Title: The Hellion’s Waltz
Author: Olivia Waite
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥/5 (Hot on the Smut-O-Meter)
Series: Feminine Pursuits #3
Tropes: Historical - England Regency, MC-Musician, MC-Activist, LGBTQ+, Insta-love, Found family, Doing Crime to Do Good
Content Warning: Death of a parent, Former humiliation, Crime, Mistreatment of employees, Panic attack, Anxiety, Abuse of power

In the third book of Feminine Pursuits series,Olivia Waite crafts an insta-love story interweaved with a heist. Sophie is a talented pianist who has let a past trauma dim her light. Her supportive family encourages her to grow her skill and make a splash on the world, but fear holds Sophie back. Maddie is a weaver and social activist working to bring better conditions to her fellow craftspeople. When these two meet, Maddie is on the verge of her greatest con, to take down Mr. Giles, a sleazy and manipulative businessman.

I love a good heist and Maddie’s scheme was a great adventure. It’s always sweet to see someone get their comeuppance. Waite creates a world in which love is valued in its many forms. We see that in Maddie’s found family and Sophie’s parent’s easy acceptance of their daughter. Sophie’s large musical family was delightful and along with her young pupil.

Maddie and Sophie’s immediate attraction was a different take and I liked that there wasn’t a huge struggle around sexual identity. Though some more pages could have been devoted to developing their relationship, I enjoyed learning about the weavers and the time period.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Last year, the Roseingrave family's reputation and finances were dragged through the mud by a swindler who took advantage of Mr. Roseingrave's piano-building prowess and eldest daughter Sophie's talents at the piano. Fleeing London, they've now settled in Carrisford, where they hope to rebuild in an upstanding town. But when Sophie meets beguiling silk weaver Maddie Crewe, she's convinced that Maddie is up to something untoward. As it happens, she is. Maddie and the other weavers of Carrisford are determined to run their own con on an unscrupulous businessman who is driving them into the poorhouse. However, Sophie's meddling — and Maddie's burgeoning feelings for her — may stand in the way of both the Roseingrave family's rebuilding and Maddie's swindle.

This is a sweet love story between the two young women, and one that, refreshingly, doesn't have an element of disapproval or shame from Sophie's family, and only the barest hint from society at large. While that makes the story particularly sweet, it also takes it a bit out of the historical context. An enjoyable, if not particularly substantive, historical romance.

Heist heist baby! If you've read any of the other Feminine Pursuits books, you know what you're getting here: sapphics with a social justice bent and writing with a lot of interesting historical detail. This wasn't my favorite of the trilogy, not for any fault of the book but just because it's an insta-lust plot and it's not a trope I'm very fond of. I still enjoyed all the details about the textile industry of the time, and the heist-planning was fun!

Possibly I was more interested in the labor politics than the romantic arc — but the romantic arc is really very good! The gentle vengeance is deeply satisfying. A satisfying read in general.

I didn't dislike this book, I just didn't... like it? I don't know. It lacked oomph for me. Waite has some truly lovely prose, the characters are likeable, I adore this very queer town in the middle of the English countryside but still. Lovely, just not in love.

Okay so I'm kind of torn about this novel. So I have a lot of thoughts I feel lol. So with this book I found that it was really hard at first to get into this book. I was honestly going to DNF it before I got to like 100 pages in and it started to get interesting. I just felt like nothing was really happening, and while we got introduced to a lot fo characters, nothing was really moving the plot along and I found myself getting really bored when I was starting out. I liked Sophie well enough, I felt like she was super sweet, and really likable. But with Maddie I felt like she was much harder to like. Nothing about her really made her stand out to me. That was my first main problem with the book, there was nothing to really draw you into the story and you just didn't get much from the characters and they felt really flat. There's no depth to them. I think that a thing I really liked about the book was Sophie's love for the piano. I loved seeing her play it, and really her love for it was beautiful. I also loved the relationship she and her father had with each other over music. Loved their bond and I really wish that we got to see more of it because Sophie's father's love for his daughter was so sweet. And the love and acceptance her father and mother showed her when it was kind of obvious that Sophie liked women and was in love with Maddie was sweet as well. I loved that they were really open to accepting Sophie for who she was and it didn't diminish the love they had for her. Overall it was an alright novel. I enjoyed it well enough, and I thought that the writing was good. I just didn't feel that this book was for me. But overall it was a solid novel that I recommend to those really looking for LGBTQ regency romances.

This is my favorite installment of the feminine pursuit series to date. Both protagonists, a pianist and a weaver, are relatable and likable and have real chemistry. A sweet and believable supporting cast rounds out the characters nicely and the antagonist, and exploitative businessman, is appropriately hateable. You will enjoy both seeing these characters get to know each other and plot the for the antagonist to receive his just desserts. In addition to the fun and mischievous revenge plot, characters personal growth and overcoming of unpleasant history and emotional obstacles is treated gently. The book was sweet and left me feeling hopeful.

Olivia Waite's sapphic historical romance, THE HELLION'S WALTZ, was exactly what I hoped it'd be. This book has plenty of steamy moments paired with a delightful plot that is very much "be gay, do crime" (with good intent, of course)! The main characters are both lovable with great chemistry between them. In short, this was a perfect escape read in the middle of a pandemic.

