Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was very much okay. A little underwhelming if I’m being honest. I’ve only read one Emily Rath book before and it was her fantasy which was fantastic, so I was looking forward to this one very much, especially because I love historical romance so much. I’m pretty new to the reverse harem side of romance but there really wasn’t much in this one other than some kissing which I’m no stranger to reading about. How can a book be boring when there are three different guys placed as love interests??? Emily Rath figured out a way to do it. This one just dragged for the majority of the story and I don’t think I would’ve had the motivation to finish it if I hadn’t been listening to the audio. I don’t think I’m going to continue on with this series because I haven’t seen many good reviews for the next two. I am excited about starting her hockey series!

This is my first historical/Regency romance, and I enjoyed it. The tension and angst were 🔥🔥

3 men, all forbidden, all sexy, and all can not keep away from Rosalie. The spice is hot 🥵, and the men are swoonworthy. Burke is definitely my favorite MMC

Rosalie is a lady who knows what she wants and does not apologize for it. I can't wait for the next book!

His eyes lashed with some unreadable emotion, but he gave a curt nod. "Done. You shall hold the whip. Hell, hold the reins if you want. Leave me to run alongside you. I'm sure the exercise would do me good."

He had his brows knit together, his face all seriousness. Fuck, why did he look even more handsome when he was serious? It wasn't fair. Damn, Burke's rotten luck that he had to compete with a bloody Adonis.

"And since you are such a fan of my jealous nature, let me say this: If you so much as look at another woman tonight, I'll cut off those traitorous fingers and feed them to the feral swans in the lake."


When Rosalie gets an invitation to Alcott Hall, she believes she’s only there to meet the dowager Duchess, her late mother’s mysterious childhood friend. But as soon as she arrives, Rosalie is thrust into the middle of a house party full of eligible high society ladies who have one goal: win the hand of the new Duke.
The more Rosalie tries to avoid the high society husband hunt, the more she finds herself charmed by three very different men.
♡
The first chapter had me hooked, lined, and sunk.

I had no idea the need I had for a why-choose Bridgerton/Jane Austen inspired gem of a book. But here we are, and I ate it up, and left no crumbs.

Rosalie Harrow is a headstrong force of a woman, and you'll never catch her begging for attention or a helping hand. Not only did she manage to rein in one man, in high society, oh no, she managed two. Or, two and a half. Listen, the last one is a work in progress. James' a little headstrong too, but Rosalie is nothing if not tenacious.

I might be a simp here, but I adore all of them. Rosalie goes with saying. But Mr. Burke and his aggressive love had me giggling during the first chapter.
Lieutenant Renley, and his sea colored eyes and easy smile, won me over with his steady nature. And Lord James, the Duke's younger brother, well, we'll get there.

This ended on a cliffhanger so violent, I think I ended up with whiplash!

TROPES:
• A decadent summer house party
• Sultry piano duets
• Brooding in stairwells
• An angry swan
• The OG storage closet
• Three best friends…and the lady who *comes* between them

Thank you Hambright PR and Emily Rath for this reading copy!

Normally historical romance is not my go to trope but I do love this author's writing so I jumped in. While I overall did enjoy the story it did lag a bit for me. I did find the characters interesting and entertaining and since this ended on a cliffhanger will have to read the next book to see what happens!

Swoony Shenanigans & Scandalous Slow Burns 💋🎩

Review:
This is definitely not your mama’s historical romance!!! Think Bridgerton meets spicy chaos 😏 Rosalie is bold, witty, and totally uninterested in being anyone’s wife—which makes it so fun watching her attract three deliciously different suitors. The banter, the mystery, the longing looks across ballroom floors… chef’s kiss. And yes, it delivers on the spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Obsessed with the deluxe edition details too—it’s a STUNNER 😍

Pride and Prejudice meets Bridgerton but I get to have my cake AND eat it too.

Beautiful Things reminded me why I love regency romance and gave me why choose on top of it. I found the story true to regency romance in the angsty, tension filled, slow burn extravagance of it all but delightfully modern with the bold brashiness of the FMC and MMC’s.

We meet Rosalie Harrow, a twenty-two-year-old penniless woman, traveling from our Aunt’s house to the grand estate of Alcott after a mysterious invitation from the Dowager Duchess shows up. The reason for the invite and the opportunities that await are completely unknown but too advantageous to ignore.

