Carys and Tristan are such a perfect couple! He is as straight-laced as possible and Carys likes nothing more than to see him come undone. The side Carys lets no one see but Tristan is her vulnerability. These two make the perfect paid once Tristan realizes she is being blackmailed and he is the only person who can help her.

Kate Bateman writes wonderful romance novel's that the reader will enjoy to the last page.

This is a first time read for me by Ms. Bateman, so I missed out on the first book. I really enjoyed this divinely written enemies to lovers story. It's one of my favorite tropes so I read a lot of them, and this one was simply excellent! Carys is harboring a secret that could ruin her and her family should it ever come out. That is why she is making every effort to avoid marriage. Because of her past experience she wants nothing to do with love or men. The ton might believe her confident and carefree appearance, but Tristan is not fooled by it. Tristan and Carys' family have been rivals for a long time, but there is no denying the attraction they feel toward one another. She intrigues and captivates him and he makes her heart race. A scandalous proposal which Tristan offers and Carys accepts causes them to realize just exactly how passionately they feel for each other.
Tristan and Carys were well-developed characters and I enjoyed seeing them together and there was no question as to how strong their chemistry was. A very well-written story! I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

5 Always Delivers For Me Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free-A VERY Quick Review
I have been reading Kate Bateman for a while now and I have to say...I thoroughly enjoy her books. This series has been extremely fun and this entry hit all of the tones and marks I wanted.
September 24, 2021
Two Families, Both Hating Each Other...
Well, Maybe Hating Is A Little Too Strong...

What Does One Do...
When The One You Are Sure Is Your Enemy...
Is The Only One To Bargain With...

It Is A Tricky Thing...
When These Two Decide...
To Attempt...

A Daring Pursuit (Ruthless Rivals, #2)-May 24, 2022

Carys Davies has a secret, one that is forcing her to act as a wild, unmarriageable woman because if this secret ever comes out it could socially ruin not only herself, but her family and friends. When one of her family’s greatest rivals discovers her secret, she has no choice but to make a bargain with him in order to get him to keep it. Will this bargain end in her scandalous ruin or an unforgettable romance one of her greatest enemies?

This is the first Kate Bateman book I’ve read and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it. There are some references to the first book in the series, The Ruthless Rivals, but you don’t need to read the first book in order to still enjoy this enemies-to-lovers romance. The personality of the characters vibed well with each other and there was a bit of action towards the end of the novel that kept my attention when the characters were leaving their enemies phase (because I do enjoy the sexual tension that came with the characters being enemies before lovers). Overall, I would recommend this book and consider going back to read the first book in the series.

Barbara’s rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Ruthless Rivals #2
Publication Date: 5/24/22
Period: Regency (1815)
Number of Pages: 317

This book has it all with a deliciously entertaining romance, wonderfully relatable characters, marauding bears, prancing peacocks, mimicking ravens, growling brothers, and traitorous villains. The Davies/Montgomery feud has been going on for generations, so it is natural that our main characters are ‘enemies’ – but are they really? On the outside, each displays that enmity, but on the inside, each is very attracted to the other. Delicious!

Carys Davies is a flamboyant, charming, beautiful, hoyden who could charm the birds out of the trees. She uses all of that flamboyance, beauty, and charm to hide a secret that would bring scandal to her family. One person knows that secret – and is using that knowledge to blackmail her. How does she envision her future? She sees two choices – marry her friend Lord Ellington and have a white marriage – or become an unmarried spinster. It is a real shame that Tristan makes her heart beat faster.

Tristan Montgomery is the polar opposite of Carys. He is sober, dutiful, rule-following, dedicated, and definitely scandal-free. As an architect, he likes order in his world – everything is planned out and each step lined up. At the moment, he’s building himself a home to showcase his talents and he’s already selected his wife-to-be – though he hasn’t proposed yet. It is just too bad that the woman he’s selected doesn’t affect him as Carys Davies does.

Tristan accidentally learns Carys’s secret and he is incensed for her. He’ll keep her secret, but he’d definitely love to mete out some punishment even though she’s asked him not to. However, she does ask him for something. She asks for some instructions on lovemaking. What!! He agrees because, of course, being as disciplined as he is, he can keep his emotions separate from physical encounters. His sister’s house party will be the perfect place for those instructions to begin.

