This was a pretty decent read. I liked both main characters. The overall plot and writing were pretty decent. It was pretty quick to read through. I recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

1895. Dominic Lockhart should be happy. His engagement to a duke’s daughter promises to elevate his family’s status in society and improve the marriage prospects of his three younger sisters. Puzzlingly, however, Lady Cecily Hardgrave seems ‘a little cool’ towards him, though she assures him she has agreed to the match. Perhaps they need time to get to know each other better? But then he meets Nellie Regan, a former lady’s maid, now proprietress of a successful hair salon. And remarkably pretty. And lively. The attraction is mutual, but he is already engaged and she is aware of the gap in their stations. Can a happy ending be attained? It can. It is.
The portrayal of the relationship between different classes in late Victorian England is perceptive: aspirations of a rising middle class, struggles of an increasingly impoverished aristocracy to maintain its privilege, resentment of the lower social orders. Dominic and Nellie are attractive characters, but they do spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about each other. These passages slow the plot. The obstacles to the happy ending, moreover, do melt away rather conveniently. An uneven performance.
HNR Issue 94 (November 2020)
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/aspirations-of-a-ladys-maid-breaking-the-marriage-rules/

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of the book via NetGalley.

Though it’s not terribly clear from the blurb itself, this is a between-the-classes romance. Both Nellie and Dominic are intriguing characters, and their romance is actually quite interesting. Nellie is spirited and Dominic is properly heroic when called upon to be. The setting is described with careful detail, and the people who surround the characters add to the story nicely.

The class differences between the characters are huge, but there are other elements that further complicate the characters reaching a Happily Ever After, too, and altogether, I had a very hard time enjoying Nellie and Dominic getting together. The characters were likeable, but I just couldn’t see them happy with the choices they made, and the things that they would have to sacrifice to be together – something that’s not really addressed in the story. There’s a bit happy bow flopping on the ending to sort of cover any problems that might linger, but at some point I felt it simply wasn’t enough. Going into the read, I wondered how the author could possibly put these two characters together. In the end, I wasn’t quite convinced that what she did worked.

Unfortunately, I really struggled with this one. I had a hard time keeping focus in this story and I found this repetitive.

Unfortunately what started off as an interesting premise, quickly became repetitive, and to put it bluntly, boring. The first time these characters meet, Nellie is doing a rather insulting impression of himself and his fiancee. And for the next several passages all we get to hear about it how Nellie refuses to be "reprimanded" because she is no longer a servant, and how Dominic ought to "reprimand her for being impertinent". The poor man only wants to ask her, at the request of his sister if she will do her hair at his ball, but of course, Nellie believing herself about to be "reprimanded" refuses to talk to him. He goes so far as to follow her to London in an attempt to speak with her there about hiring her services, but not only does she force him to wait all day, but she then only agrees to meet with him in a crowded public room (and even there instead of allowing him to speak with her she does everything but as she assumes she is so important that he traveled all the way to London and sought her out just to dun dun dun .... reprimand her). Seriously. Her puffed-up sense of self-importance is astonishing.

Because of her ill manners in not just speaking with him earlier in the day, he ends up coming to her rescue when a drunken patron accosts her. Only to then be beaten for his troubles. Left with no other choice, she takes him to her home to recuperate. Where that night she steals a kiss from him while he sleeps and sleeps next to him in her bed after he falls asleep. I guess she doesn't hate him as much as she thinks she does? Then the next morning she catches him looking "lustfully" at her while she stands there in nothing but her shift. Normally, such things would be mentioned and forgotten, but oh no. Throughout the novel, we are reminded over and over about how she stole a kiss and she caught him watching her wash the next morning. *yawn*

While we do occasionally get glimpses of some fun between the pair, and a flash here and there of chemistry lurking underneath everything else, these two people are both so snobbish that I don't ever believe in that romantic attraction. Then, of course, there is the tiny little matter of Dominic already being engaged to someone else. Anyway, feeling guilty for being the reason for his pain and suffering Nellie agrees to travel to his country estate and do his sister's hair for his upcoming ball. And everything goes more or less according to plan.

Until that is, Dominic goes off in search of his wayward fiance (and seriously how he did not think anything was amiss with her constantly disappearing is beyond me) and finds Nellie instead. A few passionate kisses later, and his hand is up her skirt. They very nearly have sex right there on his desk his fiance be damned - that is until Nellie opens her eyes and realizes they have just been caught by said fiance.

The usual amount of angst and drama ensues that I will spare you from as it contains some pretty interesting spoilers. Needless to say, Dominic finds himself suddenly single and comes to the realization that he loves Nellie. So off her goes to London to propose to her. Well, actually he goes to tell her like the pompous ass he is that he has decided he will throw away any chance of advancing himself and his family in society in order to marry her. Oh, and he'll take her away from her job that she loves and she can sit in his house and never work again. And, as this author seems to like to do, he repeats over and over again how he's the one making all the sacrifices by giving up the chance for advancement (and here I thought that was typically the females doing).

More drama and angst ensues until these two realize that that are both acting like pompous, snobbish jerks (and are in that aspect at least perfectly matched for one another). From there we are shown just how different their love is (and when they fell in love I just don't know even though they try to explain it) when we are shown how remarkably different their engagement ball is from the one between Dominic and his former betrothed.

As you can see, there were many reasons why this story just didn't gel for me, but I'm sure there will be others who enjoy it immensely. I would give this author and this series another shot as I did get glimpses of a stronger story that unfortunately got buried.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.