**Disclaimer: I was given a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.**

Title Mr. Malcolm’s List

Author Suzanne Allain

Description from Amazon

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an arrogant bachelor insistent on a wife who meets the strictest of requirements–deserves his comeuppance.

The Honourable Mr. Jeremy Malcolm is searching for a wife, but not just any wife. As the target of matchmaking mothers and desperate debutantes, he’s determined to avoid the fortune hunters and find a near-perfect woman, one who will meet the qualifications on his well-crafted list. But after years of searching, he’s beginning to despair of ever finding this paragon. Until Selina Dalton arrives in town.

Selina, a vicar’s daughter of limited means and a stranger to high society, is thrilled when her friend Julia Thistlewaite invites her to London, until she learns it’s all part of a plot to exact revenge on Mr. Malcolm. Selina is reluctant to participate in Julia’s scheme, especially after meeting the irresistible Mr. Malcolm, who appears to be very different from the arrogant scoundrel of Julia’s description.

But when Mr. Malcolm begins judging Selina against his unattainable standards, Selina decides that she has some qualifications of her own. And if he is to meet them he must reveal the real man behind…Mr. Malcolm’s List.

Release Date July 28, 2020

Initial Thoughts

Once again, this was a classic case of getting a new book on NetGalley and ignoring the older books so I could read the new one right away. I downloaded this book 3 days ago and started it immediately because it sounded really good.

Some Things I Liked

Witty banter. As expected with any good recency story, the dialogue in this story was fantastic. Everyone was quick-witted and I loved that.
Cassie. Easily my favorite character. I’d love to see a sequel / spin-off story about him finding love. Honorable mention to Gertie. She was perfect too. I’d like to see her in future stories.
Pride and Prejudice vibes. I loved that the entire story was based on assumptions and misunderstandings. The characters and story felt so much like the beloved classic and I really enjoyed that aspect.

Series Value

I would really enjoy reading more about these characters. They were a lot of fun and a few of the side characters have unfinished stories that I’d enjoy reading.

Final Thoughts

This book was perfect. It was exactly what I was expecting from the description and I really enjoyed it. The writing and dialogue were perfect and I’m really glad I read this one. This book is perfect for fans of Pride and Prejudice.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recommendations for Further Reading

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore – if you like the time period and the witty banter, try this series by Evie Dunmore.
A Brazen Curiosity by Lynn Messina – again, if you liked the time period, try this series. It’s a cozy mystery series.
A Duke, the Baby, and a Lady by Vanessa Riley – if you liked the dialogue and the idea of a higher ranking gentleman with high standards, try this series by Vanessa Riley.

Read for Netgalley

Suzanne Alain delivers a delightful, regency romance filled with best intentions, uncertainty, and scheming friends in her latest tale of HEA. Mr. Malcolm is the catch of the season, but after he passes over one young debutante that doesn't meet his exacting standards for a wife, one young lady decides to turn the tables so that Mr. Malcolm will understand once and for all what it feels like to not come up to scratch. Will honorable actions and true love win out over revenge?

I could definitely tell that this was written to be made into a movie, and I think it would be much more enjoyable as such.

I have read more Regency Romances in my life than I can count. And this was not one of the better ones. By far. The premise sounded very promising--a young lady brought to the ton for the specific purpose of bringing a much too arrogant high-born gentleman down a peg or two. This book did not live up to my expectations, however. Not by a long-shot. The characters were all extremely flat. The two main characters had no chemistry, to the point that when they had their big disagreement in the middle of the book, I really didn't care. Sadly, the book actually got more interesting when the two characters were fighting with each other, even though I wasn't entirely sure why they were mad at each other. The situations were contrived, the conversations were boring, and many of the characters were stereotypes and barely fleshed out. I felt like I was reading a book full of Regency "robots." The book was also much too short. More meat and development in the story really could have added interest and rooting value. It was almost as if someone said, "Throw all the Regency tropes you can into a story, and make it 200 pages or less." All in all, I would not recommend this book. If someone is looking for a good Regency Romance in the same vein as this, read Georgette Heyer.

An adorable romance meant to be light reading. Perfect for the beach or when a reader is in between books.

When Julia is not called on - visited by - for a second time by the wealthy Mr. Malcolm she sends her cousin Lord Cassidy to find out why. Cassidy reports that she does not meet one of his requirements to be his wife. Hurt by this rejection - in reality she is being overly dramatic - Julia develops a plan to make Mr. Malcolm feel the pain he has caused her. Enter Selina.

Selina and Julia were acquaintances in school once. Though they didn't stay in close contact when Julia invites Selina to London she is thrilled. Selina was the companion to an elderly relative and desires the friendship of people her age. Julia informs Selina about her plan concerning Mr. Malcolm. She is hesitant about it and tells Julia multiple times. Selina continues to deny to be a part of the ruse when she meets Mr. Malcolm and realizes he is not as cruel as Julia describes.

Through shared experiences, misunderstanding, and a meddling Mom Mr. Malcolm and Selina find their way to one another.

