3.5 stars

Gentleman Seeks Bride by Megan Frampton is the fourth book in the Hazards of Dukes series. Our heroine is Lady Jane Capel, who we met in the last book in the series (A Wicked Bargain for the Duke). Jane has been living with her brother in London after being cast out by her parents for her refusal to immediately wed after being left at the altar. Our hero, Thomas Sharpe, is Jane’s brother’s best friend. He must marry for money to save his family after his father made poor financial decisions. His parents are sick and he has a young sister to worry about.

The pair enter a mutually beneficial relationship. They both believe their can control their feelings for each other. Neither ends up being who the other expects. It’s a really sweet story and I enjoyed the journey our characters went on to achieve our HEA. I almost wasn’t sure it was going to happen.

I haven’t read the other 3 books in this series, but I definitely will. Jane’s sister, Lavinia is a really fun character and I’d love to read her story (A Wicked Bargain for the Duke). This book makes a great standalone, but it makes me want to read more from this author. The side characters are great. I’d be interested in reading books about Alice, Thomas’s sister as well as Miss Grosvenor. I also like how the book handles a side character’s homosexuality with acceptance and grace.

This book is steamy! The intimate scenes start about halfway through the book. There are multiple erotic scenes including sex, oral sex, masterbation, and voyerism. My only criticism of the book is that our hero can be a bit whiny regarding his obligation to marry for his family. In his world, women did this all the time, but he felt a little too “poor me” about the whole situation.

I was invited to read an ARC of Gentleman Seeks Bride, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #GentlemanSeeksBride #NetGalley

Gentleman Seeks Bride is the 4th book in the Hazards of Dukes series and proved to be a delightful read. I knew that this book was going to be different right off the first few sentences in the beginning chapters when Thomas thought, it was up to him and that young ladies had been doing it fro their families for centuries.
Thomas Sharpe is smart, well-bred, and most importantly handsome. This last quality he certainly has a great need for as the loss of the family income by his father, means that he desperately needs to marry a wealthy bride. With sisters having not made their debut, and older parents needing looking after, the sooner he finds that heiress, the better.

Independent Lady Jane Capel is the sister of Thomas’s best friend. Having had a failed engagement and moving in with her brother she is somewhat looking for adventure and world worthy life experiences. This leads the two to enter into a very delightful bargain, that will ultimately culminate in their finding their HEA. This romantic story is fresh and engaging, just as are the characters. One watches how when the shoe is on the other foot for the male in regency era that the women are just as nasty and mean spirited as the men. Thomas just like a woman is used and sought for his pretty face, and yet not good enough to marry. One ends up extremely delighted that these two found each other amidst all the cruel realities of the mundane world by the book’s end. This review was given on the ARC copy I received from the Publisher via Netgalley in return for my honest opinion.

This was my first Megan Frampton book. There was a lot to like in this one. I really liked the heroine, and the tension-filled moments were very well done. At times I was really into the dynamic between the two main characters, and other times the writing took me out of the story. It was sometimes choppy and sometimes long-winded and repetitive. I don’t know how many times I needed to read that Thomas needed a rich wife to save his family from financial ruin and how that got in the way of the HEA. It was the whole premise of the book. There was also a lot about Thomas being “the most charming man in London” but I didn’t see much in the story to paint him as exceptionally charming. Still, there were plenty of sweet moments, and if you like the brother’s best friend trope, you may like it.

Gentleman Seeks Bride is book 4 in the Hazards of Dukes series. I actually just binged the first 3 books of the series last month and had to jump right into the ARC of this 4th book even though it isn’t out until later in the year. And this super sexy historical romance was so much fun, I loved how this brother’s best friend trope played out.

