This is a lovely historical romance set in London. I liked all of the characters in this book; Emma the oldest sister doing her best to raise her younger sister and brother after losing their parents while painting in order to provide for their needs, the younger sister is a delightful character with a vivid imagination and constantly into mischief, and of course Simon the alpha male viscount and his two funny old servants. There are other characters in the story of course and the author makes them all come to life in her story. I think it is well written with a good story line of more than just your typical romance. Emma is a courageous, strong, talented young woman meeting some big challenges. The story was fast paced, funny, romantic, and sweet and I truly enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend it to others and am looking forward to finding more books by this author.

Enjoyed this book, as I had the first in the series, and am sure I will the next as well. Second in a series, this stands quite well alone. The h is a portraitist, elder sister, painting to support her siblings. Orphaned as an older teenager, she was taken advantage of by a member of the peerage, so has a distrust for them. Our H is a peer, whose mistress had resided across the street from her, and her younger sister, fond of mystery novels, thinks he has murdered the mistress. The younger sister sneaks into the house, the older sister pursues her, and the H comes to retrieve a cat, leading to a kiss in the dark, a bump on the head, and the theft of His signet ring.
Determined to track down his ring and catch the thief, he moves into the house, nut as a Mr, not a Lord, and attempts to track down his ring and attacker’s. Of course, he befriends the sisters and finds himself attracted to the elder sister, as the younger continues to view him as a murderer and a threat. Posing for a portrait, they fight their mutual attraction, until they don’t.
Of course, things don’t run smoothly, but eventually, we have our HEA. Will definitely watch for more by this author!

I like historical fiction, and every once in a while I feel the need to read one..This book was just ok, and that kind of bummed me out because I really in the mood for the upper class.we meet Simon who was robbed and hit on the head and he was gun ho on finding out who the culprit was. He was sure that Emma is the guilty one but nothing seemed to fit with that prediction. I liked Emma and enjoyed Lily, but Simon was just ok.

Clearly, Emma Trafford’s new neighbor is a lady killer—but is the scoundrel with the scar capable of murder? Emma can barely contain her precocious younger sister, Lily—the child swears she spied their neighbor engaged in foul play in his Bloomsbury love nest. But when Lily goes too far searching for “evidence,” Emma must save the imp by distracting Simon—with an all-consuming kiss rife with danger and desire.

Simon Marlton, Viscount Adler doesn’t know which is more infuriating: that an anonymous intruder set his soul on fire and left a deep longing in her wake . . . or that during their encounter his signet ring, a token of his painful past, went missing. With the memory of a faint scent of paint spirits and the knowledge that his neighbor Emma is a portraitist, Simon sets out to capture his thief. He draws Emma into a flirtatious game, commissioning the talented lass to paint him—and enticing them both to reveal their whispered suspicions and deepest secrets.

Emma Trafford’s 12-year-old sister, Lily, is spying on the new across-the-street neighbors when she sees what she thinks is a man murdering a woman. She is determined to prove it to Emma the next day when she sees a huge trunk begin moved out of the house. Lily is sure that there’s a body in it. She takes it upon herself to sneak into the house when it’s late at night, but Emma sees her and tries to stop her. They are caught when the man returns to the house. In order to give Lily time to escape, Emma kisses the man. Lily thinks her sister is being harmed so she conks the man on the head with a vase.

When Viscount Adler awakens from being hit over the head he’s pissed that someone tried to steal from him. When he finds his signet ring missing he’s determined to find out who the culprits are. Several clues make him think that Emma is the woman he kissed but he can’t figure out who her male accomplice was. He moves into the house across the street from her (which was actually his mistresses house but he sent her on a trip to Paris), and changes his name so that he can get close to Emma. She is a portraitist and she starts working on one for him. Can he figure out who was behind the theft and why this seemingly innocent and sweet woman would ever try to steal something from him?

This was an easy read and entertaining. Emma was a young woman who was struggling to make ends meet. She was the guardian of her brother, who was away at school, and Lily, her young sister. She was a wonderful painter but she wasn’t getting enough commissions to take care of her family the way she would like. When she meets Adler she has no idea he’s a viscount, but knows that she thinks him incredibly handsome. Of course she knows that he’s the man who kissed her and she needs to protect Lily from what she thinks will be his wrath. I loved that she was so protective of her siblings. She was wonderful with them and would do anything to keep them safe. The romance between Simon and Emma was slow but very satisfactory. I liked how the author didn’t rush things with them as it was nice to see things slowly percolate.

Simon was a scoundrel and had had many mistresses but of course had been bored with them all lately. This of course made room for Emma in his life. Adler had a horrible reputation for doing outrageous things and was always in the scandal sheets. He knew that he would never get close enough to Emma if she knew who he was. Those scandal sheets were completely blown out of proportion of course. If he went rowing with a friend, the sheets would report that he went down the Thames half-naked – ridiculous. I didn’t care for how he hid his identity but I understood why he did it. He ended up being a good man in the end.

Overall this was a cute story.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This will post as a guest review on Book Binge.

I received this novel from net galley and the publisher for an honest review. Thank you!!
This novel was a good read. People need to overcome their past hurts in order to have a better future. Emma Trafford raises her brother and sister after their father died. She is distrustful of titled men. She is a very good portrait painter and makes money doing that. When her sister sneaks over to their neighbor's home trying to find evidence that he is a murder, Emma steps in to protect her sister. Emma "meets" the man in disguise and kisses him to prevent him from discovering her sister. Simon Marlton, Viscount Adler, is angry someone stole his signet ring and his suspicions lead him right to Emma. He devises a plan to have her paint his portrait while looking for his ring. Simon has a difficult which makes him distrustful of women. However, Emma sets his blood on fire. Both Simon and Emma are keeping secrets from each other but neither can stop the passion that arises between them. Will their secrets or past tare them apart from each other?