Starred review from July 24, 2017
Hunter’s final installment in the Hawthorne House series will delight those already invested in the series as well as any reader who enjoys stories set in Regency-era England. Finally it’s time for family patriarch Griffith, Duke of Riverton, to find love after seeing all his siblings happily married. His chosen bride, Miss Frederica St. Claire, isn’t sure about the attentions of a duke though, and may be in love with another anyway. It’s her cousin, Isabella Breckenridge, who is the center of attention instead, with her stunning beauty and flirting ways. Griffith is attracted to her, and she is beginning to warm up to him, but there is much more to her story than anyone guesses. Although she maintains a beautiful façade for her society debut, Isabella’s uncle has been pressuring her to use her single status to help him out of financial straits. Will the duke ever dance with Isabella? Will her uncle’s plans succeed? As the London Season plays out, secrets are revealed, past loves return, and hearts align—despite a fair amount of underhanded conniving—to create a fitting finale to the series and a lovely addition to the Regency genre. Agent: Natasha Kern Literary Agency
September 1, 2017
True love never runs a logical course, as Griffith, Duke of Riverton, soon learns. Caving to family pressure to marry, the rational groom-to-be sets his sights on a woman not for her heart but for her merits. But his quarry, Miss Frederica St. Claire, frequently avoids him and leaves him in the company of her flirtatious cousin Isabella. Finding Isabella's coquettish nature distasteful, he does not realize her frivolity hides a woman trying to honor a promise in order to keep her family out of dire straits. VERDICT Hunter's final book in the "Hawthorne House" series (after An Uncommon Courtship) is Regency romance at its best, capturing the social pressures placed on both men and women of the time. Her characters play off each other and the societal rules, resulting in a feverish story line that keeps the pages turning. A must for Hunter fans.
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2017
Griffith, the Duke of Riverton, won't dance, so don't ask him. While other bachelors of the ton might seek their future spouses on the dance floor, Griffith has no need to resort to terpsichorean efforts to find a mate. In fact, using a highly logical process, Griffith has already selected the lady he believes will be the perfect next Duchess of Riverton: Miss Frederica St. Claire. The only problem is that every time Griffith tries to get to know Frederica better, he finds himself spending more time with Frederica's beautiful and enigmatic cousin Isabella Breckenridge than the woman he thinks he wants to wed. With the latest superbly written installment in her Hawthorne House series, RITA awardwinning Hunter (An Uncommon Courtship, 2017) once again proves she has the key to inspirational-romance and traditional-Regency readers' hearts as she gifts them with another gracefully executed love story that delivers all of the richly nuanced characters, impeccably researched historical plotting, and sweet romance they could ever crave.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)