The story starts out with Thomas Sharpe’s father losing the family’s income and Thomas realizing he has to go on a heiress hunt to save his family and help his younger sisters. While he knows a love match is out of the question, he’s at least hoping to have a genuine like to the lady he marries. But when two years in to his search and he still has no bride, he is getting quite desperate. Enter Lady Jane, his best friend’s sister and daughter of an Earl, who says she can help Thomas find exactly what he’s looking for.

Jane is an unmarried lady and wants to partake in all the experiences, go to all the places, and just enjoy all the independence a man has. So when she runs into Thomas okie evening, she has a proposition for him…she’ll help him find a wealthy wife to wed if he helps her experience life like he enjoys, getting to go to places usually off-limits for her, experience new things, and even learn the ways of the bedroom…

I loved Thomas & Jane’s adventures together! They had a really easy banter and friendship that made you believe in their connection. All the side characters were great and I adored both of their siblings, Jane’s relationship with her half-brother Percy and Thomas’ relationship with his younger sister Alice. But the best part was seeing Jane getting to explore new places and try new things: parties, dance halls, circuses, trying new drinks (ale), trying new dances (polka), a trip to the fair, a sexy hot air balloon ride 🔥, and a super hot trip to a voyeurism club. 🥵

Thank you to the publisher (Avon & Harper Voyage) for an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts & review. Gentleman Seeks Bride will be published November 30, 2021.

I enjoyed the witty parts of this story. The writer has the promising talent of being a good author. I thought the book show moments to where the story shared some real moments. The characters are written with entertaining personalities. I like the flow of the story. I also enjoyed some of the comedic moments from the story. I like the romantic story line. The romance was cute and sweet.

Don't you love books that embrace their own tropes? We do! And Gentleman Seeks Bride is one of them. As our heroine, Jane, puts it: "What with asking for a kissing education, and helping a gentleman land an heiress, and the gentleman being my brother's best friend .... It would be altogether too much if you were to put all those things into a book." Well Megan Frampton takes the challenge and we adored it.

Also those kissing lessons go wayyyy beyond kissing and we were HERE FOR IT. This is super fun, super sexy, just a little angsty, and had a denouement to die for. If this sounds like something you'd vaguely like, you will. Just read it.

Absolutely loved this book!! Everything about it was perfect! The characters were remarkable. Thomas & Jane get up to some wickedly adventurous times during their exchange of services. This book is on fire in the chemistry department and the heat between the characters is blazing hot!!

I feared there would be no HEA for Thomas & Jane — but Author Megan Frampton brought this book to a very satisfying conclusion!!

Full RTC — Don’t miss this book!!!!

Gentleman Seeks Bride (Hazards of Dukes #4)
by Megan Frampton
• historical romance

Rating: 5 +++ stars

Lady Jane Capel was left at the alter 2 years ago. Her parents tried to push her back into society to find another match, to which she refused, quickly becoming the family’s black sheep. So she moved in with her beloved half-brother Percy.
Thomas Sharpe, Percy’s well-bred best friend with a charming and somewhat rakish reputation, is in desperate need of a wealthy betrothal. Thomas’s family is in dire straights financially and the only solution is for him to marry money….and quickly.
Running into to each other one daring night, Jane and Thomas strike up a deal- She will find him a rich wife and he will give her all the worldly (and sometimes wild) experiences she’s missed out on in her adult life.

Thoughts: All I can say is, GET THIS BOOK. This was my first time reading Megan Frampton and I’m about to buy her entire back list.
This book has it all as far as historical romance concerned. I read it in 24 hours and gave it 5 stars before I finished! It checks all my boxes: swoon-worthy, brother’s best friend, strong heroine, teach me, charming hero, experienced vs inexperienced, voyeurism, sexual tension off the charts, public trysts, dirty talk and more. My favorite thing about Jane was that she owned her sexuality and desires. Also Thomas was such a supportive, willing, and giving partner *unlocked new book boyfriend.

Things to Note: This is book 4 in a series. Each story can be read independently, but there are spoilers for the previous stories.