This third installment of Olivia Waite's Feminine Pursuits series continues the series theme of bold women who find the energy and outrage to combat the abuses of misogynist men in an intensely the class-aware setting of a turbulent early 19th-century England. The industries in this case include ribbon weavers, their livelihoods under threat from increasing mechanization, and their designs stolen by an unscrupulous businessman; and purveyors of musical instruments and musical education, their precarious middle-class existence made a shambles through a successful con. Our heroines Maddie (a weaver) and Sophie (a piano teacher) dance around one another in this action-packed narrative as Maddie plans a high-stakes con to take down the unscrupulous businessman and Sophie -- recently victim of a con herself -- must decide whether to throw her lot in with the deliciously tempting Maddie or keep her distance from the dangerous game Maddie is playing. As a queer reader, I have enjoyed all three of the sapphic romances in this series though I am a bit weary of how male abuse of power looms and often threatens to overtake the f/f romantic focus in the tales. This story was no exception.

“You, my love, are a nightingale.”

This conclusion to the Feminine Pursuits series is just as sweet (+ steamy) as its predecessors. Set against the concept of a swindle, Maddie Crewe must distract Sophie Roseingrave from intruding upon a scheme of revenge.

This one is much in the fashion of the first book of instant attraction, therefore giving us time to see our sapphics be in love + plotting ! I will admit that the swindle had me confused for most of the book, but it was still fun to read. Maddie Crewe can distract me any day because DAMN I love her confidence. Main characters with special talents make me go feral because I know they are going to use it as a love language. I WAS CORRECT. The name drop in the book actually melted my heart. It was nice to see no homophobia from any encounter in this book. Everyone just accepted who they were and there was even a little poly situation going on in the sidelines (hope i didn't read into that wrong) ! It's refreshing to see a historical society built like this. Naturally, there is still the looming threat of being caught by people that didn't know them that well, but that could be ignored enough.

You're missing out on historical sapphics meant for each other if you haven't checked out this series/book !!

A really good addition to Olivia Waite's Feminine Pursuits series. My favorite part about Waite's historical queer fiction is that the content is never focused on whether or not homosexuality will be accepted. There are occasionally comments about the time period, but it is never the focal point. This is true for this book as well. Sophie and Maddie are interesting characters. The intersection of poverty and class is really interesting, and the shining part of this book in my opinion. Good addition to the series!

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

This was a fun book filled with some fascinating characters and a nice plot. The romance was well crafted but happened fast. Glad to see a good HEA happen.

Sweet, romantic, and sometimes steamy, The Hellion's Waltz is a primarily a revenge story with romance on the side. Maddie the con artist and Sophie the musician make quite a practical pair and their story is attention grabbing and attention holding. I enjoyed this book just as much as the previous one in this series, The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows. You don't need to read this series in any order, either!

This was a slow-moving and often frustrating addition to the series. I really appreciate what Olivia Waite is bringing to the romance arena, but her books feel cumbersome and overly plot-heavy in ways that hamper the romance rather than illuminating it.

One of the things I love most in good romance writing is when authors interact with larger themes. In order to unpack the emotional lives of the characters the world around them are grown out and investigated, and in historical fiction there is plenty of political turmoil to muck about in. Waite does just that in The Hellion’s Waltz using the backdrop of England’s evolving textile industry to explore how corrupt men will corrupt systems, and occasionally in order to do good you must go against the rules.

Our main pair is Sophie Roseingrave, piano teacher and composer, and Maddie Crewe, silk-weaver. Sophie’s family have moved to Carrisford following a conman who ruined her and her family’s reputations and left them in a position of having to sell their piano shop. Maddie has deep roots in town, and specifically with the Weavers’ Union with whom she is plotting to take down the evil Mr. Giles. Sophie overhears part of the swindle and goes about putting herself in Maddie’s way; regardless of any attraction she may feel. The story then pings back and forth between the sexual and romantic relationship between Sophie and Maddie and the ever more complex plot to give Mr. Giles what he has coming and make the Weaver’s Union financially secure.

My favorite part of Waite’s work is that she populates the books with a variety of characters who are living their lives in a variety of ways that fall outside what society might accept. This book is free of any inner struggle about can the main pair be together – they’ve both been in previous relationships and know how to bend around society’s rules. They also receive no push back from family or community; their relationship is accepted (even by Maddie’s stepmother in some of my favorite dialogue in the book). Which brings me to my least favorite part of this book: while I bought how quickly the pair jumped into a sexual relationship it just didn’t get me there on the romance side of things, the love that these two characters are meant to be feeling in order to have chosen to stay with each other by the end of the book. The emotional side of the book felt underdeveloped in comparison to the swindle plot.

There’s a great variety in this series, the books are wildly different in character backgrounds and pace as well as plot type and tropes. If this one isn’t for you then odds are at least one of the other two is more up your alley.

3.5 Stars

This is a hard one for me to rate. I know people say “your mileage may vary” a lot on here but I think it really works for this particular book. “The Hellion’s Waltz” is the third and last (to my knowledge) installment to the Feminine Pursuits series.

