an old rich and cranky woman. Her new master brings her along to Kent as she plans to host a surprise birthday party for her nephew, Guy, who is an eligible bachelor and also a Vicount. While at his estate, Lottie realizes Guy is the man she ran over while riding the “stolen horse” from her previous employer… and things become awkward between them.

The plot is simple and fairly predictable, but it’s easy to fall in love with the way Lottie and Guy bicker!


👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Characters: 4 / 5

Relationships & Friendships: One thing I liked about Lottie was her love for her brothers and dad. She is such a free-spirited family-oriented person. She is exactly what Guy needs in his life because it was like someone sucked his soul out of him. I love the way the two MCs worked out their differences, sucked in their pride, and apologized to each other. They had good communication after that, and I was here for their blossoming friendship.

Character Development & Relatability: It was nice to see Guy’s character development in this book. He finally opened up his heart and learned to live a little. However, I do wish we see more of Lottie’s transformation in this book, but I can’t blame her presence because she was literal the life of the party, lol. I’m glad she is slowly learning to be more comfortable with herself. As for other characters and their relatability, think of the desperate debutantes in Bridgerton… bam! Accurate Mean Girls representation of the regency era.


🎬Ending: 4/ 5
The ending was maddening with the two wretches in the book! However, we see Guy’s character growth at the end by way of his actions. I do wish there was more to the ending though! Even an Epilogue would’ve sufficed! I love the two!


🙂Enjoyability: 4/ 5
I really enjoyed this book— I wonder if it has something to do with the way I love Pride and Prejudice! I can’t help think this is another Mr. Darcy but even better because he doesn’t hold back! LOL!


📈Final Rating Averaged: 3.8 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟
——

Rating Rubric:
1/5: 🌟 Horrible - “Why did I even waste my time?”
2/5: 🌟🌟 Unimpressed - It could have been better.
3/5: 🌟🌟🌟 Good/Average- I would recommend this, but nothing was too out of the ordinary; it’s what’s expected.
4/5: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Great! - There were some good surprises, but not enough to blow my mind.
5/5: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Outstanding - Above & Beyond, It left me wanting more and thinking more about it.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press & Virginia Heath for the chance to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is book 2 in Miss Prentice's Protegees series but can absolutely be read as a standalone. This is a DELIGHTFUL regency romance where one desperate mama decided that if her eligible bachelor son won't grace the ton with his presence for the season- she will just bring the season and the ton to him- in a week long house party at his country estate. Without his approval. SURPRISE! No deal with it! Also- he finds himself super into his elderly Aunt's hired companion- but how could that ever work?!? He's a viscount- she's hired help. You see where this is going. And go there it does..

I adored our MMC's Aunt/our FMC's boss, Aunt Almeria. What a rowdy spirit! The pacing on this story was so well done, the side characters were entertaining and I would love to read more from this author and in this series!

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

This is a delightful romp of a book! It is the second book in a series but truly can easily stand alone- I did not read the first book and had no issue following along with this one. I loved Lottie- she is a spitfire and so refreshing! I did feel the pacing was slightly off and would have liked more time with them together but enjoyed the journey and feel like it’s not a bad thing when you end up wanting more!

Look Before You Leap is a fun and flirty Regency romance with sharp banter, irresistible chemistry, and a spirited heroine who keeps her suitor on his toes. Virginia Heath delivers another witty, well-paced love story that’s both heartfelt and full of humor.

4.25 Stars

This book was fun and very cute.

Lottie was a fantastically fierce ray of sunshine. She is wild and cannot be tamed.

Guy was, as Lottie referred to him, a curmudgeonly storm cloud. He was a grump that just did not know what to do with Lottie expect love her and it was an absolute delight to witness.

I also really loved Lady Wennington and her sister Lady Frinton. They added a very fun dynamic into the mix. I love their meddling. I especially loved how unapologetically herself Lady Frinton was and how she immediately connected with Lottie.

It did take me some time to get into a groove with this one. The long chapters at the beginning were tough for me. But once things really started going, I was having a fun time.


Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for honest feedback.

Loved this historical romance! I loved the charcaters in this one their personalities and humor were so fun to experience and I was laughing multiple times throughout this book! The story was fun and was an unique to some of the other historical romances I’ve read! The characters and plot were easy to connect with and get sucked into! I enjoyed this book a bit more than the first in the series and just overall had a fun time reading this one! These book can be read as stanalones too and are just over 300 pages so they can be read pretty fast or even in one sitting!

3.75 out of 5 stars!