Interest: 5/5
Romance: 5/5
Heat: 5/5
Stand-alone: [see Things to Note]
Cliffhanger: no
Would I recommend: yes


*** I was given a copy of this book for an honest review by the author/publisher through Net Galley.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It held my interest from the very first page. And I loved the characters.

It’s a well-known fact that when a man is in search of a bride, a good dowry is never a hindrance.
Thomas Sharpe is handsome, well-bred, and desperately in need of a wealthy bride. His father has lost their income, his sister needs looking after, and so to save them all from a life of poverty he travels to London in search of an heiress.
Enter Lady Jane Capel. After her fiancé ended their engagement two years ago, Jane boldly left her parents’ home and moved in with her half-brother Percy. What does one more scandal matter to a family with such a curious reputation? Jane is independent, but not as well versed in life—and love—as she wants.
The two of them strike a deal: Thomas will show her all there is to know about the world —and intimacy—and Jane will help him find a bride. But the more time they spend together and the closer they get, the two of them soon realize that things aren’t so simple when it comes to men and women...

I enjoy this story. Good plot and exaction.

I love romance but found this book difficult to get into and very cliched. It was a struggle to keep reading and each chapter was a little disappointing. I’d hoped for more from the premise and couldn’t finish it in the long run.

Gentlemen Seeks Bride ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ By Megan Frampton

I preface my review with, I enjoyed this book. However, it was so predictable, it was disappointing.

I think much more of the story could have been interesting and inserted by the author. I am a fan of Ms Frampton but she did not meet my expectations.

I found many parts repetitious like how handsome the hero Thomas Sharpe was. His best friend Percy’s sister Jane being involved as a matchmaker and student of Mr. Sharpe.

I give 4 stars because of my admiration for this author not this particular book.

Jane is very independent and will not give into marriage until Thomas - dashing and sexy - decides to help her be even more independent by helping her discover the world of sex. The bond deepens as the steaminess does! The author crafted a great novel about a bride in need of a man who will understand her needs for freedom and fears of being caught in a difficult place, as she was with her parents growing up. Lucky for Jane - Thomas is that man.

Sadly this one didn't work for me. Jane went from mouse to siren overnight. Her behavior felt too modern for the time period. I thought her disowning was contrived so she didn't have money so Thomas couldn't have both the girl and the money. There was too much internal dialogue how beautiful they both were. A paragraph or two would have sufficed.

This book includes one of my favorite tropes, which is helping someone find a significant other and then falling in love. I enjoyed both of the characters and felt their chemistry. The only reason it is not a five star read is that the central conflict of Thomas needing to marry someone with money and Jane coming from a family with money but was disowned seemed like a very easy fix. However, overall this was a very fun and quick read. I would recommend this book to all fans of historical fiction.

GENTLEMAN SEEKS BRIDE - Megan Frampton
A Hazards of Dukes - Book 4
Avon Books
ASIN: B08XQPHPHS
ISBN-10: 0-06302-310-5
ISBN-13: ‎978-0-06302-310-9
November 30, 2021
Historical Romance

London, England- 19th century

Mister Thomas Sharpe is well known in London's upper society for two things: being the most congenial and handsomest man in society, and a man in desperate need of a rich wife. Unlike some gentlemen in the same situation, he often considers how he might treat his future wife. Two years previously his father walked into their estate's home and said he lost all his money in bad investments and it was up to Thomas to find a rich wife to provide for the family. He hasn't found one yet.

Lady Jane Capel's fiancé ended their engagement a few years ago, leaving Jane with a sullied reputation. When her mother had insisted she find a new fiancé, Jane refused, and her mother had taken away her finances. She now lives with her half-brother Percy, who helps his father with the Queen's finances and is also Thomas's best friend. Jane wants to end her demure reputation and start thinking and doing things on her own.

