Acquired Book By: I received a complimentary copy of “The Captain's Disgraced Lady” direct from the author Catherine Tinley in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Rain. The kind which makes you chilled to the bone if your standing in it too long is something I can relate too. Finding Juliana and her mother waylaid after disembarking from their ship whilst earnestly hopeful to find a warm respite indoors felt quite fitting. Her mother’s anxieties surprised me but like most daughters who are attentive to their parents’ needs, I could tell Juliana was capable of getting her mother what she needed from the keeper of the establishment they had ducked inside. A fire in the hearth is a blessing on any day where the cold can wick out your body temperature and tea is such a warming balm of strength to your soul - I could definitely find myself in their shoes and felt their desire to feel warmer.

As soon as they were settled in the parlour all was not as it would seem - despite Juliana’s intentions of getting back onto the road as soon as a carriage could be fetched was not in the cards. Her mother’s health was declining right before her eyes, from the pale pallor of her face and skin to the lack of energy in her feet whenever she tried to move rooms. Adding to the distress of the situation was a certain Captain (ie. Harry) who was insisting on stepping on Juliana’s toes! The banterment going on between them was wicked hilarious on one hand and downright infuriating on the other! They bested each other for being able to hold their own against a person you hadn’t expected to get into a row with at a local Inn! He was infringing on Juliana’s right to best understand her mother’s needs but Harry was flummoxed by how Juliana didn’t act like others he knew of her same age. She was a puzzle to him; one he found quite astonishingly curious to understand better.

Whilst we find mother and daughter waylaid from their travels, we get the chance to understand their relationship through a series of flashbacks - they own to how hard Juliana has tried to stand by her mother’s side as her guardian as her mother has one particular fault in her character which puts her at risk: she is too trusting of others’ motives. We quickly recognise how Juliana had to step into adulthood as a young girl if only to safeguard her mother from those who sought to take advantage of her kind deposition.

Despite the awkwardness Juliana and Harry felt in their exchanges, each of them were smitten over the other from afar; without feeling circumvent about having noticed each others’ features when the other was not aware. By the time Juliana was ensconced at her best friend’s new estate, her thoughts were still plaguing her about Harry; she just couldn’t shake him from her conscience. Charlotte on the other hand reminded me of the girls’ in stories and films who was the best kind of girlhood mate to have in one’s life - of where you could having daring adventures and hugged-to-your-soul confidences with a trusted friend. (ie. the Mandie series, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, etc.)

It’s hard not to laugh at the irony of it all! Harry is Adam’s brother! I should have seen this coming but I was caught up in the goings-on of Juliana’s days, not trying to connect the dots and enjoying the narrative as it was written - but when I first suspected there might be a connection to Harry is when Juliana first saw a bloke trying to sneak into the Orangery! Mind, as soon as I learnt about what an Orangery is from another story I read last year, the more I fell in love with the idea of them! Imagine!? Having the ability to grow fresh citrus and specific fruits in a special room which blooms with it’s own kind of aromatherapy that is altogether refreshingly beneficial? Charlotte is married to Adam you see, and thereby, Harry is her new ‘brother-in-law’ and the bane of Juliana’s existence. Although, part of me wonders if a lot of what irks the ire of those two might be unexpected flirtation with someone who can challenge them? In love like in life, the people you are meant to be with are not always the ones you think you’d draw favour - sometimes it’s the person who sees you yet challenges you past logic and reason all the same.

When Charlotte, Harry and Juliana went visiting to one of the neighbours who had a clear lack of tact and decorum in their bones (they had been at the Public Day Charlotte & Adam had hosted) - it took every ounce of personal resolve for these three friends-in-arms to hold back the discontent they had felt in the presence of their hosts. If anything, it was their disregard for their general staff and their mannerisms overall which was most distasteful. Plus, too, as Juliana suspected upon hearing the woman’s tale about how she was ‘inheriting’ her assets, I smelt something rather fowl in regards to her ‘husband’. There was a layer of shrouded woe afflicting through this passage where you nearly wanted to find a solution for the servants and extract the ‘owners’ from their prideful ownership.

I love how Ms Tinley has paced this novel - of how she chose to reveal their behaviour quirks and they try to hold back a bit of themselves at the same time. Rather than reveal a lot about the setting in the beginning, she found a way to break-down the introductions to the main characters by placing them in a setting which would befit close quarters and companionable space - where they would have to sit and converse amongst each other for a specific period of time before departing company. In this, you get to see where their confidences lie and where their insecurities start to bubble to the surface; you also see them caught off-guard either by being outwitted or simply heard something unexpected they hadn’t thought they would hear at all. In this, it’s quite a refreshing way to entreat into a story because your stranded with the characters, seeing how they react to each other and what can be observed through their interactions. If anything, it’s a great study in human behaviour!

I truly read this novel in one sitting - much to my delight! I was happily surprised to find this did not follow the same pattern as Harlequin novels on this side of the Pond; in fact, it had it’s own voice, style and disclosure like I would expect from any Historical Romance; something which surprised me as Harlequin Historicals (as I know them here) have the tendency to follow suit after each other; most Harlequin stories have a ‘trademark’ so to speak and what I found wicked refreshing is this felt wholly original of Ms Tinley without the ‘signature Harlequin mark’ on it!!

Perhaps I am a Mills & Boon girl!?

Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate Harlequin for what Harlequin provides -- but ooh. There was something wicked lovely about this author’s spin on this particular story-line… I was so glued to her words, especially the turns of phrases she used and the ways in which she revealled the character’s truer thoughts about one another. You get privy to both the action of the scenes but also, what each lead character is contemplating privately; the balance between the two was delightful but also, it was how it was spaced out and evenly divided to where you never felt one was sacrificed for the other.

I know one thing is for certain - I must hunt down which online book shoppe has the Mills & Boon edition of Waltzing with the Earl and hopefully it shall be the same which will carry the third novel where Olivia’s story is known! The reason I love the elements inside this novel is because they bring back the Regency of my youth with the Regency I know as an adult - the kind of stories I gravitate towards but also, it speaks to the voice I seek out in these kinds of Regencies. Not every writer who writes Regency Romance has this style nor this comprehension of how to curate this kind of voice for the historic period in question. Thereby, the best part of finding this novel #unputdownable was how wicked happy I was to be reading it!

// This is a quotation of my full review originally shared via jorielovesastory.com

I liked how Juliana Milford sparked off Captain Harry Fanton, but the angst on his part about their relationship and the battlefield scene near the end... a bit too much deus ex macina for my liking but still a good read.
Juliana is used to looking after her mother and unused to having someone think about her, but Captain Harry Fanton and his family are determined to make her life better. Features some scenes at Waterloo. ( )