A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby

Starred review from March 23, 2020
Romance burns slow and hot between a rakish war hero and a determined widow in this bewitching Regency series opener from Riley (The Bashful Bride). Patience Jordan, a West Indian heiress, is separated from her infant son, Lionel, following the suicide of her British husband, Colin. Colin’s villainous, money-grubbing cousin, Markham, sees an opportunity to enrich himself by raising Colin’s heir and has Patience institutionalized, claiming she’s a danger to herself and her child. But Colin’s other cousin, Busick Strathmore, the dashing Duke of Repington, thwarts his plan by taking guardianship of Lionel. Driven by love for her son, Patience escapes the confines of Bedlam in disguise. Knowing that Busick, whom she has never met, won’t trust her with Lionel thanks to her tarnished reputation, she accepts a job as Lionel’s nanny, hatching a foolhardy plan to claim her trust documents and whisk her son to the South American Guianas as soon as possible. The alluring, strong-willed Patience soon captures Busick’s attention and throws off his focus from recovering from his war injuries and sorting through Colin’s tangled finances. Riley loads her expertly crafted romance with intrigue, droll banter, and steadily building passion. Readers will be hard-pressed to find a flaw in this big-hearted Regency romance. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary.

April 15, 2020
A woman must infiltrate her own home in order to care for her infant son after the death of her husband. Patience is a West Indian heiress who married Colin Jordan, a proper English gentleman. Patience loved her husband, but he became remote and distant over the course of their brief marriage and died before meeting their now 3-month-old son, Lionel. Colin's evil uncle, Markham, forcibly removes Patience from her home and sends her to Bedlam, the mental asylum, hoping to gain control of her large trust by claiming he is Lionel's sole remaining relative. After escaping Bedlam with a friend, Patience is determined to find a way to regain control of her trust and take Lionel back to her home island, where he will be safe. Her plan is thrown into chaos with the arrival of Colin's cousin and heir, Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, who inherited their home and is Lionel's true legal guardian. Busick fires all the servants and bans Markham from the house, paving the way for Patience to disguise herself as a wet nurse for Lionel. Although Busick cares for Lionel and wants to be a good guardian, Patience can't trust him with her secrets. Busick already believes she abandoned Lionel, and he'll never understand the toxic mix of racism and sexism that allowed Markham to get rid of her so easily. Riley's use of first-person narration for Patience highlights both her desperation to save her son and her ability to see how English society has failed them. Slowly, Patience learns to trust Busick, and they decide to work together to bring down Markham. The Duke's affection for Lionel and the way the three bond as a family is the primary love story; Busick and Patience's romantic relationship as partners and lovers is underdeveloped and emotionally flat. A slow, almost stolid, story of how a family develops against great odds.

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June 1, 2020

DEBUT West Indian heiress Patience Jordan never expected to be welcomed into her husband's English family with open arms. But being widowed, taken from her baby, and thrown into Bedlam by her husband's dastardly uncle was beyond her worst imaginings. Luckily, the Widow's Grace, an organization that helps women in distress, breaks her out of the madhouse and sets her up as her own baby's nanny. The boy's new guardian, the wounded military hero Busick Strathmore, has never met Patience and doesn't suspect she's really his ward's mother. Like Patience, he also mistrusts the villainous uncle and goes to great lengths to guard the house in order to protect the baby. Working together to ensure the child's safety, the two begin to fall in love. Though the plot touches on serious subjects, the characters' quirky behavior keeps the overall tone light: Patience dresses up as a male servant, Strathmore sets a military-like schedule for the baby, etc. VERDICT There's enough camp in this story to house an army, but debuter Riley delivers a fine first outing in what looks to be a promising new series, welcoming a determined West Indian heroine to the Regency subgenre.--Kathryn Howe, Saint John Free P.L., NB

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2020
Well-educated West Indian heiress Patience Jordan was abruptly widowed, separated from her baby, and imprisoned. She escapes and, disguised as a footman, sneaks into her former home to nurse her son. When her late husband's cousin shows up with a company of soldiers, she flees through a third-floor window and ends up helping wounded hero Busick Strathmore, Duke of Repington, up the long stairs into the manor. The first entry in Riley's new Regency series, Rogues and Remarkable Women, features a diverse cast of characters with a mixed-race heroine and an amputee hero. Busick immediately expels everyone from the estate. Hired as a wet nurse for her own son, Patience initially butts heads with Busick, while looking for evidence against Markham, the man who stole everything from her. Riley's well-researched depiction of 1814 England tells a broad story of life in wartime, the lack of women's rights, mental health, and suicide, while, with all the difficulties they face, Patience and Busick's love story feels genuine and deep.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)