From here we are thrust smack into the middle of a very complex game of political chess where everyone is a player and the rules are different for each rank, class, and gender. Rosalie wants to no part of the game, and refuses to play by societies rules.

This is not one of the regency romances I snuck from my mother when I was younger. It is so much more with generally open communication from all parties, accepting of love and relationships different than societies conventional definition, encouragement of females being bold, smart, and independent, and where love matches are actually sought after over ones driven by power and politics.

Also, yes there is a cliffhanger and I CANNOT WAIT for the next book!

A massive thank you to Kensington Publishing, Hambright PR, NetGalley, and Emily Rath for my gifted ARC.

Beautiful Things by Emily Rath was an okay read, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me personally. The writing was solid and the characters had depth, but the romance wasn’t really my style. I can see why others might enjoy the emotional intensity and chemistry, but it didn’t fully resonate with me. It wasn’t bad by any means, just not my favourite type of romance. If you like angsty, character-driven love stories, it might be more your thing. I wasn’t a huge fan of the polyamory and it isn’t my favourite trope in a book.

Wowowowow I am a huge lover of historical romance but this book brought a few firsts for me. 1) my first Emily Rath book and 2) my first ever why-choose novel. And I can safely say both were good. Rath has such a way of building the story up and making your head spin from everything that is happening— especially towards the end. I throughly enjoyed her writing style and her knowledge of the time-period was seen in all the little details.

Rosalie, Burke, James, Renley: what a group of characters! I loved seeing their relationships blossom and figuring out how they could all be with Rosalie. The spicy scenes were also hot hot hot!!!

My only critique is I feel like the first two thirds dragged a little bit and the last third had everything happening all at once. The book could have been a bit shorter and with better pacing for it to get five stars from me.

Beautiful Things was a dynamic, fast-paced, wonderful story. The romance between Rosalie, Burke, Renley, and James was palpable and beautiful and sweet. I loved all of them, together and separately. This was a super slow burn which was enhanced by the regency setting. The plot was fun and dramatic, and I flew through this book! I’m very excited to see how this story continues to develop in the next book! I thoroughly enjoyed this and would definitely recommend if you’re a fan of historical romances.

4.25/5 ⭐️s
🌶️🌶️ - medium spice

LOVES:
- Rosalie’s attitude and independent streak from the beginning appeals to me. She’s seen her share of troubles and knows what she wants.
- There were a couple of deeply comical scenes. The punch, the swan… I lost it 😂
- I really feel for James, honestly. He does so much and doesn’t get what he deserves in return. I think he should tell everyone to f*ck off and go do what he wants 🙃
- The friendship between the 3 MMCs is appealing. And the way they can employ teamwork… if you know what I mean 😉🔥
- The whole thing culminates in an absolute shit show that kept me invested and needing to see how things unravel from there!

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the advance copy of this Deluxe Edition 💝

I really enjoyed this book and the regency theme with a twist of it being why choose. I enjoyed that’s its modern in the aspect of it why choose but still stayed with the regency and it gave bridgerton vibes which i enjoyed.

I was intrigued by the description of a spicier Bridgerton so I had to give it a try!
I didn't realize the book would end on a cliffhanger, so when I got to 80% of the book and not much had happened, I was confused. When I got to the end, it made sense.
I think the premise of the book was good, my only problem was with Rosalie. I understand why she doesn’t want marriage, I just felt like she was demanding things of her partners that she herself wouldn't do.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and I will read the next one!

i have never been edged more in life than when reading this.

it’s a slow burn guys, capital S capital L capital O and capital W, okay?

the regency vibes were there, all characters were likeable (even the antagonistic ones, George was insane 🤪, all love interests were hot

so the book ended and left me craving more so u gotta pull out the second one,

the ending got really messy and i need answers ASAP

i need more MMM action in the continuation

well done, dr dr Emily Rath

thank you netgalley for the ARC! really enjoyed it 🥺❤️

This one took me a bit to get into. It was sort of boring at first, but once I started figuring out what was going on, it definitely picked up my interest. But Burke deserves to be happy. All 3 of these men of hers deserve to be happy. She deserves to be happy. And George can kiss my 🍑, because him and his mother are the biggest jerks ever. No wonder her mother didn’t want to stay friends with the Duchess, my god she’s a back stabbing witch.

