Widow for Hire Book

This was a gift from a friend. I was excited to see this vintage cover from Harlequin Regency Romance line and excited as well to try a “new to me” writer though I’ve learned she has quite a number of HQ regencies under her belt.

So here you have the “one guinea widow” (so named because her now deceased husband and thank the Good Lord for small mercies!) left her one guinea in his will. It was his way to signal his contempt for her beyond the grave and to give the gossipmongers lots of fodder. Rumors really erupted like wildfire when she returned to London as a chaperone to a debutante from a newly knighted widower’. She is penniless and trying to support two faithful friends/retainers but she is not above cashing in on her knowledge of what is proper in Society for the benefit of herself and those she loves as well as her employer. Of course, her evil BIL is feeding those fires and adding more logs to the flame every chance he gets.

Added into the mix is a former (but SECRET!) fiancé, Lord Doncastle, who is now, of course, titled and a bit bitter about being jilted lo those many years ago by his one true love. And for a title! Or so he believes. Unfortunately, he’s a bit of nodcock in my opinion and believes most of those rumors being circulated around Town. OK, he makes a good turnaround once the light bulb comes on, but still he was ...tiring and tiresome, just adding to her troubles.

And sometimes Amelia, to tell the truth, was equally tiresome, determined to keep her shameful past right back there where it belonged — in the past — as she refuses to tell Doncastle the TRUTH BEHIND HER RUNAWAY MARRIAGE long ago. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnn... So cross-purposes, star-crossed lovers, etc., etc., etc. as Yul Brynner would say.

I think I enjoyed Sir Ethelred and his scientifically inclined daughter, Calliope, the most in this romance. Sir E discovers a long-held secret romantic bent, as does Calliope. But both are rather plain speaking people and honest, truly like Amelia and are her biggest and BEST defenders in society. I was happy both end up with their own HEA.

I would like to find a few more of this writer’s old HQ regencies. She has quite a good style of telling a story and a talent at character sketches. Even the ones I didn’t particularly cheer for or worse just wish to the devil were pretty well rounded. Except, of course, for the real villain of the piece who was a bit lopsided in favor of one dimensional EVIL. All in all, this one was perfect for a few hours diversion.