3.5 stars

When it comes to the connection between Guy and Lottie, this story is fantastic. They are so perfect for each other while also bringing out the worst in each other. Of course, that’s because neither wants to admit (even to themselves) the reason they bicker instead of talking like rational people is that the chemistry scares them to death. Guy because he doesn’t trust anyone. Lottie because she knows she is “below his station” and not a possible match for Guy.

I love how much these two understand each other while also having completely different upbringings. It shows that Lottie is a smart cookie and Guy is a compassionate man. Even while sniping at one another, they still went out of their way to help each other in so many small ways. It was very endearing.

Here’s my problem…the flow. There were times this book was trucking along with perfect cadence. Bam! That flow would be disrupted. You know the saying “show, don’t tell? It was so confusing because the author was showing. I was feeling all the feels and seeing the connection with no problem. Yet, the characters would spiral into internal dialogue that was a lot of telling. It wasn’t needed since the showing was being done, so it felt like a disruption to the story. There was also way too much set-up to get Lottie and Guy under the same roof.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. It took me longer than necessary to read because of the disruptions, but I was still invested in the characters and their journeys.

This Regency romance had enough humor in it to go along with the recalcitrant characters that it really was a blast to read. I loved that Lottie seemed to come out on top in their meetings that ended in mayhem. Lord Guy was taken down a peg or two and often made to apologize to Lottie for whatever unfortunate thing he had done.

Between his mother and his aunt trying to marry him off to the simpering but also conniving females they invited to his house, and the stable boy ribbing him about their relationship, there was a lot going on in the story. It all boils down to the chemistry between Lord Guy and Lottie. That made the story as she healed his heart.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the digital copy.

I had so much fun reading this one!! It was the perfect grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, opposites attract historical romance and I loved it.

Lottie Travers grew up on a farm with 4 older brothers, and she is far more comfortable with horses than she is with civilized ladies. However, to help her struggling family she takes a job as lady's companion to a cranky older woman, the Aunt of Lord Guy Harrowby, Viscount of Wennington. Lottie and Guy get off on the wrong foot and can't stop bickering. In the meantime, his mother and aunt are intent on finding him a wife, so they secretly arrange a one week house party for his 30th birthday and invite 15 suitable women. This is the last thing the cranky Lord wants, especially because he can't stop thinking about Lottie.

Lottie was kind and compassionate but also strong willed and impetuous. She stood up to Guy, and with every interaction between them, sparks flew. Guy was still smarting from a public humiliation nine years ago and had trouble trusting women. But Lottie was hard to resist and she slowly brought down his walls.

The side characters were so fantastic in this book. Guy's mother and Aunt made me laugh and I enjoyed how they treated Lottie. They saw her for who she was and didn't mind that she was different from other ladies. And the relationships she had with her friends and her brothers and dad was heartwarming. Guy was a kind and considerate employer who cared for his employees and loved his mother despite her meddlesome ways. He was protective and possessive of Lottie, even when he claimed he couldn't stand her.

When the eligible women showed up, I couldn't stop laughing. Their desperation and attempt to catch Guy's eye was hilarious, especially because he wasn't interested even a little bit.

My only complaint with this book was that I would have liked more from the ending! I wasn't ready to say goodbye to these characters and wanted to see what happened after the ending scene.

Second in the Miss Prentices’s Protegees series and just a nice way to forget reality these days. A different time, different problems, yet one thing the same…a mom wanting grandkids & plotting to make it happen lol. A fun summer read

Lottie is a woman with a heart for adventure, especially when it comes to horses. After losing her job as a nanny, she's given the job of being a lady's companion--it should help the rumors die down.The trip to Scotland cut short, they're off to house in the country, near the town where she was raised. She needs the money for her family and can't mess this job up.

Guy knows he needs to marry, but after an unfortunate incident years ago, he doesn't trust his heart and avoids situations which would tempt him and possibly lead to heartbreak. He's content to be a kind lord and lookout for the farmers, and he has a strong love of horses.

His mother is up to no good, but he strikes a bargain that she can plan a small party. She and his aunt can't be trusted, and they scheme to have a country house party full of debutants in hope he will finally find a match.

Guy is only interested in the one woman he can't have--his aunt's companion. She's excellent with horses, speaks her mind, and the banter between them is full of sparks.

Lottie knows her place, even though her heart is tempted. She must think of her family. Until she's fired, and hope is almost lost.

This is such a delightful story with a grumpy viscount and an adventurous former nanny. As much as they're opposites, they're perfect for each other. If only they could stop bickering, admit their feelings for one another, and ride off into the sunset together.

