Four stars. This didn’t quite land the same way as the first book, Her Lady to Love. I think the main reason was that I found Georgina a little hard to sympathize with. I really enjoyed Beatrice. I thought it was a good idea to follow up with her after she saved Nora from an engagement to the earl. That seemed like a win-win in the first book, but the resulting issues in this book all fit into place. The earl was a jerk, but at least he has his own backstory. It paved the way for Beatrice’s fantastic redemption arc. She was always clearly a good person, but after atoning for her less admirable actions, she shapes up into the perfect protagonist to root for. But Georgina… let me first say that his/her character was interesting. I was wondering about that full name vs George/Gina as I read, so I liked how the author explained it all. Georgina is clearly hardworking and an upstanding member of society. But my impression of the conflict at the end was that his/her priorities made him/her a little callous. Georgina was the first to start thinking about love, but was late to verbally express it. He/she immediately shut down the idea that Beatrice presented, even though I thought it wasn’t an entirely flawed solution, given the limited options of the era. I got really frustrated that the ball was entirely in Beatrice’s court to resolve the conflict, when it should have been shared. I was left wondering if they were a good match at all.
Everyone else seemed to get the ending they deserved. I liked how the premise allowed for Jacquie and Nora to have such large roles in this book, but there was still plenty of room for an entirely different setting. Overall, nicely done… except maybe for the Georgina situation.