Rosalie Harrow is 22, virtually penniless and living with an aunt. She gets invited to be a guest of the Dowager Duchess of Norland who claims to have once been a childhood friend of her dead mother. The Duchess clears the debts of Rosalie’s family and in exchange wants her to be the spy at the house party when she wants to find a great match for her son the Duke. Rosalie genuinely has no interest in the Duke herself but she catches the attention of three men. James, the Duke's younger brother who shoulders most of the Duke’s duties, Lieutenant Renley who has been encouraged to find a wife to help him purchase his next promotion and Mr. Burke, an illegitimate son of the previous Duke. The men are good friends and have grown up together.

Rosalie isn’t looking for marriage as her parents were not happy together. She is hoping to become a governess or art teacher, wanting her independence. So in a way she is a non-traditional lead for a historical romance. This is only my second polyamorous book, where the lead is intentionally involved with more than one man at the same time. And I did like getting the POVs from the various leads. The POV is listed at the head of each chapter making it easy to follow. The one thing that I was not expecting is that after over 450 pages the story ends on a cliffhanger. This is not a situation where a sequel will follow another character, but instead it ends when things are at a boiling point and the story will continue in “His Grace, The Duke”.

This is a previously independently published book from 2022 that is now getting a new cover and being published by Kensington Books. I don’t know if any changes have been made, but I read the Kensington digital edition. I do recommend the book if you don’t mind that the story is not finished.

I was able to finish but honestly it took me a while. I thought I was going to love it because regency love, I’m all for it but if it’s done right and for me this wasn’t it.


What I did love about it though was I love that Emily rath is messy and can’t be bothered by it. Because this one for me was all over the place and that wasn’t always a bad thing.

I first read this series in 2023 when I was perusing Emily Rath’s black log. I was extremely exited to find a why choose regency romance, because at the time, I had never seen polyamory in regency romance. Now, in celebration of the new deluxe paperbacks releasing for this series, I was gifted a e-book copy of book one, Beautiful Things. Rosalie’s story finishes in book two, His Grace The Duke.

Now for my thoughts:
Rosalie is such a feminist icon and uses her voice to reveal the hard truths for women of the time. I really like her as a FMC and I like the way she challenges her men and society at large. Their relationship dynamic is certainly different for the time for people in such elevated potions, but you can expect a more modern opinion by the MCs. Even if there is some yearning, angst, and complications along the way.

If you enjoy Jane Austen inspired men, with Bridgerton level drama and twists, I think you’ll enjoy this series.

3.5 stars — Gorgeous writing, slow start, and not quite for me (except Burke)

I wanted to love Beautiful Things—and eventually, I almost did. The writing is lush and atmospheric, and the historical setting was genuinely intriguing. But the pacing in the first 40% dragged for me. I debated DNF’ing, but I’m glad I pushed through because things finally picked up and I started getting invested… well, mostly in Burke (seriously, I need to know his fate!).

This is a MMF/M story (I think?), but the dynamics weren’t entirely clear, and I didn’t realize this was part of a continued series. After a book this long, I expected more resolution, so I was a little disappointed to find it all continues into an even longer sequel I’m not planning to read.

That said, Emily Rath’s writing really shines. The vibes? Immaculate. The tropes? A delicious mix:

💐 Decadent summer house party
🎶 Sultry piano duets
🦢 An angry swan (yes, really)
💋 Brooding in stairwells
🎩 Three best friends… and the lady who comes between them
💕 And of course, the OG storage closet moment

If you're looking for something character-heavy, slow-burn, and a bit chaotic in its romantic web, you might love this more than I did. I’m just here, still thinking about Burke.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hambright PR, the publishing company and Emily Rath for the copy in exchange for an honest review !

Pride and Prejudice meets Bridgerton

Read if you love:
-Regency romance
-Headstrong FMCs
-Why choose
-Slow burn

Beautiful Things was such a fun read! I flew through it and had a great time. Rosalie, our FMC was a breath of fresh air- tough and witty, but kind. The three MMCs were all dreamy and each brought something different to the table. I liked the court politics aspect of finding a wife for the Duke and what goes on behind the scenes when trying to make a This was definitely a slooooow burn but in the best possible way. Overall this was a great read and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book!

