ARC from NetGalley. I LOVED this book! It is a fun regency rom-com that any romance fan would be glad to read. I really enjoyed the back and forth between the main characters. There is a Darcy/Lizzy vibe between them. It’s just so good and really funny at times.

I liked this a lot, though it finished too quickly! It felt like it was missing a few scenes towards the end. I was DYING to know how his mom and aunt reacted when he brought her back to the estate. What was their wedding like? I also take issue with the lack of an epilogue. How am I supposed to know that they actually do live happily ever after? That being said, this was another enjoyable read from the lovely Virginia Heath.

i really enjoyed this continuation of the series, the main characters were great, loved the horse training and laugh out loud moments on the trip with the guests. The meddling mom and aunt was a fun story too.

Elements of this story work, the horse riding, non conforming ladies companion, the cantankerous but fun older lady, the matchmaking mother etc. Some of the vernacular used just comes across as odd. The constant use of the main character calling her family the menfolk is grating and doesn't fit.

Man oh man!! I ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS BOOK!! I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it, but this one was so much better in my opinion!! I loved our FMC Lottie. She is smart, brave, unconventional, and always positive. Our MMC Guy is kind, loyal, dedicated, and family-oriented.

While Lottie and Guy are opposites in a lot of ways, they are also the same side of the coin in others. Their differences compliment each other and their similarities only make them stronger. This book was so sweet and the build up of their love story was so genuine and cute!

Lottie doesn't fit the mold of a typical governess/ladies companion. She yearns to be the perfect product of Miss P's teachings, but her heart also yearns to be outdoors and riding a horse. Guy was scorned in love at a young age and is afraid of opening his heart back up to heartbreak, but wants to find love and make his mom happy. The side characters of Guy's mom and aunt (Lottie's employer) were *chef's kiss* the perfect combination of meddling and loving. We all need a Lady Wennington and Lady Frinton in our life.

This book was the perfect combination of sweet and funny. I LOVE a good historical romance to throw in the mix of other books I read, and when I read one like this, it just makes me want to find more like it and devour those too.

I loved every minute of reading this book and cannot wait to read Kitty and Portia's books when they come out.

Big thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Virginia Heath for an eArc copy of the book to read!

This book was super-cute and a total delight to read. I loved the banter between the male and female main characters. They were also great as individuals. I did
Not care for the complication that arose in the third act, which kept this from being a five star read for me, but overall, a very fun book that I breezed right through.

Look Before You Leap is Virginia Heath’s second book in her Miss Prentice's Protegees series, and it is thoroughly delightful. Lottie Travers, one of Miss Prentice’s Protegees, is too independent, candid, and definitely ahead of her time as a governess - making her unemployable, despite all of Miss Prentice’s support and 4D’s training. Wearing breeches and riding astride, Lottie thrives when racing across fields on a fast horse (“borrowed” from her employers) – hardly ton approved. She does not care, but she does care about her beloved “five menfolk” on the family farm which is near financial ruin due to crop failure. Determined to succeed this time, she takes on the governess job with demanding and feisty Lady Fenton, as the money is needed for the farm. Nephew of Lady Fenton, Lord Guy Harrowby (Viscount Wennington) and Lottie, both racing through the park, collide early one morning. Tempers flare as do sparks. Lottie and Guy cross paths shortly afterwards as his widowed mother and aunt put together an endless 30th birthday event for reclusive, grumpy Guy, with a whole bevy of ambitious, conniving, pretentious, and mostly insufferable potential-bride debutants staying with them.

Lottie and Guy are opposites in many ways, even aside from the social class difference. “The ray of sunshine and the storm cloud.” Guy is handsome and empathetic to others, but is not a poetic, suave lord. He does not give a fig about the ton, yet he did make a promise years before to his mother of a household of grandchildren by his 30th birthday. So, he endures the torture of this birthday reality show for his mother. While they may be sunshine and storm clouds, Lottie and Guy are fiercely loyal to their families. Their banter and attraction to each other is well crafted and not formulaic. Their love story is one I will reread for the sheer joy of it.

Since I had not read the first book in the series – All’s Fair in Love and War – I started with it, and I am glad I did as it provides background and introduces the four close friends (mostly unemployable protegees) and the never-giving-up Miss Prentice. I was hooked by All’s Fair in Love and War, but Look Before You Leap was just as engrossing, fun, and a joy to read. I am now eagerly and impatiently awaiting the stories for Portia and her guillotine and Kitty with her rainbows.

I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Virginia Heath for early access to this delightful book. This opinion is all my own.

A cute grumpy-sunshine romance. The focus on lust undermined the love story. Because of the physical obsession and daydreaming, I wasn’t fully convinced that love was the primary motivator, an important feature for me. Otherwise, the chemistry was fun, and the aunt and mother were amusing. I loved the portion about horses.

I loved Heath's Merriwell Sisters series and the first book in this series so it is no surprised that I loved this too. It was a great book with lots of fun antics. I would have loved to see more of Georgina and Henry in this book but alas, their wedding was about a page and then they were gone. Overall, a great addition to the series.

Thank you St. Martin's Press & NetGalley for this great ARC!

This was a really fun read & I loved it <3 I was nervous about Lottie as an FMC at first, just because the book opens with her lying approx. 82 times so I thought that would be her MO; it wasn't & she was delightful. I also LOVED Guy; there's nothing better than a man obsessed and boy, was he ever.

