Sign up today and we'll send you a 10% discount code towards your first purchase.
Miss Caroline Hawkins: the invisible belle of the ball who prefers it that way.
Caroline Hawkins has mastered the art of blending in. With deliberately dulled hair, thick glasses obscuring her keen eyes, and dresses that could best be described as 'tent-like', she navigates the glittering world of English society unnoticed and unbothered. Just the way she likes it.
But every perfect disguise meets its match.
Enter Pierce Byrne, the enigmatic Black Baron, whose piercing gaze cuts through Caroline's carefully constructed facade. He's intrigued by the woman who is everything society's belles are not—strangely fascinating, compellingly odd.
She planned to hate him, he planned to win her.
One unexpected night, their paths cross in a way Caroline never intended. Pierce discovers Caroline's secret—a secret so aligned with his own that it binds them in a curious new way. Suddenly, the game of hide and seek with society's expectations turns into a thrilling chase of wits and wills.
Can two masters of disguise find truth in the masquerade?
As they delve deeper into each other’s hidden lives, what starts as mutual curiosity evolves into something neither can escape. Before long, Pierce and Caroline must confront the truth: their deepening connection could either ruin them or offer the companionship they've both secretly desired.
Underneath the gray, a colorful tale of intrigue and romance unfolds.
BREE WOLF is a USA Today bestselling author and award-winning word wizard, who is rarely seen without a book in hand or fingers glued to the keyboard.
This was such a gorgeous story, so well written. Caroline and Pierce both had so much to hide, helping others under disguise, getting to know each other, learning to trust each other and slowly falling in love with each other. And, of course bringing a villain to justice which was nicely wrapped up in the end. It was enchanting, definitely a Happy Ever Regency romance!
This delightful tale shares much of it's timeline with How to Climb a Lady's Tower. However, in this book we are told the story from Pierce and Caroline's points of view and the author fills in much of the missing story. Pierce, Lord Markham, aka the Black Baron, cares not about the secrets peers of the realm hold. He sees people as they truly are, not hidden behind masks. When Miss Caroline Hawkins catches his eye, he realizes that she is hiding behind secrets. She wears gray, drab, high necked gowns and wears thick lenses to hide her beautiful blue eyes. He happens upon her one night when she shouldn't be out alone and finds she is filled with fire, a stiff backbone and is fearless. This story is the perfect blend of romance and suspense.
Caroline and Pierce are two people who mask their identities for very different reasons and they meet and slowly fall in love.
Gosh, how I love this series, Each of the stories I've read in it becomes my next favorite. Funny how that happens, but it just shows that each is an improvement on the previous ones.
Loved the story, loved all of its characters and I am so happy to have read this book.
A lovely romance with interesting characters and such an engaging story. Samuel and Emma are a delight, I mean what could go wrong with a Duke and his Scottish matchmaker. Lots of attraction, a whole lot of fun and a wonderful happy ending and finale to this series.
Lady Emma Blackwood is a matchmaker visiting London to help the Duke of Clearford’s sister find a husband. She is hoping to make a successful match, so she and her sisters can stay in London and escape from their father.
Samuel Maerriweather, the Duke of Clearford has given up on offering advise in courtship and needs help finding a husband for his sister Lady Felicity. He decides a matchmaker is just the person he needs for her but not for himself.
Samuel and Emma are determined to forget their first meeting in the garden under the moonlight and do their duty to each of their sisters. The more they are determined not to be together, the more determined the sisters believe they do belong together. Even going as far as to fake a disappearing sister and sending Samuel and Emma on a wild chase together. Let the fun courtship begin!!
Wow!! What a way to end the series!! Samuel finally gets a wife and I felt Emma was perfect for him. I absolutely loved their story!! This book was very entertaining, lots of fun and had plenty of steam. One of things I really loved about this series was the interaction between Samuel and all of his sisters. It was so much fun having all of them together in each of the books as we read each of their stories!! I highly recommend this book and the entire series!!
This was a great conclusion to a great series. I enjoyed all of the books and was hoping that Samuel would get his story told and was not disappointed.