Look Before You Leap is book two in Miss Prentice's Protegees Series by Virginia Heath and y’all if you haven’t read this Regency rom-com series you’re seriously missing out!
Heath writes the absolute best historical romance strand this one was an absolute blast!
This was super cute and quite hilarious.
I love Lottie and Guy together. Their chemistry was just amazing.
I even adored the side characters!
They were fun, witty and the banter was spot on.
The plot, writing, pacing, setting, and characters made for a really great story.
Look Before You Leap was such a fun romantic comedy with a refreshing historical setting.
Reading Virginia Heath’s novels always brings a smile to my face and warms my heart. I loved the series.
Rom-Com readers and Historical Fiction lovers will find this read delectable and simply irresistible.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

A lighthearted read!

I really enjoyed this romance. I found it heartwarming and lighthearted. The main characters, Lottie and Guy, are charming. Lottie is optimistic, wild, and impulsive. Guy is grumpy and bitter after a bad past young adulthood experience, but he is also caring and generous. They have diametrically opposed personalities, and tension and sparks fly between them. They made me smile throughout the story. The chemistry between them is undeniable through their relationship development.
It’s a very entertaining and delightful story. I highly recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a very entertaining delightful story. Lottie has grown up on a farm with her father and brothers learning to ride and scrap with the best of them, but having her mother passed away she was not taught proper decorum. When she receives a letter to come to the prestigious ladies school to be taught the traits to become the governance, secretary, or ladies maid, she jumps at the chance. She becomes the headmistresses favorite. I just given a great opportunity to work at the finest homes. Unfortunately, something always goes array. She is a beautiful young woman, and it tends to draw trouble. When she is assigned to be a ladies companion for an older woman, she hopes this will be a safe and prosperous employment. She is desperate to send money home to her family to help with the farm.
Guy Harrowby, the Viscount Wennington’s 30th birthday is approaching quickly and he would just assume pretend it was just another day. But his mother has informed him that his aunt will be arriving to help celebrate his birthday. When his aunt arrives with her new companion, he is surprised that this young woman is the same woman he has had one too many run-ins with.
The story has many entertaining and comical encounters, witty, banter, and embarrassing moments. Guy is a grumpy, stay out of my way, type of guy. And Lottie is an in your face, type of girl. I enjoyed everything about the story, except for me personally, I read closed door romance. The story has one open door scene, but also a considerable amount of descriptive body part scenes. Again, I say that because I read clean and wholesome type books. I know I am in the minority, so I will rate this book on the storyline itself. I really wish they would put ratings on books as they do movies. It is the second look of the series that can be read of the standalone as I have not read the first book and still enjoyed it.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Look Before You Leap is second in the Miss Prentice's Protegees series but you could start here easily, like I did. Lottie was the tomboy who was raised on a farm with four brothers and lost her mother at a young age, young woman trying to smother her wild streak in order to make it as a governess. She has a leg up by having been trained at the lofty Miss Prentice's but after two failed governess jobs, she was busted sneaking out and riding horses in the morning, along with kneeing a bent on assault heir, her marketability is lessening. She winds up getting placed as a companion to an older “dragon” lady, who also winds up being the aunt to a man she accidentally unhorsed when she ran into him during one of her wild gallops.

Except the sea was now poisoned and he had learned his lesson well that love was for fools.

Lord Guy Harrowby is a Viscount who much prefers to remain isolated on his farm in Kent, where Lottie is originally from. He made a fool of himself when he was twenty-one over a woman who was only using him to attract a duke and has let the shame fester in him over the years. He lost his father when he was younger and now his mother is guilt tripping him hard to let her throw him a thirtieth birthday party because she wants grandkids. It's all shenanigans as Guy's mother and aunt conspire to throw a house party, instead of the one dinner party he agreed to, and rope Lottie into it all. Guy's still angry at Lottie for the unhorsing incident and how she reprimanding him for it but by 40% they've both made their apologies to each other and you can see their friendship start to develop.

He had been engaged in a full-scale war between what his sensible, battle-scarred head and his clearly still reckless but equally battle-scarred heart wanted.

There's physical attraction to go along with that building friendship, a lot of bonding over horses, and some steamy, but interrupted, foreplay (there's an open door scene later on). I was not a fan of how much it was iterated how shallow, dumb, and annoying all the other woman were that were invited to the house party. It becomes very tiring that a chunk of the way you lift your main female character up is to constantly put down the majority of the other woman characters. The series seems to be tied together by a group of friends Lottie had at Miss Prentice's but we don't see a ton of them together, which I missed.

