Lord Holt Takes a Bride

December 23, 2019
Lorret (The Rogue to Ruin) launches the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series with this lively Regency romance that features not one but two semiaccidental kidnappings. Full-figured heiress Winnifred Humphries is engaged to a man she knows doesn’t love her, prompting her two best friends to conduct a study into the psychology of London’s eligible men. They get carried away, abducting notorious rake Lord Asher Holt for research. Asher escapes, but believes they robbed him of money that would have freed him from his villainous father. When Winn flees her wedding, she mistakes Asher’s carriage as one her friends arranged for her getaway. Asher seizes the opportunity to recover his money, but his plan swiftly goes awry when henchmen sent to collect his father’s gambling debts come after him, endangering both his and Winn’s lives. Despite Winn’s innocence and deep-seated insecurities about her body, Asher is charmed by her ability to hold her own in tense situations. Though their communication issues grow tiresome, Asher and Winn are endearingly complex characters with wit and chemistry to spare. Romance readers will be delighted. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit.

February 1, 2020
A runaway bride meets a runaway lord. Winnifred Humphries can't bring herself to marry the awful man her father has selected for her, so she leaves him at the altar and climbs into a carriage with a man she believes to be her friend Jane's cousin. But, as Winn discovers too late, he's not Jane's cousin; he's actually Lord Asher Holt, whom her friends accidentally kidnapped and robbed in the name of research the week before. Asher just wants his money back so he can finally get away from his greedy father, but the situation spirals, and both of them need to leave London as quickly as possible. Though they expect to be parted after just a few days, when they reach Winn's aunt's house, the intimacy of their travel ignites a fierce chemistry, and it's strong enough that they are easily able to pose as a married couple. After they finally admit that they don't want to be parted, a series of misunderstandings and maliciousness on Asher's father's part threaten to part them permanently--unless Asher can get one more chance to talk to Winn. The first book in Lorret's The Mating Habits of Scoundrels trilogy is convoluted at times, but readers will be pleased to see that Asher is less of a scoundrel than he initially appears. Given that Winn and her friends are ostensibly writing a book about scoundrels--hence the accidental kidnapping--this is unfortunate for their purposes, but that's a fairly minor subplot anyway. A more charming subplot, a possible second-chance romance between Winn's parents, adds a pleasing depth to the story, reminiscent of Eloisa James. Readers will also be grateful for the constant rain showers of England, which create several steamy opportunities for Winn and Asher to get out of their clothing to dry off and get close to stay warm. Though there aren't many surprises in the story, Lorret (The Rogue To Ruin, 2019, etc.) does execute a historical romance well, and readers will look forward to learning more about Winn's friends Jane and Ellie in future installments. A solid Regency romance and promising start to a new series.

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Starred review from March 1, 2020

Proving that one can never take a romance title too literally, the eponymous hero, Lord Holt, does indeed take a bride--straight from the church where she is set to marry another man. Technically, Winnifred Humphries has already made up her mind not to marry the odious Mr. Woodbine, but she wasn't expecting the dashing Asher, Lord Holt, to be the man in her getaway carriage. Asher plans to ransom the headstrong heiress to get back the money her friends stole during his recent (accidental) kidnapping, when they tried to interview him for their guidebook, The Mating Habits of Scoundrels. Things go sideways for Winn and Asher when they're shot at by thugs, and they're soon on the run in the country, dodging thieves, thunderstorms, and suspicious farmers with pitchforks. Along the way, Winn starts to feel desirable for the first time, overcoming a lifetime of criticism about her weight, and Asher slowly realizes that some things are more valuable than money. VERDICT A rollicking Regency road trip with plenty of heat. Fans of Lorret (The Rogue To Ruin) will devour; new readers will want more.--Kathryn Howe, Saint John Free P.L., NB

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2020
Heiress Winnifred Humphries' trio of best friends has the perfect plan to help her escape marrying the odious Bertram Woodbine. They will have a carriage waiting outside the church on the day of Winnifred's wedding, and all she has to do is skip out of the ceremony and into the carriage and she will be whisked away. Unfortunately, once Winnifred finds herself ensconced in the carriage, she discovers her escort is not her friend Jane's cousin Mr. Pinkerington, but instead a rather cranky Lord Asher Holt, who after being kidnapped earlier by Winnifred's friends as part of their research into romantic rogues for a forthcoming handbook, decides a bit of comeuppance might be in order. Lorret debuts her new Mating Habits of Scoundrels series with a whimsically winning Regency-set historical that deftly plays with popular romantic tropes such as the runaway bride with great success. Readers who crave love stories generously dusted with plenty of fairytale charm, flirty wit, and fun sensuality will find this hits their reading spot.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)