*I received a copy of this book in eBook format in return for this review. All reviews published on Yours, Chloe are completely honest and my own, and are in now way influenced by the gifting opportunity. This review is being posted as part of the What The Lady Wants blog tour hosted by Rachel's Random Resources.
Title: What The Lady Wants
Author: Emma Orchard
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: ★★★★
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (Explicit Open Door)
Autumn, 1816...
Lady Ashby is grieving the death of her beloved husband,
just two years earlier. Although still young and beautiful, Isabella is
resolved never to marry again, and plans to leave London, return to her
parents’ Yorkshire house, and resign from society before the year is over. But
first, she wants one more taste of life…
Isabella has written a list, the contents of which, if
discovered, would create a scandal that neither she nor her family would
recover from. A list of things she would like to experience, just once more,
before she surrenders herself to the life of a widow. And she knows just the
man to help her: her friend, handsome and honourable Captain Leo Winterton.
But Captain Winterton has a secret of his own. He is in love with Isabella – and when she makes her most improper proposal to him, he is powerless to resist her, even if she is resolved never to love again. Can he persuade her they are destined to be together? Or will their impropriety be discovered, to the ruin of both?
What The Lady
Wants is the latest compelling regency romance from author Emma Orchard and
the third instalment of her The Runaway Heiress series. After taking
part in the blog tour for the last book in the series A Duke Of One’s Own
earlier this year (click here to read my review) and getting a little brief introduction
to Isabella within the book, I was eagerly awaiting the release of What The
Lady Wants and it certainly did not disappoint.
Isabella and Leo had great chemistry and the spicy scenes were fantastic! The idea of a spicy bucket list captured my attention immediately and it worked really well in the story. I was craving a chance to see the list in full, out of pure curiosity, but liked the touch of starting each chapter with a reference to which item on the list the couple would cross off within it. It was brilliant to see the idea of this list initiated by the woman in the scenario, particularly with this being a regency romance, as it goes against the societal expectations surrounding sex and relationships (particularly with regards to women) that were seen at the time. Isabella and Leo spend most of the novel sneaking around, hiding their escapades from everyone around them, and this secretive element added a nice touch to the narrative.
One of my
favourite things about both Isabella and Leo, and really all of the characters
we’ve met in the series, is that they feel real. Everything isn’t all romance
and sunshine all the time as they’re human and they will sometimes speak without
thinking and hurt those around them. But in Isabella and Leo we saw the
maturity that I always look for in romance novel characters, where they’re adult
enough to talk through any miscommunications and resolve issues together. One
of my favourite things about A Duke Of One’s Own was the great
communication we saw between the two lovers within spicy scenes so it was
fantastic to see this continued in What The Lady Wants. I think communication was particularly important in
this book given that the plot centered around two people becoming intimate
together for the first time and then exploring new sexual experiences together,
so I was really pleased it featured so heavily in the dialogue.
I really liked
Isabella as a protagonist. She has good character development over the course
of the book, gradually starting to properly heal from the trauma of her husband’s
death and opening herself up to the idea of loving again. Leo was a great MMC
and I loved the exploration of the ‘he falls first and harder’ trope though him.
It’s one of my favourite romance tropes and it was really well written.
The LGBTQIA+
representation we’ve seen within the rest of the series continues which was
great to see. We also had some good mental health representation through the
exploration of Isabella’s depression following the death of her husband two
years earlier.
I also liked that
we saw the return of the protagonists from the earlier books as supporting characters
within this one so we got a chance to check in with them again, especially as
they’re all linked to either Isabella or Leo through familial ties. Their little
matchmaking plot was a nice inclusion too.
Overall, What The Lady
Wants is another fantastic steamy regency romp from Emma Orchard and a great addition
to the The Runaway Heiress series.
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