Sophie Roseingrave has just recently moved to Carrisford from London after her family is swindled by a con man. Not long after she gets there, she sees what she thinks is another con in action Worried that her family could one day be targeted, she tries to put a stop to it and almost ruins the con Maddie Crewe is trying to pull off. This time though, the con is for the better good of the people and town and Sophie ends up deciding to help rather than stop it.

What I liked: I liked learning about the weavers and factories and the history of how the women had to adjust to all the changes. I liked Maddie and the people of Carrisford and I really wish we had gotten more from them. Waite made it so easy to root for them because you know there were real people like this in the past. All of the freedoms women have today come from people like Maddie and the other townspeople. The con itself was entertaining. It went a little long but I enjoyed the different ways these smart people came up with to outsmart their bad guy, though the ending seemed a little anticlimactic for all the hoopla everyone went through. Also, the writing was exceptional as well.

What I didn’t like so much: the romance. This is an instalust story and while that didn’t bother me so much, the fact that a lot of the relationship happens off page did. It made it hard to buy into the relationship too much when we saw mostly surface level development. There’s more telling of how things progress rather than showing and that always turns me off of the romance. It made the ending seem more out of character for one person when I never saw the depth of their feelings to back up what happens.

Overall, even though the romance didn’t do much for me, I still enjoyed this. But I wouldn’t recommend reading it for the romance alone. It’s fun and I love to see strong female characters in a regent times setting. If you enjoyed the previous books in the series there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this as well.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.

I greatly enjoyed this book so much more than the second. This is quite possibly because this book is half the length of the 2nd. I loved the Be Gay DO Crimes theme of the story and it was overall just a fun ride with less focus on these men are awful being shoved down you throat. I loved the little queer community that is found and created. Overall its great!

CW: Grief, fraud

Third in the sapphic “Feminine Pursuits” Series, which kicked off with the fantastic The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, Waite brings us the story of two working class women who engage in a scheme to defraud a villainous small town exploiter.

Sophie’s family has come to Carrisford for a fresh start after a devastating loss. It is while out and about exploring the new town that the striking Maddie catches Sophie’s eye. Bold, passionate Maddie is first dismissive of Sophie, but soon the pair find they can’t keep away from each other. Both have some personal trauma/history to overcome, adding an emotional depth to each of the MCs that was enjoyable. There is a bit of grief (from both death and loss) but its handled gently, although I added a CW for those who may be too raw to dive in. There is also a lot of fraud/schemes within the book that may be problematic for some readers. Although the main thrust is to run a scam to unseat a local tyrant, its still fraud nonetheless.

The romance is fairly insta-love or insta-lust, so there isn’t a slow burn factor…in fact there isn’t much of a burn at all, more of instant ignition. This was one of the hardest parts of the novel for me, and I think contributed to me liking the MCs but not feeling their romance. I just wasn’t invested because there was no build up, which may be ideal for a reader looking for low angst (at least in the romance department).

This is more of an early Victorian novel, or at late Regency, with much of the background tension being on the mechanization and industrialization of the textile industry. There are lots of references to Peterloo and the historical details don’t end there. Waite obviously did a considerable amount of homework to understand scientific inventions (including loom works) from the era, what would have been plausible in terms of manufacturing, processing, and dyeing. I loved the emphasis on the impact to workers, how workers were beginning to adjust to the new economy (which feels prescient for today’s economic shifts), and how unions really did function to support laborers.

Waite also spends some time walking through musical elements which were less accessible to me but will probably strike all the right chords with some readers.

The intimate scenes were vanilla and light, but were on the page. I found the whole book to be very LGBQTIA+ positive, with no homophobia.

There were also several secondary characters that were people of color, a polyamourous color, more f/f couples, and generally more diverse representation than the average historical romance.

Waite is a strong writer and a great researcher, so I enjoyed this book and finished it quickly, even though a few aspects fell a bit short for me. I would definitely recommend the series (although I have yet to read the 2nd, which I have read is fantastic).

★★★★★★ 4.5 out of 6 Third and final book of the Feminine Pursuits Series featuring two talented women coming together for the common good.

I have consistently enjoyed this series from Olivia Waite. As someone who loves textiles and fiber arts, I appreciate that she does all this research to present them as something interesting instead of the romance trope of the female characters who hate embroidery. I also enjoyed that compared to her other books, this one had a stronger sense of desire and was a quicker burn. I do think calling it a heist was a little overstated, it's more of a swindle in terms of how much action is in the plot. However, it is very plot-heavy and there's ver little tension in the romance itself, which isn't my preferred ratio of how those things work out. Nonetheless I am always excited for what's next from this author!

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f historical romance
-insta attraction
-great chemistry and banter
-found family
-flirty fingers

I really enjoyed reading this one. The chemistry was coming off the page and it was just a fun read. I wish I could explain why I didn't love it. The start was slow and it just didn't grab me. It was a fun read and I would definitely recommend it and keep reading more.

I have not read the other books in the series and had no problem picking this one up and following along.

Rating: 3
Steam: 3 (open door)