The Accidental Viscountess

i enjoy this book.. it is full of subtle intrigues of the regency era & how ones deals with it.. but what is missing for me is the lack of descriptions (i dont even have an image of how the H & h looks like].. also there's no cĺear explanation about what started the forever feud between the families.. one of party dont even know what started it (? maybe this is a series, idk).. 3.5 stars (note: if you are wondering, this is not a wholly clean regency novel)

More About a Hideous Mother-in-Law Than the Romance I love a good Regency, as it is my favorite romance sub-genre. The premise of this sounded good, but unfortunately, for me, it missed the mark completely. I found the beginning scene confusing with all these unfamiliar people whose names I didn't know or recognize yet and this terrible tension and bad blood that I just didn't understand. While I don’t like info dumps in stories, sometimes authors can go to the other extreme. And then there is the compromise and subsequent marriage. The biggest problem with the book, I think, is that the focus really shifted after the marriage. Except for the wedding night, I don't really feel like the bulk of the book after the marriage focuses on the couple at all. It seemed like it focused more on the horrid relationship between the viscountesses. His mother was just awful—an old biddy unwilling to gracefully transition to her role as dowager countess—and he wasn't man enough to stand up to her often enough or defend and support his wife. Ugh. It seemed to me that these two women were just in too many scenes together far too often, sometimes with a buffer and sometimes not. But to me, it felt as if there were zero romance in this romance. I have read, of course, many Regency compromise stories. The couples do go through an adjustment period, slowly learning about each other, but over the course of the book, they manage to fall in love. That's why we read these types of books! But that doesn’t happen in this story. We see no build to their relationship. Frankly, they actually have to be on the page together more often than they were in this book for that to happen. If I want to read a book about hideous in-laws, Regency romance is not the place I look... because I'm there for the romance. That belongs in a family drama book, not in a romance—at least not to this extent, where it felt like it completely overshadowed everything from the midpoint on. I did find the backdrop of the history of the Regency Bill to be interesting. I just wish there was actually some romance and love in this book. If you like your Regency romances to have an actual romance, steer clear of this book. I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

The Accidental Viscountess is the first book in the Just a Touch of Scandal series and is a great start to this series. I really enjoyed this book and the maneuverings of Dorothea and Martin while they try to resolve a family feud. The characters are well developed and interesting. The storyline is well crafted and engaging, with a feud, politics, great historical details, a marriage of convenience, and a chance for romance. This is the first book I have read by this author and I would love to read more. I read and reviewed this book with no obligation.