Offering a fascinating insight into life in London’s seedier areas in 1810, The Widow of Red lion Row also highlights the appalling way women were treated in those days. As little more than their father’s or husband’s property, they could be married off against their will, sold into prostitution or left destitute like Margaret Forsyth after the death of her husband, who had failed to provide for her in his will.
This story is well researched and the imagery is excellent. With believable characters, well written intimate scenes and a plot that rolls from joyful highs to scenes of unimaginable hardship and back, this book kept me on tenterhooks throughout.

I simply loved this book. Margaret is a strong female lead. She finds herself in a territying position and is determined to survive. Grimsby is a cross between a thug and a gentleman. His character is really interesting. There are some fabulous supporting characters too. I won't write a spoiler, but i can tell you I couldn't put this story down.

This book was a gritty look at the dirtier side of London in Southwark. The heroine had so much tragedy thrown at her and it made you realize life in Regency times for women could be very uncertain. The book kept me interested I. The romance as well as what would happen next, for this reason I give it 4 stars.

The Widow of Red Lion Row by Viveka Portman is historical fiction set in the early 1800s. Margaret Forsythe is a brand-new widow who has been all but deserted by her in-laws, her daughters anyone else she could consider family, save her faithful lady’s maid, Anne. She moves to a broken-down property called Red Lion Row and catches the attention of Charles Grimsby. Charles runs the local gaming hell/opium den/whorehouse, called Grim’s Den, and is attracted by her resilience and innocence in what most upper-class folks would consider a fate worse than death. Through Charles, she finds there is a demand for condoms and for lack of any other way to bring money into the household, she and Anne become condom makers. Then the drama starts.

Margaret is naïve at first. Having been betrayed and abandoned by the men in her life, she finds no reason to believe there are any good men in existence. When she spots Charles with his mother, treating her with deference and kindness, it’s the exception to the rule. She is a bit slow at first, but I don’t really blame her. In the space of a month, she’s lost her husband, been dumped in the slums in the middle of winter, her brother-in-law takes great pleasure in depriving her of a decent widow’s portion and her daughter have told her in no uncertain terms to go away, they don’t want to help. If I were in her place, I don’t know what I would have done, so I have some admiration for her to have adapted to her fate.

Charles is not quiet the storybook hero, though I’m sure he wishes he could be. He believes in treating people with respect, that women deserve kindness, men should protect those that depend on them, and moms are to be treasured, regardless of how much meddling they do. I fell in love with Charles from the start. His and Margaret’s chemistry is good, but not as upfront on the page as I would have liked. They do get intimate, and those scenes, while few and far between, are smoking hot. They belong together, and their ending is satisfying.

Ms. Portman completely subscribes to the “Show, don’t Tell” school of novel writing and it shows. Her descriptions are vivid and detailed sometimes to the point of nausea. But I believe that was what she was going for. Most historical romances deal with the ton: the pretty dresses, the balls, the glamour; just outside the manor gates are people not of the nobility who live, love, fight, and die and deserve their happy endings as well. Their world consists of offal carts, dubious puddles, foul stenches, and other things the ton would swoon if they had encountered them. It was fascinating to read a love story of the lower classes, especially after reading so many about the nobility.

I wouldn’t call this book an historical romance, as the romance didn’t seem to be the main plot here. I would call it historical fiction with a good love story intertwined. I was entertained by this book, and though I wouldn’t necessarily put it on my read-again shelf, I really enjoyed it.

Overall: 2.5 rounded to ⭐⭐⭐
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sensuality: 🔥🔥
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: -5,000 I found nothing romantic about this book
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑 – (2.5 rounded) They felt quite quick to me, though they were explicit
Number of Sex Scenes: 🍆🍆🍆🍆– Technically I think it would fall under 4 eggplants with multiple sex scenes and a few masturbation scenes by her but they were on the short side so it feels more like a 3.

Safety warnings at end.

We walk into this story with Margaret burying her husband and trying desperately to figure out how she is going to survive with her maid in Southwark. She meets Charles Grimsby upon moving in and is rather fascinated. Margaret has a number of challenges she’s facing that jeopardize her safety, so she strikes a deal with Charles. He owns a brothel and needs condoms to protect his working girls and she decides she can make them.

