The next book in the "Ruthless Rivals" series follows enemies Carys Davies and Tristan Montgomery.
The two delight on picking on each other and from the very first few pages it is clear that there is a strong chemistry here.
Carys has a secret that she is hiding. When Tristan comes dangerously close to finding out the truth about Carys' scandal, she tries to distract him.
The end result is a bargain between the two of them. They would spend a week together. Tristan would show Carys a good time (and get her out of his system) and once the week is over, they resume their lives.
This was a disastrous idea considering that they had family married and would probably see each other again. However I was fully in support of it in order for the main characters to get together.
I am a bit disappointed that this wasn't as action-packed as the first book but I did feel like there was much more romance.
This was a delightful read that I recommend to anyone looking for a historical romance.

A Daring Pursuit (Ruthless Rivals, #2) by Kate Bateman
Carys Davies - has a secret that would ruin her, Tristan Montgomery - a family rival. They are "frenemies". Their story has it all - angst, love/hate, wonderful family, friends, adorable animals, evil villains, laughter and plenty of steam to get us to a very HEA. I can't wait for the next book in this series.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Wonderful characters Action-packed Funny Unpredictable Romantic Page-turner Easy-to-read Entertaining Happily Ever After Steamy

I received this e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy cow did I love this. I loved the witty banter between Carys and Triston. Triston had me swooning all over the place. I enjoyed the plot and never found myself bored or dreading finishing the story. I loved the writing style. I'll have to check out more of Kate's books now!

Only flaw was I did find some spelling/grammar errors, but they didn't take away from the story. Highly recommend this book.

Lady Carys has an affinity for animals, dressing wildly, and for Tristan Montgomery—-her cold, cynical, country neighbor. Their families (Davies and Montgomerys) have had years of feuds until Tristan’s sister married Carys’s brother. Carys has been blackmailed by someone she thought was going to marry her (as a debutante 2 years ago). He says he will ruin her life by telling all that they had sex which was an awful mistake in her mind.

Carys and Tristan make a deal for him to show her that “some touches bring pleasure, not pain”. They soon discover many things about each other while trying to foil an attempt at treason.

I loved that Tristan was an architect and unconsciously outfitted his newly-built home to please Carys. His 2 sweet, little old lady aunts were a wonderful addition to the story. They’d always thought Tristan would be happier with someone who wasn’t a cold fish like the girl he thought about marrying (Lavinia). They reminded me of Cary Grant’s aunts in Arsenic and Old Lace.

It was great when Tristan saw Carys as more than a scandal waiting to happen; and great when Carys saw Tristan’s true calm, steadfast nature and desire.

The book definitely has quite a few pursuits that are intrepid and filled with adventure. Love this series!

I received an advance copy for my opinion.

What a delightfully wicked tale! This is very different from the first book in this series and in my opinion even better. The author has crafted a wonderfully captivating tale where are two lovers have secretly loved and admired each other for years but have concealed their true feelings behind what looks like animosity. Carys has a secret that she has been keeping from everyone and to cover up her shame she conjured up a public persona to hide behind. Tristan is very different from that persona in every way as the very respectful gentleman that is the only one immune to Carys and her obvious charms. They arrange a wicked agreement involving certain carnal pleasures that will of course lead to the obvious problem, how could that ever be enough for them? The lovers are each wonderful characters and the plot device keeping them apart and also bringing them together was wonderfully done. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

She could see no end in sight.

Lady Carys Davies is being blackmailed by the man she thought she was going to marry and had one youthful indiscretion with. Unless he gets his payments of fifty pounds, Christopher Howe threatens to ruin Carys reputation. With three loving and protective older brothers, Carys doesn't want them getting hotheaded and challenging Howe to a duel, so she keeps paying the blackmail. When childhood and family nemesis Tristan Montgomery at first misunderstands why Carys is in Howe's carriage, he thinks she's carrying on affair with Howe, he offers to show her a better time in the bedroom. When truths are revealed, Carys and Tristan begin to better understand those childhood nemesis feelings were really masking something else.

This was the Carys Davies who appeared in public: carefree and delightful, a girl who cared for nobody’s opinion but her own. No one could guess that on the inside she was besieged by panic and uncertainty. Not even her brothers. Especially not them.

Second in the Ruthless Rivals series, A Daring Pursuit focuses on Carys and Tristan, siblings of the couple in the first book (A Reckless Match). The first introduced readers to the Davis and Montgomery feud, started, possibly, over a pig and more pranks and teasing in the current generation. You could pick up here as the family feud isn't really discussed and siblings don't make too much of an appearance. In fact, I missed the siblings having more of a presence, along with Tristan's aunts who when they do appear in the very latter half enlivened the story, and disappointingly, we never get to see Tristan with his dad. Carys has a friend Frances that is the beginning but she faded off and while having the focus all on Carys and Tristan was nice, I'm not sure they were a strong enough couple to shoulder the whole story. A stronger presence of the fun secondary characters we got to know some in the first would have bolstered this world and in turn the story.

