The Unlikely Lady. ( Playful Brides #3) by Valerie Bowman. My ARC review.

★★★★★

This is a light hearted historical romance, guaranteed to lift your mood, with a few sexy scenes to spice it up.   

Jane is a blue stocking, more than happy to stay a spinster, much against her mother´s wishes. Jane and her best friends Cass And Lucy, have a plan in mind to stop her mother from pushing her into marriage. Cassandra´s wedding  is the ideal time to put it into play, but Jane agrees to be sociable and not hide behind a book through the week long party before the big day. 

Garret is Lucy´s cousin and has spent a lot of time in company with the young women , and Jane and he are always sniping at each other. Garret came back from the war with a lot on his mind. He wants to make sure the wounded soldiers and their families are provided for. One of those war widows invites herself to the wedding, and has set her sights on Garret.  

 Jane has been a willing wallflower for so long, with her glasses and her books nobody noticed her.

This is easily read as a stand alone although it is obvious there are two other stories before it , that I will now have to read.  

Valerie Bowman is an award-winning author who writes Regency-set historical romance novels aka Racy Regency Romps!

Valerie’s debut novel was published in 2012. Since then, her books have received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus. She’s been an RT Reviewers’ Choice nominee for Best First Historical Romance and Best Historical Romance Love and Laughter. Two of her books have been nominated for the Kirkus Prize for fiction.

Valerie grew up in Illinois with six sisters (she’s number seven) and a huge supply of historical romance novels. After a cold and snowy stint earning a degree in English Language and Literature with a minor in history at Smith College, she moved to Florida the first chance she got. Valerie now lives in Jacksonville with her family including her rascally rescue dog, Roo. When she’s not writing, she keeps busy reading, traveling, or vacillating between watching crazy reality TV and PBS.

Visit Valerie on the web at www.ValerieBowmanBooks.com. (less)

AMAZON.Co.UK: The Unlikely Lady