Very slow. ( )

Regency romance lovers will swoon over the third offering in the Belles of London series. Bestselling author, Mimi Matthews, pens another entertaining regency romp. Lady Anne Deveril may look dour and weak in her mourning clothes, but she’s really a fierce defender of those she loves. When her father tragically passed away seven years prior, she and her mother put on their black mourning clothes and began a long engagement with the spiritual side of the world. Lady Anne isn’t a lover of seances or spirits but she’ll do anything to keep her mother happy, even if it means losing her standing in society and losing the love of her life. When Lady Anne needs a favor to help a friend she calls on Mr. Felix Hartford, a gentleman from her past. He agrees to help her, for a cost. In return she must accompany him to a house party on his family’s estate. Unrequited love, hurt feelings, and family secrets come to light the more time they spend with each other. Delightfully narrated by Samuel Roukin and Elizabeth Knowelden - this audiobook is oozes, fun, charm, and growing sexual tension. Fans of the Bridgerton series and regency romance will delight in this book and the series as a whole. ( )

Just when I think I’ve found my favorite Mimi Matthews book, she writes The Lily of Ludgate Hill. It’s magnificent, passionate, witty, and everything I love in a closed door Victorian romance. I adored this book! The second chance, childhood friends to more romance with a touch of enemies to lovers was so delicious. I loved watching these two strong willed people find their way back to each other. I also enjoyed the themes of working class versus aristocracy, spiritualism as it relates to grief, the Victorian double standards when it comes to women and inheritance, and forgiveness and second chances.

Lady Anne Deveril has had a lot thrust upon her beautiful shoulders. Dressed in unrelieved black long past the time of mourning, she tries to support & humor her grieving mother. She’s also a fierce defender of her friends known as the Furies. When she believes her friend Julia is in trouble, she turns to the last man she wants to ask for help. Though Felix Hartford hurt her so many years ago, she’s still in love with him. Determined to remain single, she deftly ignores his witty barbs and the sizzling attraction between them until she can’t.

Felix “Hart” Hartford regrets not marrying Anne when he had the chance. He’s never met another woman like her, but her fierce independence and rejection bring out his cutting wit. When she comes to him needing help, he offers her a bargain she can’t refuse. Yet, underneath his handsome, playboy facade, is a hardworking man who cares for his family and employees. He’s determined to keep his father’s indiscretions a secret from his grandfather and uncle, but it might just cost him his fortune and life. He’s also ready to do whatever it takes to gain Anne’s forgiveness, good opinion & love.

I absolutely adored Hart & Anne! Oh the banter and wit! And those kisses! *sigh* I loved their intellectual battles. Hart’s sarcasm is expertly matched with Anne’s sharp tongue. But, underneath that pretended animosity is a passionate love waiting to be unleashed, if only Hart can convince Anne. I loved the added complexity to the characters. There was so much more than just a simple misunderstanding that drove these two apart and I enjoyed how the past was revealed and seeing the characters recognize their own faults.

I also appreciated the way grief, pain of loss, and forgiveness are addressed in the story. Both Anne and Hart carry heavy burdens and I loved the way they helped each other. The side characters were intriguing and I’d love to know how Marcus fairs in the Highlands. I also loved seeing Julia & Capt. Blunt again as well as the other “Furies.”

It’s a must read for closed door Victorian romance fans! I’ve loved each of these Furies’ stories and am excited for more. Though this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone, but is more enjoyable if you’ve read the previous books. I received an advanced complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own and voluntarily provided.

CW: mild swears, mild violence, only passionate kissing ( )

So rich and satisfying!

Fascinating and complex tale of the third of the four horsewomen friends who ride together in the mornings galloping along Rotten Row. Named by the ton, The Four Horsewomen.
When her beloved father dies Lady Anne Deveril is besieged with grief. Her own and her mother’s.
When her fiancé Felix Hartford, whom Anne had loved from childhood, returned twelve months later after a trip to India with his grandfather collecting plants, Anne still wore black and refused to marry him in order to support her mothers grief. Harsh words were said and Anne repudiated him.
Now, some seven years later, Anne is still wearing black and supporting her mother’s grief, travelling to spiritualists endeavoring to be in touch with her beloved husband, Anne’s father.
Hartford has returned and continues to pursue her, from a distance.
Hart has discovered an awful secret about his father. A man whose love and approval he could never gain. A man who was pointed out as moral and upstanding, a vigorous upholder of Christian values.
As it turned out a man who had a family and three children with his mistress, Hart’s mother’s ex maid. The scandal would reverberate throughout society and badly affect his worthy politician uncle if it ever came out!
More than this, his father had left his alternate family destitute. Hart had taken on responsibility for his half siblings and their rather unpleasant mother. However his half brother Marcus was bleeding him dry with his gambling debts. He and his mother are blackmailing Hart.
Unknown to all Hart’s father had left his inheritance in desperate straights. Hart been quietly investing in a Plumbago mine, and pursuing other methods of making money to support his estate and his siblings.
Hart has never given up on Anne. He offers to escort Anne and her mother to Yorkshire in order to visit one of Anne’s close friends, Julia Wychwood at her abductor’s (now husband) residence. Anne wants to check on Julia, her mother wants to see Captain Blunt’s residence that’s of spiritual significance. His hope is that their relationship might stand some chance of being renewed.
However rough patches are very much ahead for Hart and Anne. Including Anne and her mother having to leave their Mayfair home as the new heir has finally decided to claim his London home. Anne’s mother decides they’ll move to a place on Ludgate Hill, crowded and never quiet, yet claimed to be spiritually important.
Maybe all Anne needs is to be replanted in different soil, like Hart’s grandfather’s giant Himalayan Lily that refuses to bloom. Maybe then they’ll each come into their own?!
Once again a brilliant novel from Mimi Matthews, a second chance romance, with twists and turns I couldn’t see around until they happened!
A novel full of love disregarded, love reclaimed, duty chosen, independence gained in true love, and so much more.
I loved Hart’s column about plants that hinted of course at the Lily of Ludgate Hill.
Despite the frustrations there’s so much joy and anticipation in this novel! Rich indeed!

A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. ( )

This engaging historical romance is the third in the Belles of London historical romance series set in the 1860s. Lady Anne has been her mother's companion in grief for the loss of her father for over seven years. She feels obligated to follow her mother's ever-more-eccentric demands including wearing only black and visiting every sort of spiritualist that London offers.

When Anne was just sixteen, she fell in love with Felix Hartford but her mourning and his trip with his uncle to gather specimens of all sorts of plants separated them. When he returned to wed her, she put him off because she felt she couldn't leave her emotionally fragile mother. He took it badly and said hurtful things still resonating in Anne's mind.

Felix had problems of his own. When he learned that his supposedly upright and righteous father left a mistress and three children upon his death, Felix feels compelled to care for them. But their demands, especially those of the eldest son who is a gambler, threaten to ruin him financially and ruin his family if their existence becomes public knowledge.

Each character is carrying secret burdens which complicate the resumption of their romance making for an interesting story firmly set in the social mores of the day. Information about aristocrats entering trade and the role of women in society infuse this novel. So does the whole topic of grief and the changes it makes in a person. With Anne's mother embracing her grief and unwilling to let it go, she mirrors the grief of Queen Victoria with the same consequences to her daughter as the queen faced with her children.

This was a thought-provoking historical romance with engaging characters. ( )