“You smile at other men, but with Tristan you glow. It’s like you come alive in his presence. You’re the fire to his ice.”

This was a pretty low angst story, Carys is being blackmailed but there isn't really a sense of danger from it and the focus is more on Carys and Tristan sexually warming up to each other. Carys is described as being the outgoing one, she wears daring outfits but mostly to bolster her confidence and keep men at bay, she fully understands the consequences of her not being a virgin. Tristan is described as being more self-contained and proper, Carys always wants to muss him up and he is drawn to her vitality. I didn't get as much a sense of enemies-to-lovers here as I did with the first, it seemed as if these two were more teasing friends when they were young and with adulthood came the feelings of attraction. I felt like I missed their emotional growing attraction as this focused on Tristan giving Carys a better bedroom experience; he gives her a couple chapters one, in fact.

“Well, then. Why can’t we be enemies with . . . benefits?”

By 35% Tristan knows the truth about Carys blackmail situation and they come to their agreement that Tristan show Carys what true seduction is. The setting moves from London to Carys family home in Wales and I thought the story slowed some as I was missing that emotional growing as the physical was more of the focus. Emotional can grow from physical but here I thought both characters had already developed their love and were only denying it to themselves. That was probably the biggest aspect that didn't work for me and what slowed the story, I didn't understand or believe in the denying. Tristan is looking to get married, why would he have such a mental block in thinking about Carys? Their family feud is, for all intents and purposes, over with their siblings marriage. It just didn't ring true and felt pretty weak.

She kindled a fire inside him, and he wasn’t sure it would ever burn out.

Howe ends up at the houseparty and we get a treasonous plot around the 80% mark that felt a little out of place but does work to give a wrapped up ending. I liked the beginning, thought the beginning second half slowed, and felt the ending was a little haphazard. I missed some secondary relationships, more of a seeing Carys and Tristan developing their feelings of love instead of feeling they were already there and the story was weak in just having them denying them, and an ending that was, somewhat, slipshod. Tristan's aunts do make a great appearance that gave the story some life in the latter second half and I did love, what I'm calling, Chekhov's Ravens. Bateman is an author that consistently adds little details and tidbits that bring interesting and amusing charm to the story for me. The emotional relationship wasn't completely fulfilling for me in this one but I adore these two families and am definitely ready to see a possible Morgan (Carys brother) and Harriet (Montgomery cousin) romance.

“[...] Let me be your favorite enemy.”

Tropes
Regency Era, Steam Outdoors, Steam Hot, Beta Hero, Historical Romance, House Party, Country Life, House Party, Ton Society, Titled Hero, War Hero, Starchy Hero, Soldiers, Independent Heroine, Hoyden, Experienced Heroine, Bluestocking Heroine, Damaged Heroine, Childhood Crush, Unrequited Love, Enemies to Lovers, Fling to Love, Opposites Attract, Architecture, Animal Lover Heroine

The Plot
Carys and Tristan both have had feelings for each other since they were young, but they both channel that passion into sparing rather than romance. But when Tristan finds Carys waiting in Howe’s carriage, he is intrigued. Unbeknownst to him, Howe is blackmailing Carys to keep the secret that she is not a virgin because he basically raped her two years ago. She is terrified a husband would know she wasn’t a virgin and loathe her, so she flaunts herself and declares that she doesn’t want to get married. They strike a deal to have Tristan show her how passionate and pleasurable sex can be and boy does he ever! I thought the plot was unique in that, Carys didn’t turn into a whore after her loss, but she decided sex wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There was some drama with Howe and Carys’s animal menagerie that kept the story interesting and moving along.

The Heroine
Lady Carys Davies thought she was in love and was seduced by Christopher Howe, only to find him engaged to someone else days later. So she keeps the shame secret to save her family from ruin, but it only causes her more pain. She resigns herself to spinsterhood because she’s afraid what will happen if her future husband should find out. So she puts on a happy face, shocks society with her hoydenish behavior and shocking attire, all the while masking her sadness and despair. I felt for Carys; she had to feel so alone.

The Hero
Tristan Montgomery wants everything in order and behaved, the exact opposite of Carys, but he has been pining after her since they were kids….in conscious and unconscious ways! When he finds out she isn’t a virginal debutante, he is almost relieved, which kind of bothered me, but I guess that made her more ‘real’ or attainable. Either way, I loved that he offered to help her and the tug of war he went through in the process.