Give this book a try if you want
- Real, gut wrenching, disturbing historical accuracy. You get it ALL my dear readers. No more complaining no one mentioned the smells of filthy London. Where does all the poop go, exactly? Wonder no more! How bad was it actually to live in Southwark? You’ll live every detail.
- Older main characters – I believe the heroine is 41 and the hero is 37.
- An experienced heroine – she’s a widow and has 2 grown daughters
- Working woman – she’s a condom maker! How unique is that??
- An antihero – he runs a brothel and lords over his area of Southwark

Ok I wanted to read this book purely because I heard the heroine was a condom maker. I was so curious how that would be. I was not prepared for this book though. It was rather dark with all the descriptions of how horrible life was then. And I am fine with dark but I need some character connection for me to care about their struggles. And EVERYTHING was a struggle.

I was pretty horrified by 20%, yet so morbidly curious I read the whole book in 1 night. Could it get worse? I had to know. And it did. Oh, it did. The detailed descriptions of every harsh detail of life. You keep thinking the heroine will catch a break. But she doesn’t. I actually wondered if this could have a happy ending. It does. Technically it qualifies as romance. But really unlike anything I’ve read before.

I definitely wanted more from the hero. More time in his head, more understanding of his feelings. I wanted more of the couple, really. So much of this book is just...the heroine and her life. Her struggles. Her complete misery. How gross her life is. She is a strong character though. But I found I didn’t really like either of them. Maybe there was so much focus on the descriptions of things instead of the feelings in their heads? I’m not sure what prevented that character attachment for me.

I thought they jumped into sex really fast. I didn’t feel the tension much, except a glance or two in the beginning. And the sex lacked the feeling for me. It was more mechanical and fairly fast, though it was explicit.

The epilogue was so so strange. It was written like it was past tense and I felt like I was reading their obituary.

A different book for sure. It will stay with me….perhaps forever. 😂

Safety warnings (possible spoilers)
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Attempted sexual assault, violence, details of venereal disease

Interesting story. What an eye opener once again to hear how difficult life was for a women in that time period. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This is my fair and honest review, voluntarily given and in my own words for this ARC. Well, this was certainly a very different tale that also incorporated a bit of a history lesson.

I never in my life had a curiosity about the origin of the condom until I read this fascinating book. Margaret an impoverished widow is left a small, decrepit place to stay in Southwark, London by her greedy brother-in-law. She and her loyal maid Anne barely manage to survive until by chance a women's outside brawl they are rescued by Mr. Charles Grimsby who runs a whorehouse, gambling den and opium den. Against all odds these two begin to have feelings for each other as Grimsby protects Margaret from the dangers of living in Southwark. A rival gang led by Boyd wants to take over Grimsby's esbablishment and has been sending diseased men to infect his whores and try to shut him down that way at first. Then Boyd and his gang turn to violent means and beat Grimsby up and order him to turn over his establishment or they will kill him. In the meanwhile Margaret and Anne have using pig entrails and boiling them. then drying them into penis forms and using ribbons to ty them up. Margaret offers to start a business with Grimsby and produce more of these "johnny caps" to protect the girls from getting venereal diseases. At the end Margaret inadvertently kills Boyd and they admit their growing love for one another and get married. A lot of research went into the writing of this book and it shows. I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to Net Galley, the author Viveka Portman and Escape Publishers for granting me the opportunity of learning about something I would never have known otherwise.

Widow Margaret Forsythe has been treated poorly by the people in her life. Her loveless marriage left her destitute, her brother in law shows no mercy, and her selfish grown daughters offer no quarter. She and her loyal maid move in to a rundown property and survive on a miserly allowance. When Margaret is threatened by a local gang leader, she has little choice but to appeal for help from the handsome brothel owner, Charles Grimsby, and begins an unlikely endeavor as a condom maker.

This is my first time reading this author and I am conflicted about how to rate it. The plot intrigued me and the writing engaged me, but this book is truly about Margaret and it feels more like a survival story than a "romance." The author puts her through the wringer and doesn't hold back with how awful this time period could be to women. There is a lot of attention to the squalor surrounding Margaret's circumstances. She's drawn to Charles through desperation and loneliness, and it felt to me more like an attraction of need rather than real love. 4 stars as Historical Fiction, but 3 stars as a Romance Novel.

Tropes: Widow, Riches to Rags, Anti-Hero, Protector, Class Difference (sort of), Secret Job

* I received an ARC and this is my honest review. #TheWidowofRedLionRow #NetGalley