Series Name: Miss Prentice’s Protegees, # 1
Miss Rowe’s reliably radiated “get lost.” She was prickly, sarcastic, disdainful, standoffish, and… disrespectful… and therefore should be nothing but unappealing.
Except she wasn’t. She called to him—to all of him—and that was frankly unacceptable.
All’s Fair in Love and War is a delightful and fun Regency romance.
When Harry Kincaid’s flighty older sister decides to join her husband on an Egyptian expedition, Harry, a former naval captain, is left in the lurch, minding her three unruly children and giant, mad dog. But Harry has a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all his attention, and he has no clue how to manage the little rascals or when his sister is coming back. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Young Ladies prepared to pay whatever it takes to hire an emergency governess quick sharp to ensure everything in his formerly ordered house is run shipshape again.
Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledgling governess Georgie Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything hers wasn’t—filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational approach. Their staid, stickler-for-the-rules uncle, however, is another matter entirely.
Georgie and Harry continue to butt heads over their differences, but with time it seems that in this case, their attraction is undeniable—and all is indeed fair in love and war.
I love Virginia’s books, so I was incredibly excited to learn she was writing another Regency series. This book was an absolute delight to read, and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. Now, I must warn those bookworms that if you don’t like your romances to have kids and animals in them, you should definitely give this book a pass. Harry’s nieces and nephews and Norbert, their troublemaker dog, play a prominent role in this story. I loved Harry’s nieces and nephews. They are mischievous, and their childlike excitement for all things is rather addictive. I adored how they had their Uncle Harry wrapped around their fingers. Norbert was the perfect comic relief, and anyone who owns a pet that has a larger-than-life personality will enjoy Norbert’s antics. There is definitely a lightness to this story. There are plenty of fun and dramatic antics taking place. Humour is woven throughout the story in such a way that one cannot help but be entertained. I loved it.
There isn’t a whole heck of a lot of high-society drama or matchmaking in this book. The story focuses on Georgia and Harry and their interactions with each other as they care for Harry’s nieces and nephews. I really like Georgia; she is outspoken, kind-hearted, and very clever. She instantly dislikes Harry because he reminds her of her awful stepfather. Georgia’s outspokenness has gotten her into trouble in the past. But she is a great governess and knows how to bring out the best in children. Harry is that typical gruff and up-tight upper-class hero. He likes his world to be orderly, so when his sister leaves her children in his care, his world becomes utter chaos. Hoping that by hiring a governess, some order will return to his world, but the universe has other plans, and Georgia is a whole different kind of chaos that Harry isn’t prepared for. Harry is also very unhappy with his life. He doesn’t like his job but doesn’t know what he should do about his unhappiness.
I loved watching these two very different characters interact with each other. Georgia is a free spirit who doesn’t mind a bit of chaos in her world. Harry doesn’t know what to make of Georgia, but he knows that he is attracted to her. You will enjoy this book if you love opposite-attract, forced proximity, and governess/nanny trope romances. Virginia knows what makes a great historical romance. There are plenty of delicious moments where the tension between these two is leaping from the page. There is also this sense of forbiddance to the romance, which just makes their growing relationship even more addictive.
All’s Fair in Love and War is a fabulous start to a new swoony series by Virginia Heath.
Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
