After losing her father and her uncle at the same time, and quickly learning that the family fortune is gone, Meredith Remington's Aunt moves the family to England for a chance to find rich husbands and save the family. I loved the main character, Meredith. She was strong and ambitious, and I loved that she wanted to be a writer. This gave the book an extra element of excitement that is often missing from historical romances. I also love that the entire story wasn't focused on Meredith's relationship with Phillip. Meredith developed strong relationships with a lot of other people. It's always refreshing to read a romance novel that has an interesting side story to balance out the love story and I loved seeing Meredith come into her own as a writer. My only complaint was that there were a few parts of the end 1/3 of the story that seemed a little bit realistic. (I can't elaborate on those things without giving away spoilers.) Those things distracted from my enjoyment of the story a bit, but I still loved the rest of the book enough to make up for it!

I love historical romances and the story does a good job of pulling you in but sadly I just couldn’t bring myself to fully enjoy this one. The heroine is a little bland but I still liked her well enough. Her (bad) choices are understandable and not nearly as dramatic as the hero makes them out to be. I didn’t mind the story being a bit repetitive and predictable but I just couldn’t enjoy the relationship of two MC and that’s the main reason to pick up a historical romance. You want to see two flawed yet strong people grow to understand and appreciate one another but I didn’t get that at all in the book. I can’t like a hero if there’s absolutely no character growth. It’s great he’s self aware and knows how pompous he is, but his forgiveness of the heroine at the end of the book was weak. I didn’t feel like he truly understood the heroine’s point of view or even cared to try. His actions came across as super self absorbed and in the end, sadly I couldn’t like them as a couple.

This was a good read. I totally love Meredith, caught in a trap planned by her aunt. She finds Phillip, a truly wonderful man. Will her aunt's plancause trouble? You know it will. Enjoy.

I am so sad to see this series conclude. The Hamilton Book Shop is a place every romance reader would love to visit. Kaitlin O'Riley has made a family that any reader would want to be a part of. Reading this book I loved how Phillip and Meredith's story came together. I love how Phillip encourages her to do what she loves versus stifling her and wanting her to fit the mold. I will truly miss reading about this family. This book has everything, romance, laughter and tears.

found some parts of the story to be rather clichéd or overdone, there’s perhaps too much winking, and the romance has quite a few references to “warmth” and “sensations,” which gets repetitive. Also, though this isn’t an insta-love story, the eventual jump to love still felt rushed to me, on one party’s part in particular, especially since they both began the story so opposed to marriage.

Still, I very much enjoyed this read, ate it up in one evening, and would be happy to continue the series.

This book is historical romance at (almost) its finest. There's perfect amounts of romance, sweetness, societal expectations, drama, and the obligatory life-changing discovery leading to happily ever after.
Readers know Merry and Phillip are perfect for each other from the moment they meet and watching them get closer to each other is a charming treat. The will-they-won't-they element is almost an afterthought, but the thing that kept me reading from the very beginning was always the interactions between the two leads. This book is 100% about two young people finding their soulmate and figuring out their lives. Everything else is just icing on the romantic cake.
My one gripe is that there are several elements that just do not fit with the times. They add to the overall positivity of the book (much needed in these trying times) but the easy acceptance of several of the events in the book just didn't ring appropriate for the era. And yes, I am aware that the whole point of romance is to look at life through a pink lens of happiness and romance, but it just felt off to me while reading. That's on me, not the author. In fact, I'm looking forward to reading more from her because I totally fell in love with the Hamilton Cousins.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the sneak peek.

An absolutely charming romance! This one did take a little bit of time for me to get into (the opening feels very much like a Little Women clone, which took some getting used to!), but overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable, page-turning read! 5 Stars!