Thank you to Kensington Books, Hambright PR, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Book review of Beautiful Things: Deluxe Limited Edition by Emily Rath.
Thank you to Kensington Publishing and NetGalley for my gifted ARC. And thank you, Emily Rath, for wrecking my entire weekend plans because I couldn’t put this book down.

This book is what happens when Regency romance drinks two glasses of wine, rolls its eyes at social norms, and says, “Actually, I’d like all three, thanks.” Beautiful Things is unapologetically modern, delightfully indulgent, and so good it had me giggling, blushing, and muttering, “Ma’am, you cannot say that in 1813!” But she did. And I loved every second.

We meet Rosalie Harrow, a twenty-two-year-old penniless woman in Regency England who is this close to becoming a governess or marrying someone she hates for survival. A true feminist icon of the early 1800s, Rosalie decides she’d rather risk mysterious invitations from sketchy duchesses than settle for a life of pouring tea and biting her tongue. When she receives said mysterious invite to Alcott Hall, she assumes she’s about to meet a kindly old lady. Instead? She walks straight into the Regency version of The Bachelor.

Let’s be clear: Rosalie wants no part of this mess. She’s surrounded by desperate noblewomen clinging to fainting couches and dignity, all vying for a duke who (thankfully) is not the love interest—because he’s a walking red flag with a title. Rosalie, naturally, becomes the unexpected favorite of three (yes, three) very different and very dreamy men: Lieutenant Tom “Tragic Backstory” Renley, Lord James “Responsible and Brooding” Corbin, and Mr. Burke, aka “Grumpy Bastard with Hidden Depths.” She says she doesn’t want a husband, but if the vibes get any hotter, we’re going to need a chaperone—and a fan.

This is a slow burn romance. And by slow, I mean glacial. Think longing stares across candlelit rooms, conversations charged with repressed feelings, and so much sexual tension I swear I heard the wallpaper in Alcott Hall crack. But the payoff? Whew. Let’s just say once these people start touching, they don’t stop touching. And Rath does not disappoint. The steam sneaks up on you like a scandal behind a hedge maze.

Rosalie is hands-down one of my favorite heroines in recent memory. She’s clever, stubborn, emotionally intelligent, and allergic to nonsense. She’s also painfully relatable—trying to maintain her independence while falling for three different men who all somehow understand her better than she understands herself. And instead of spiraling into “but who will I choose?” nonsense, Rosalie basically says, “Why not keep all three?” Which is… fair. Very fair.

Each of the love interests brings something unique: James is the moral compass who’s probably dying of repressed feelings. Renley is the charming soldier trying not to fall for Rosalie while absolutely falling for her. And Burke? Burke is the chaos raccoon of my heart. Every scene with him was like biting into a chocolate with an unknown filling—sometimes sweet, sometimes sharp, always addictive.

The writing? Impeccably cozy. It’s witty without trying too hard, romantic without being saccharine, and funny in that sly, under-the-breath kind of way. One line had me cackling into my tea: “You are a woman who sets fire to the air around her. And still, I am breathing.” Like sir? You good? Because I am not.

Now let’s talk cliffhangers. This book ends on one. Not a gentle, thoughtful “maybe I’ll check in with them again someday” kind of ending. No. It’s a throw-your-Kindle-across-the-room, frantically-Google-the-release-date-of-book-two kind of situation. And yes, I am suffering. But I’m also excited, because His Grace, The Duke is coming, and if it doesn’t ruin me emotionally, I’ll be shocked.

And while I read the eBook, I must mention that the physical Deluxe Edition sounds like a love letter to book nerds. Stenciled edges, full-color interior covers, designed chapter headers—if you’re a collector, go ahead and preorder it now. You’ll want it on your shelf just so you can say “Oh that? Yeah, that’s the one where she falls in love with three men at once and it actually makes sense.”

This isn’t your mother’s Regency romance. This is the version where the heroine is messy, the men communicate (mostly), and nobody gets punished for wanting more than one great love. Beautiful Things is smart, subversive, and steamy in all the right ways. I went in expecting manners and maybe a polite kiss. What I got was a polyamorous slow-burn with emotional depth, spice, and a heroine who deserves the world—and then some.

So cozy up with some tea, grab your comfiest blanket, and prepare to be wooed by not one, not two, but three swoony men in cravats. Just don’t blame me when you yell at the last page. You’ve been warned.

Genre: Romance / Women’s Fiction
Star rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)