A cute blend of contemporary romance and regency England!

I enjoyed the premise and writing that brings the overall story to life - Frankie, a regency romance author leaves her life in NYC behind in exchange for a castle in England for two months to try and get over her broken heart and subsequent writers block. While there, she doesn’t just fall for the serious viscount but also his whimsical and driven sister, the idillic small town, and the version of herself she becomes while there.

There were times the story was a bit too over the top for my own taste, like when instead of just admiring she likes Graham she instead asks that he kisses her to help with ‘her work’ which is basically the start of their romantic relationship. I also found it a bit hard to track whose perspective we were reading given we jumped between Frankie’s and Graham’s without any introduction.

Thank you to Kimberly Duffy and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such a beautiful love story! I loved the chemistry between our MC and Graham . It had modern elements of romance as well as historical/vintage vibe and that made for the most beautiful love story. I feel these two characters needed each others perspective and outlook on love/life to help balance each other out I highly enjoyed it. Will definitely be checking out Kim Duffy books in the future.

Thank you NetGallery and victory editing for the opportunity for me to review this book

The thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pre-Thoughts
- Regency rom-com in present day setting

Post thoughts
- Quite and atmospheric read.
- Good pacing and easy to follow.
- The beginning of each chapter did initially confuse me.
- Some aspects were slightly repetitive between the MMC and the FMC.
- Elanor was a great addition.
- Definitely needs a C/W for the mentioning of the loss of a child (not on page but discussed). it was quite unexpected and saddening.
- The ending was a great HEA.
- The FMC writing a novel over the course of the book is an interesting premise, almost like reading two books.


Overall it was quite a substantial read, covers a lot of heartache for all of the characters involved

3/5 stars

Tropes
- Grumpy X sunshine
- Regency vibes
- Dual Pov
-Slow burn

I will be posting this review on my goodreads.

There’s a lot to love about this story. The premise is really fun (after a heartbreak, a romance author goes on a working vacation to England to get her writing groove back) and I liked the three main characters. It is entertaining to see an author writing about an author, considering her craft; it was very meta.

At times, this book felt uncomfortable or over-the-top for me (for example, a literal skeleton in the closet and an unplanned pregnancy at fifteen, which is so young!). It felt weird for Graham and Frankie to fight and then kiss to give her inspiration for her story. The third act breakup also felt a bit unresolved to me.

Overall though, I enjoyed the story. There was some heartache to both Frankie’s and Graham’s past that gave the story more depth, and I appreciated the message that love can change people and give us hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing Co-op for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions. This review is crossposted on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon within a week of the book’s publication.

Content notes: mentions of a “curse,” physical attraction, descriptive kissing, mention of miscarriage, a child goes missing, someone dies in a natural disaster, discussion of grief over parents who have died, discussion of gambling and childhood emotional pain, a character cheats on his fiancée