The menace hadn’t just seduced him, she’d thoroughly bewitched him because nothing would shift her from his mind.

The third act breakup had Guy going completely off the rails with how mean he is verbally to Lottie and ended up feeling forced to me. I know he's still dealing with his issues of betrayal from his first love but Lottie so clearly didn't deserve the harsh blame. It had been built and layered that Guy was this man of the little people, had visited her father's farm and had her talking to him about how she sent money back home for them, so readers have been reading about a character that by all accounts understood Lottie couldn't lose her job and would feel compelled to do what her employer told her to do. Instead we get a forced to disregard those building blocks in favor of a snapping Guy. It caused drama but the scene and his actions just didn't feel true to me.

She grabbed a fistful of his cravat. “Just shut up and kiss me.” Lottie dragged his mouth to hers as she simultaneously yanked him inside.

The ending has Guy making that public move he never would have been able to in the beginning but since we've seen him fall in love, doesn't think twice of it for Lottie. Lottie had charm in her stubbornness and I liked Guy until I really didn't when he blew up on Lottie, and with a very abrupt ending, they got their HEA.

Thank you to Virginia Heath, St. Martin’s Griffin, and NetGalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own.

4.5 rounded up. This was so much fun! I absolutely loved the pairing of grumpy, storm cloud Guy and sunshine, ray of light Lottie. The two couldn’t be more different but were drawn to one another at first sight and were entirely unsuccessful in denying their feelings for each other.

My one complaint was the fact that the book seemed to end rather abruptly, and I would have loved an epilogue or something to wrap things up a bit more between this couple!!

POV: dual third person

You can expect: Regency romance, meet ugly, different worlds, dislike to lovers, opposites attract, grumpy (him)/sunshine (her), storm cloud/ray of sunshine, forced proximity, he falls first, sexually-charged archery lesson, viscount MMC, lady’s maid FMC, meddling family.

Spice: 2.5/3 (one explicit scene)

CW: death of a parent (past), reference to past attempted sexual assault

Look Before You Leap is the second book in the Miss Prentice's Protegees series. The story is an enjoyable read on its own and doesn't require you to read the first book to enjoy this one. While the manipulative behavior of the MMC's mother and aunt and the FMC's childish habit of crossing her fingers behind her back when lying was somewhat off putting, the story itself was quite charming. There are two other ladies under Miss Prentice's care and I look forward to reading their stories.

A grumpy x sunshine romance set in the regency era that immerses you into weeklong house parties and romantic restraint that brings all the banter and tension. Lord Guy only has eyes for the bold and sassy tomboy, Lottie, that is one of the women attending house party thrown by his mother in hopes of him finding a wife and starting a family. Playfulness, mischief and a slew of antics ensue from the main characters as they fight the chemistry that pulls them together. It was fun to get back to historical fictional romance and the Miss Prentice’s Protégées Regency series with this second book in the series.

4/5

Thank you, NetGalley and St Martin's Press, for providing the arc for my honest opinion.

Lottie is a lady's companion who one day knocks Viscount Wennington off his horse. And after he yells at her, she threatens to whip him. Accidentally, of course.

When her employer takes her to her nephew's house for a surprise birthday party, she's shocked to see that said nephew is the same man she knocked in the park.

Viscount Wennington despises being in a spotlight, so when his mother damnd a birthday party for him,. Guy agrees on a small soiree. He has no idea that his mother and aunt, with the help of the vexing woman he met at the park, invited a gaggle of debutantes, all vying for his attention. And he's less than impressed that the only person he wants to spend time with is Lottie herself.

I enjoyed this book. The characters and plot were well written, and I loved all the bickering between Lottie and Guy. I was giggling and kicking my feet at the obvious way the matrons were meddling to bring them together, while the main characters didn't realize that.

The writing was good, but confusing at times. There were too many internal thoughts between the dialogue (which often had nothing to do with the scenes they were in), which slowed down the plot a lot. And as the narration tried to use the stylized language to make it more realistic as a historical romance, the way the characters used modern gen-z slang that clashed with the flowery descriptions on the same page.

I enjoyed the book very much and I loved how it all turn up. While public confessions are not my cup of tea, I liked how it was written in this book. And the plot was engaging and fun and really enjoyed Lottie and Guy's story. I'll definitely read more books by this author int he future.

The book is perfect for people who love:
🐎 forced proximity
🐎 enemies to lovers
🐎 meddling mamas
🐎 grumpy & sunshine
🐎 age gap