I only had 2 issues with the whole book:
- The idea of Guy's mother needing to bide her time by doing the 1 (ONE) thing that her son asks her not to annoyed me... and then he's made to feel guilty about it.... uhhhh that rubbed me the wrong way for pages and pages LMAO.
- HOLY ABRUPT ENDING! I was so bummed that it ended where it did. That last chapter needs an epilogue desperado.

WONDERFUL read!

Free spirited Lottie struggles to keep her governess positions due to her love of horses and riding. After being released from her most recent assignment, she crashes (literally) into jaded, grumpy Guy’s life. We soon learn Guy’s meddling aunt is Lottie’s new employer and, to his disdain, the pair will be reunited at his country home when his aunt comes to visit with her new companion in tow. Out on the estate, Guy’s mother and aunt relentlessly pester Guy about his bachelor status. Their solution is to plan a weeklong, surprise birthday party with all the local debutantes as guests, desperately hoping Guy finds his future bride in the bunch.

What a fun book! I don’t read a ton of historical romance books, but the blurb caught my attention and I was excited to give this a try. I felt like this book was easy to understand and the story easy to follow. Kind of like if the Bachelor fell in love with the show’s camera woman.

Lottie was relatable, kind, true to herself throughout the book. I loved seeing how their conflict bloomed into competitive, teasing friendship (they had so many common interests) and that friendship bloomed into love. Guy grew and changed in a steady, believable way. All the debutantes were nuts - ridiculous and vicious. Them and the meddling family members were very funny.

I have the smallest critic… the amount of exclamation points used in this story was bonkers. Everyone was impassioned or angry or yelling like, all the time. Haha. I think we could’ve got the spirit of the text without all the extra punctuation.

Overall, I really liked this book. Lots of action, interesting locations, character development. One of the most engaging, easy to read historical romance books I’ve read in a while. Great job, Virginia!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the advance copy of this fun book.

Loved this take on a historical romance with a main character that is so witty and funny from the start.
Lottie and Guy seem like opposites, but the way they came together and matched each other so easily.
The side characters in this book really helped begin this book to life. I truly hope we see more from them in the future.
I adored Guy's mom and aunt. They knew how to meddle perfectly.

Captivating from start to finish, I loved the banter and the MCs' dynamic so so much. They were so perfectly matched, and I cannot imagine a better last line for a book than what this one had 🥲

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

The teasing of Guy by Bill, the head groom, was very amusing. I enjoyed the relationship between Lottie and Guy, the way they irritated each other but fascinated each other as well. The characters in the story were delightful. Guy’s public humiliating gesture when he thought he had lost Lottie was wonderful. The ending was great; I’m not sure the author could have come up with a more perfect line to describe what the combination of Lottie and Guy’s personality would produce.

This was a delightful grumpy/sunshine regency romance with forced proximity and meddling mothers and aunts. It was fun to get Lottie's story as one of Miss Prentice's student and appreciated the cameos from from Georgia, Kitty, Portia and Miss P. And of course I loved both Guy and Lottie most of all and how they bonded over their love of horses. I felt like the lovestory grew organically and appreciated the twist ending that got them to their happily ever after. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's for the ARC.

I really love a historical romance and this one hit the spot! Virginia Heath has never done me wrong and that stays true for this book. It was a cute grumpy sunshine, forced proximity, scheming family, fun book that i definitely recommend!

This book was an absolute delight! I hadn’t read anything by Virginia Heath before, but after this, I’m officially hooked. Lottie and Guy’s romance was charming, witty, and full of all the best regency rom-com elements - sharp banter, meddling relatives, and just the right amount of chaos.

Lottie, a lady’s companion with a knack for getting into trouble, finds herself in the orbit of Guy Harrowby, a viscount who has no interest in marriage thanks to a past romantic mishap. But his mother has other plans, hosting an elaborate party for his 30th birthday—one that is very clearly a matchmaking scheme in disguise. The last thing Guy expects is Lottie, whose fiery spirit and unfiltered honesty throw his carefully ordered world into disarray. Their chemistry is instant, their interactions hilarious, and watching them navigate society’s expectations (and their own feelings) was pure fun.

I loved how this story balanced humor and heart. Lottie’s independent streak made her such a refreshing heroine, and Guy’s grumpy demeanor was the perfect contrast. The secondary characters, particularly Guy’s mother and aunt, added so much personality to the story. Between the hilarious situations and the swoon-worthy romance, I was completely invested from start to finish.

If you love lighthearted historical romance with humor, charm, and plenty of meddling relatives, this is definitely one to add to your TBR! Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💕

I hadn't read any Virginia Heath before, and that's going to change. This historical romance is very light and fun, which is my favorite kind of historical romance. Though it's the second in a series it can easily be read as a standalone.
The characters all have wit and charm aplenty. There was a meddling aunt with a sharp personality. There were shenanigans. Truly, what's not to love?
Lottie and Guy are both flawed but very lovable, and I enjoyed watching their relationship progress so naturally. They weren't afraid to throw barbs at each other, which only made their interactions more fun.
The story hopped from one fun event to the next at a great pace that easily kept me reading. Overall, it's a solid historical romance, especially for comedy fans, and has left me excited to read all of Virginia Heath's backlist!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

I enjoyed the regency and rom com genres however this book fell a little flat for me. The characters weren't that memorable and the story was to predictable
2.5 stars 🌟

I loved this book! I’m so glad to have received an arc for it. The characters drew me in, and I read it in one sitting. I loved how 50% in, I thought the story was going to wrap up, but then a whole new side of it started! The pacing of the book was great, and I loved Lottie and her wit so much!