Manda Collins

Books: Romance | Historical | Mystery

A Lady's Guide:  A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (2020)

A Lady's Guide 

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (2020)

Set in England in 1865

Lady Katherine Bascomb inherited The Gazette after the death of her husband, and has come to thoroughly enjoy running it–including writing articles of her own.

Two years ago, her husband, George, had been alive and making her life unbearable. Now, she'd taken his newspaper— which he'd nearly let collapse through mismanagement— and turned it into one of the most profitable.

But when she discovers a witness who might have seen a serial killer, she ends up in over her head.

This started out well enjoy, and I was enjoying the mystery, but I started to notice some romance tropes appearing.

His nose was slightly crooked, but instead of marring his looks, it made his visage, which might have been too symmetrical without it, more interesting.

She was unlike any woman he'd ever known.

Uh oh. Hero has a once broken nose and she is Not Like Other Girls.

But then things got better, and I was back in the story.

it hadn't taken long to figure out that it wasn't her husband's intellect that made him terrible. It was simply that he was a bad person.

But then the romance kicked into high gear and I started skimming more. Because it was pretty much insta-love/lust and, well, whatever.

He had never thought himself capable of murder, but the flash of anger that ran through him said otherwise.

Bleh.

"Why don't I just pretend to be your wife?" she asked. …

"Do you think we'll be convincing enough?" she whispered, her eyes darting to his lips.

"Oh, I believe we can be quite credible," he said softly, his breath fanning over her lips. "But we'll need to practice a little."

Bleh bleh bleh. WhatEVER.

Eversham's chest squeezed at her degree of upset over these people she'd never even met before. For someone who hailed from the upper class, Katherine Bascomb had a depth of empathy for others that he'd rarely seen.

Oh look. Really Not Like Other Girls.

Then we got the solution to the mystery and.. I'm sorry, but it just didn't make any sense. WHY would the murderer have acted as they did? Why was neither character suspicious of (murderer)? Why on EARTH am I supposed to believe the reasoning behind the murdering spree?

So… I kept reading, but so much just plain didn't work for me.

Publisher: Forever

Rating: 6/10