While an intriguing premise, I was not captured by the style or the characters. Would not recommend.

Why does this book exist? It is complete frippery and nonsense --and I usually love romance books!

But truly, Mr. Malcolm's List is about two 19th century ladies in England. Julia has been "spurned" by Mr. Malcolm (in reality, her pride has only been hurt; Mr. Malcolm did her no injustice), and she conscripts her friend Selina to help her make Mr. Malcolm feel belittled in a similar fashion. But Julia is a spoiled brat of an idiot and her cousin who helps her in the scheme is an even bigger idiot-- like seriously, he's missing some crayons from his 64-color box. But then everyone is out to make everyone else feel poorly when their own feelings are hurt. My eyes just about rolled out of my head because the eye-rolling was so constant. Serves me right for downloading it from NetGalley just because I was seeing that it was a most-requested title.

this started off strong but didn't quite stay that way for me. The pacing and characters didn't really work for me, though there were several moments that i liked and one really romantic scene i really enjoyed. it was fine, just not my favourite overall.

A fun, light romance with a bit of a Pride and Prejudice vibe. It would be a solid beach read. Not sexy but sweet and funny.

While I usually enjoy any sort of regency romance or pride and prejudice adjacent retelling, I was disappointed in Mr. Malcom’s List. The characters were forgettable, and the amount of lies they told and their dull, rote personality traits them unlikeable. There was also unfortunately little chemistry between the main characters. Overall, a disappointing read

I paused this DRC at 50%. I think closed door (at least first 50%!) rom-com fans would truly appreciate Mr. Malcolm's List and I enjoyed the regency aspect of the novel. I also enjoyed the premise of Mr. Malcolm's list: an eligible bachelor has a list for his perfect match and a jilted lady enlists a beautiful friend to catch him in his arrogant ways. I am sure it's mostly due to COVID19, and I'll try this one again later.

Full disclosure: I struggle at the best of times with Regency romances. However, I do read one every now and then when the plot description appeals to me. Mr. Malcolm’s List was well written but struck me a a bit silly. Was it intended as a comedy of manners? The characters all had roles to play but no depth. It is to be hoped that that was not the case in real life during the second decade of the 19th century. Were there not real people with real problems and real feelings who fell in love while trying to navigate the societal rules of the time? This book did not convince me that Regency romances can be compelling, relatable stories, though I’m sure they can be. I am open to the possibility that the failure is my inability to relate to that time and place with its particular behavioral rules. Even so, surely the people were worth getting to know on a better than superficial level.

I would only recommend this book to someone looking for a light romance. It did not fulfill the description that I expected, that it would be a new take on Jane Austin, etc. The characters were flat and there was no descriptive narrative that would set the time and place.. After reading a quarter of the book (thanks Kindle for keeping track) I just gave up.

Received a copy from Netgalley for an honest opinion.

Such a cute story! I really enjoyed reading this book, and hope maybe there's a sequel featuring some of the other characters. If you like a fun, light-hearted romantic romp this one is for you. go out and get this one as soon as it is published because you will really enjoy it.

Really sweet boy loses girl, girl power prevails. Characters were well written, loved to hate julua, dialogue was snappy. Looking forward to the movie!

Mr. Macolm's list tells the story of Mr. Malcolm and his quest for a woman who meets the criteria on his "list". Unbeknownst to him, he has griviously insulted the incredibly petty Julia. As revenge she invites her friend Selina to come to London. The ridiculous plan is to have Selena lure Mr. Malcolm in by pretending to meet all the criteria on his list and then rejecting Mr. Malcolm for not meeting the requirements on her list. Needless to say Selina finds this ridiculous; she meets Mr. Malcolm, they hit it off, she meets all his requirements effortlessly, etc, etc. Julia is still out for revenge though .

This book is incredibly silly. The premise is very simple, the results inevitable. The characters are fine, thought I didn't find myself particularly drawn to any of them. The absurd cousin and Mr. Malcolm's mother were probably the stand out characters for me. The H/HR were both incredibly bland.

The writing style really didn't connect. Usually when I read a historical romance I am drawn into the story, engaged, and the pages fly by. Never did I feel like anything but a casual reader of the story here; I wasn't drawn into the story, the romance, the characters, the locations, etc.

For librarians looking for clean historical romances to recommend to people, this one was pretty safe...nothing more steamy than kissing.

Sweet, fun, fast read. Loved Malcom, though he was a bit of a dolt. Seline was great also. Julia, Cassie and Henry were fun side characters. This would be a good beach read for the Summer!

Some clever and funny situations in this light-hearted Regency romance make it attractive, but I prefer stories that "show" rather than "tell." That said, and because it made me think of a script, I discovered that a 10 minute "Overture" to this book has been filmed, and it worked well in introducing the characters and in portraying them as they are in the book. If this movie is brought to production, it's going to be an unusual period piece in terms of casting but also humorous and beautiful. Hard to rate--because I feel like it's going to succeed on the screen, but it had a few hang-ups as a novel. (The book was originally published in 2009.)