I enjoyed this book by Manda Collins...when I got about 100 pages in and realized it WASN'T an Evie Dunmore book. Seriously, the covers are so similar - the font, the colorization, the level of movement, the art style - that I legitimately spent 100 pages questioning why it wasn't working in Dunmore's universe or mentioning her characters. The book was FANTASTIC. I just question the wisdom of the marketing and production team on this one.

Woohoo! Exactly what we needed. Mystery and romance. The perfect story (and cover) for historical fiction fans!!

This book is absolutely wonderful! I haven’t read the first one, but now I really want to. I also think this would make a really good movie!

I loved Caro and Val from the first book 1. They were full of emotions and very eccentric and I had hoped they would get together. Val is a little more serious in this one and it could be due to his change in status. The mystery to be solved is close to home for both Caro and Val. They are forced to work together for the sake of finding their friends and families. I enjoyed the maturity and immaturity of both main characters. I enjoyed this very much and I would recommend the whole series.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
A wonderful follow-up to Manda Collin's first book featuring strong female characters who do not restrict themselves to the norms ladies were expected to adhere to during the time. Smart, confident characters are finely complemented by the men that love them.

An Heiress's Guide to Deception and Desire is a nice follow-up to last year's A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem. That one established Caroline and Katherine as a pair of newspaper sleuths who also happened to be ladies, and also introduced Valentine as a duke's second son who had a mysterious romantic past with Caro. Well, this book sees Val elevated to duke's heir, and we find out all about what happened between him and Caro. While they're figuring out their romantic relationship, they're also working on a new mystery involving Val's cousin and his celebrated actress fiancee (!) who has disappeared.

This is more romance with a heavy helping of mystery than it is a mystery with a dash of romance. There are historical romance conventions aplenty (including carriage ride makeouts, fake engagements, and awkward family gatherings in theater boxes), but the mystery is well-developed. It's also nice that the mystery is a disappearance, rather than another murder. Since we included it for the first book, rest assured HR lovers - yes, the book is steamy - but not too steamy!

I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I expected to like this one, but it exceeded my expectations. I loved the second chance romance, and felt Collins did an excellent job showing how both characters had grown and changed. I really appreciated the pacing. The group of friends was hilarious and warm, and I finished feeling warm and cozy. Manda Collins kerps getting better!