One evening, Thomas sees Jane enter Miss Ivy's gambling house. He finesses her out of harm's way and then they come to an agreement. He will introduce her to all the improper places and things debutantes' were not allowed to go or do, and she will help him find a rich wife. Plus she stipulates he will introduce her to intimacy. While he agrees, Thomas knows he cannot do the last and remain friends with her brother.

While aspects of this story's main characters feel more modern in thought and belief, they still fit into their society. The two both move through a maze of conflicting thoughts, emotions, responses, and situations. Separately, they acknowledge their growing attraction, nay love, for the other, yet it is something they must put aside. It was not part of their agreement. Yet how can Thomas promise a wife the things his body and mind have already given Jane? And how can Jane show Thomas her love when she promised to find a rich wife to save his family? Megan Frampton writes a different and interesting take on romance in this historical setting.

This is a charming installment of Frampton's Hazard's of Dukes that pairs a heroine who wants greater sexual and social experience with a hero who must marry rich (he thinks) in order to secure his family's well-being. She'll play match-maker and he'll give her orgasms ... what could possibly go wrong? Well, falling in love with each other of course. The resolution of this happily ever after has the satisfying flavor of chosen family and I hope the heroine's brother and his lover get their own story in some way, shape, or form. Folks who enjoy Frampton will not be disappointed.

After doing what she is "supposed to", nearly lands Lady Jane Capel into a disastrous marriage, she decides it's time to explore what SHE wants, even when it means being disowned by her parents.

Two years later, Jane is content living with her half-brother Percy, but still yearns for something more.

Thomas Sharpe is also looking for "more". More money, that is. To save his elderly parents and shy younger sister from the family's dire financial straits, he must find and marry a wealthy heiress as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, after years of playing the handsome charmer without substance, he finds that while the ladies will giddily flirt with a rake they will run for hills before marrying one.

After an unwarranted rescue by Thomas while looking for an adventure, Jane proposes a plan what will help them both. She will help woo an heiress to Thomas' side and in exchange he will escort Jane to places no "respectable" lady would ever dare enter alone.

Of course all that walking on the wild side leads to stolen kisses, passionate embraces and soul-sharing conversations that make not falling in love impossible. Unfortunately, love wont' save his family and it will take the two of them to either see him unhappily married to a wealthy bride or to come up with a plan that will allow them to follow their hearts.

I love this role reversal story so much! And Thomas and Jane are just so perfectly attuned to each other that even knowing they will inevitably get their HEA, the struggle to get there was still a nail-biting experience. (In a good way, of course)

An excellent read, to say the least and another great installment in this already spectacular series. A definite "Must Read!".

I happened to read this title immediately following the previous one in the series. I really enjoyed the family dynamics of the Capel's in the first book. I didn't see such a drastic rift coming for Lady Jane Capel and her mother. I thought tension would definitely be present but not disowning their daughter (obviously needed for this particular plot though).

Jane was the biggest 180 degree change. I didn't recognize her from the prior story but I did like her,as well her match, Mr. Thomas Sharpe. Thomas was the adventure Jane wanted and in return for some fun and wild times, Jane was going to help him find a wealthy bride to help recover his family's financial hardship.

This was a good book but the departure from Jane's previous character traits took awhile to get past and the solution to the conflict was pretty clear from the start.

I read this one in one day... while at work and home. So, this is the super cute and spicy story of Thomas (the Gentleman) and Jane (we totally know she should be the bride). Thomas's family has basically made him a debutante... selling him off to the highest bidder to bring funds into their impoverished estate. He is sacrificing himself and his happiness for those he loves. He is struggling though. He hates the idea of marrying for money. He's feeling blue and heads out to distract himself. Distraction is Jane. She is recovering from heartbreak, being cut off financially by her parents, yet determined to find her voice and her inner self. These 2 strike a deal... he's help her find... "herself" and she'll help him find a rich bride. We just love him so much and root for him to somehow find a way to make the right decision that will lead to happiness for them both. It looks impossible, really. I loved their story.