really cute historical sapphic romance!

i will admit at first i didn’t like sylvia. she did seem very stuck up to me. but throughout the book i ended up liking her more as her character she grew.

there is a constant change of pov within a singular chapter which can be a bit confusing but this book was good enough for me to continue to push through and see their happy ending!

After her father's death, Sylvia and her mother and sisters are disinherited and move back to her mother's hometown, but Sylvia is determined to get back to the sparkle of high society where she belongs. Hannah, a dairy farmer, longs to open her own specialty cheese shop, but she can't afford the rising rent on a store now that the upper class has discovered her seaside town's potential as a vacation spot. The two strike a bargain: with Hannah's help, Sylvia will find a rich husband, rescue her family from the working class, and fund Hannah's cheese-filled dreams. But things don't quite work out the way Sylvia planned...

I kept getting snagged on the reason Sylvia's in this predicament in the first place. With four daughters by a wife who brought no dowry, you'd think her father would have been on top of setting some money aside to support them. There are things he could've done even if the estate was entailed to a male heir. And even setting that aside, the uncle claiming everything and kicking his nieces out penniless seemed a little over the top. He was a plot device to get Sylvia out of the aristocracy, and he never got any comeuppance for being such a jerk, which was a little unsatisfying.

Once the plot logistics were out of the way, I really enjoyed the romance as well as the setting in a working-class town. The spice level was odd: a few good kisses and only one spicy scene, then basically closed-door for the rest of the book. I think it could have used a bit more spice (or, alternately, a little less spice in that one scene) just to have consistency. From a character perspective, I was deeply on board with Hannah's cheese obsession and rooting for her throughout; Sylvia was less compelling as a character, but it was still satisfying to see her get her act together. Overall, an enjoyable beach read of a book.

I received an advance copy of this book for my honest review. Thank you to the author and NetGalley.

3.5 ⭐️ Pretty low stakes, Sylvia was hard to like throughout the story with how naive and selfish she was. I would’ve liked more of a detailed epilogue when it came to certain situation with a business (don’t want to spoil)

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC

This was a such a fun little novel! I loved that we got to see a working-class Regency romance -- so many are so focused on the upper classes that they completely miss the chance to work through social issues, which isn't that the whole point of a historical romance? Sunday's latest absolutely does so, while still delivering a sweet love story. My only complaint is that I wish there were a bit more character work -- the chemistry didn't feel quite there for me, and I wish Sylvia had been a little more developed.

Overall, a fun & diverting way to spend a few afternoons!! I will definitely recommend to patrons and friends.