Samuel is the Duke of Clearford and the brother of eight sisters, most of whom are of marrying age. He needs to get his sister, Felicity, married to a suitable man after she was spurned by another man, leaving her bereft and heartbroken. She wasn’t interested in any other men, but when he has Lady Emma Blackwood come in as a matchmaker, Felicity does not object.
What adds more zing to the story is that Samuel is in need of a bride himself—and an heir. He’s in his thirties and time is ticking. He wants to get his sisters married off first and most of them are (and have their own stories in this series), but he is concentrating on Felicity since the younger sisters are too young to be pursuing husbands. He has his eye on a certain widow, but has just platonic feelings for her. He thinks he can make a relationship with her work. He has to be careful of who he picks for a wife due to the risk of scandal should anyone find out about his sisters’ book club. That is a story unto itself and spread throughout the series.
Emma has a story of her own that’s sad and has determined her course in life. She’s already on the shelf and is trying desperately to save the reputations of her own sisters. She knows she will never marry, even though she’d like to someday. How she first meets Samuel was absolutely beautiful and laid out some angst for the rest of the story.
The tension, the difficulties, and the feels between Samuel and Emma flew from the screen. There were a few times when I wanted to shake her for being so stubborn and obtuse, but she had her reasons. In the end, I admired them both.
This was a terrific story that captivated me from the beginning and kept me enthralled to the end. I couldn’t have asked for a better finale.
*I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left a review.
Six sisters, two matchmakers and the moon
Emma & Samuel
Scottish Lady and disgraced matchmaker, she’s set on securing a duke’s sister the perfect husband, keeping her wastrel father happy and her little sisters far out of reach of his greedy clutches.
He’s the duke and retired wannabe matchmaker set on marrying the young widow his sisters selected for him. Not the love match he once dreamed of, but she’s already well aware of the family secret and that should be enough.
They accidentally meet under the moon; a magical moment in which anything seams possible... followed by the cold shower the next morning when she learns he’s her new employer, and he realises he can’t risk her reputation...
At 31 she’s a fairly innocent but curious spinster, and he, now 35, forgot about women the moment he became the Duke 13 years ago. Their repartee and sizzle is chef’s kiss!
It’s 100% love at first sight for the both of them, and they can fight it all they want, you just know these two are made for each other. Literally two peas in a pod, and it’s oh so enchantingly enthralling watching them crack each other’s pod - it’s such an endearingly clumsy awkward irresistible muddle!
Add a mingling meddling mischievous gaggle of sisters, seductive knife throwing lessons, salacious books, naughty notes, ballroom shenanigans, new friends, old foes, the jealousy theory, too many brothers-in-law, a failed proposal, an elopement, a mad dash road trip, a storm and a true knight-in-shining-armour rescue - and you get the brilliant, bubbly, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, delectable, fantabulous fairytale ending to this wonderful series! Never a dull moment; I absolutely devoured this book! I love this family and their stories so much, and I cannot recommend this entire series highly enough!
The Duke of Clearford would like to marry for love, but his family’s secret erotic lending library makes that impossible. If the library is discovered, his wife would be ruined. But if he marries a member of the library, someone already courting scandal, he won’t have to risk an innocent’s reputation. He’s determined to do just that. Until he meets Lady Emma Blackwood—beautiful, intelligent, and entirely off limits. Chased out of Edinburgh by her enraged father and a scandal she did not cause, Lady Emma is determined to restart her matchmaking practice in London with a prestigious client the insufferable Duke of Clearford. Yet attraction, unexpected and consuming, threatens to their loyalty to duty and obligation
The final book of this delightful series, it’s easily read on its own but the Merriweather family features throughout. I loved both Samuel & Emma, they were attracted to each other from their first meeting in a community garden. I loved how their relationship grew & deepened. Their sisters were a delight & were determined to find the right ‘match’ for their eldest siblings. The banter was delicious, the attraction sizzled & the pace was good. There were plenty of hiccups on their journey which all made it an engrossing romance.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own