The Steam
Loved their banter, whether it was sexual or not, they had some great quips! Great chemistry and a few good steamy scenes.

Cute

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
Part of a series: Ruthless Rivals
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

This is a fun romance novel. I liked it better than the first one in the series, which I liked a lot. The main characters are really fun and I was cheering for them the whole time.

The second book in the Ruthless rivals series and I have to say I liked this one more than the first. But love Kate's writing so I will continue to pick up her books.

This took me way longer than I expected, life happens you know., but once I committed to this I fell in love. I love the Davies vs Montgomery feud. Carys & Tristan we’re perfect, the banter back and forth made it fun and charming. I cannot wait for the next one and I loved every moment of this. Thank you Net galley for the opportunity to read this.

Enemies-to-lovers is a top-tier trope that I will never tire of. I loved the tension, the secrecy, the pining… This was really enjoyable, and I’ll definitely be looking into this author’s other works now.

Solid 3.5 stars. Fun, witty, and Tristan was pretty swoon worthy. Not a true enemies-to-lovers troupe, but still highly enjoyable.

"Why can’t we be enemies with…benefits?"

Carys Davies is a woman who is not as bold as she appears. She uses her behavior to try to distract from the fact that she is not married, nor does she want to be. She has been let down by a scoundrel and she has a blackmailer who demands she pay up or he will tell a secret to the ton that will ruin her standing in society and shame her family. I thought Carys was a fun heroine. She is bold, brave, and has a huge heart of gold. She feels caught in a metaphorical cage constructed of societies expectations; like the animals that she rescues, she feels trapped.

Tristan Montgomery is Darcy-esque in appearance and behavior. He is the antithesis to Carys’ charming personality, and he is a challenge that Carys can’t ignore. Tristan plans to marry a wife that is
respectable and predictable; a woman who is the opposite of Carys. Yet, Tristan can’t help but want to put his attraction for Carys to rest by having an affair to get her out of his system before marriage. Tristan gets more than he bargained for and I liked watching him receive an education in who Carys really is when she is not donning her mask for the ton.

Tristan and Carys are sworn enemies who are highly attracted to one another. Fortunately, the enemies aspect of their relationship is not very prevalent. It is more along the lines of they
doth protest too much. As critical as they are of one another, they are equally torn by their attraction and admiration for one another.

I have to add that all of the aunts and Nanny Maude stood out as fun characters. There is Carys’ Aunt Jane who likes to read and isn’t too keen on peopling. Tristan’s aunts are scheming hellions
who would be so fun to hang out with. And Nanny Maude, a nursemaid who reminds a girl to be armed and capable of looking out for herself. I loved these secondary characters!

"A Daring Pursuit", book two in the "Ruthless Rivals" series, comes out on May 24, 2022.

I voluntarily read and review an advanced copy of this eARC thanks to St. Martins Press via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Kate Bateman took some very familiar themes like feuding families and enemies turned friends turned lovers , and turned them into a very fresh, enjoyable novel. Carys and Tristen were two people who complimented each other so well and I loved how their story evolved. Well done and a must read

Another love/hate story from the Davies and Montgomery families. I love it. Absolutely love it. Snark, wit, hot encounters, insults galore flying about. There is a real villain in the picture to be dealt with too. Will a Davies work with a Montgomery for the greater good? I love this series!

Such a boring romance. No chemistry, barely had a plot, more lust/sex than an actual falling in love scenario. They were supposed to be enemies but I didn’t see that. There was more telling than showing. No banter or anything witty. I never felt I got to know the characters and for a week long party, nothing happened. Just told about things, probably because they were too busy “getting it on.” 🙄 I personally want more than just lust in my romances. I actually want to see two people falling in love. I didn’t get that from this book.

I have been provided with a review copy of A DaringPursuit from NetGalley for an impartial review. This is the second book in the RuthlessRivals series and I just loved getting to reenter this world. I was just drawninto this wonderful story and I just couldn’t get enough of it. It was just soeasy to get lost in this great story. I just didn’t want it to end. I just lostmyself in and I just couldn’t get enough of these interesting characters. Ican’t wait to see what’s next from this author.

This sequel continues the story of the feuding Davies and Montgomery families. Tristan has come back to England and is finding it difficult to stay away from Carys Davies, An indecent proposal allows Carys and Tristan to give into their desires and makes it difficult to continue to hide from their feelings. This is a fun, steamy and engaging read and is a great addition to the regency romance genre. I can't wait to read Kate Bateman's next book.

Kate Bateman has quickly become a must buy author for me. Her last few books have been outstanding and this was no exception. This was a romantic and steamy enemies to lovers book that I couldnt put down!

I received an ARC for my honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.