I loved Carys and Tristan together and watching them come to grips with their attraction amidst their generations-long family feud was delightful. They are perfect for each other – he calms her and she livens him up. Together they are able to chase down traitors and face vengeful bears in the woods – and still find their HEA.

My only complaint about this book is the punishment received by the villains. It really wasn’t even a slap on the wrist and it left his young wife with an unsettled and uncertain future. He definitely needed a definitive punishment of some kind – maybe he could have fallen into a pit with the bear. 😊

I definitely recommend the book and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Can't wait for the next book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book made my English major heart sing.

On the outside Carys Davis is all beauty and scandal, as each dress she wears is more ornate and scandalous than the last... and most wild? Shes unmarried. But each smile, each laugh and each outfit acts as her armor to hide a secret that could ruin her. But sometimes, to save yourself you need your enemy at your side. Your sexy - totally in love with since childhood - enemy. Tristan has always wanted Carys but knew with one touch his life would be in flames, especially with their families as bitter rivals. And yet... when he sees her in need he finds he will do anything to help her.

I love Carys. She is such a wonderul heroine. Though shes been hurt and betrayed before she is still so loving and caring. Shes one of those heroines you want to be friends with. Also, she has a menagerie of animals and like I love that.

While on the other hand we got Tristan. What a sexy hero. He thinks he can keep her figurity at arms length even while hes literally on his knees. I love a good sex bargain trope and damn Tristan was the perfect hero for that.

All around I loved this book. We got animal hijinks, we got sexy architecture, and we got Shakespeare references all over the place. Including my favourite: "Exit. Pursued by Bear."

I voluntarily received an eARC im exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Book two in the series of the feuding Davies and Montgomery families.
Carys Davies has always been the thorn in Tristian Montgomery’s side, but a blackmail attempt on Carys has Tristan calling a truce, as he comes to her aid.
The story was nice and sweet but did not quite live up to the first in the series. Maybe because the feuding had died down after a recent marriage united the families to some degree already.
I never felt there was any true animosity between these characters. The happily ever after was never in doubt, so while low in angst, it might have been too low.
Again, a good story but it had hard shoes to fill from the previous book of the Davies’ and Montgomery’s.

This series is wonderful. I love the foe to forever aspect of this series. This particular foe pairing has a great twist to it that keeps you engaged. Carys is one of my favorites from this series. I really enjoy her daring personality. She is the perfect balance to Tristan's sleek perfection. This story has a great cast, a really good plot and lots of action. I cannot wait for the next one.

A Daring Pursuit by Kate Bateman
Ruthless Rivals #2

The family feud was dealt with in book one of the series though some remnants might exist in books that follow…though not so much in this one. I have to say that I enjoyed the first book a bit more than this one and believe it is because I didn’t warm to Tristan and Carys quite as much as I wished to. They were fine characters but hard to relate to for me personally AND I had trouble seeing why they were interested in one another beyond physical attraction.

What I liked:
* Carys: sister of three brothers, has a secret she needs to keep, avoiding marriage due to her secret, has a secret hankering for Tristan, rather scandalous…I didn’t feel her behavior was quite in keeping with the era she was living in.
* Tristan: younger brother, war veteran, been on the grand tour, architect, intrigued by Carys but also judgmental of her in ways that made me wonder why he was willing to be with her as he was
* The animals…and Carys desire to “save” them – they were wild and probably better off with her but still…felt sorry for them
* Frances and James: a couple that were friends of Carys and Tristan – would have liked to see more of them
* That it was a quick read…just wish I had felt more invested in the story
* That there were bad guys to dislike and that some were caught though there were some strings left untied at the end – wondered about Howe’s wife and how she will end up…kind of left hanging in the breeze. Also felt some of the bad guys got off very easily.

What I didn’t like:
* The people and events I was meant not to like
* That it was a bit too predictable and that I didn’t fully invest in the story

Did I enjoy this book? Sort of
Would I read more in this series? Maybe

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

I adored Carys and Tristan's story! The bantering between these two had me laughing out loud! This was a great addition to Ruthless Rivals series!

A Daring Pursuit by Kate Bateman explores the thin line between love and hate as Carys Davies and Tristan Montgomery, rivals of feuding families, make a scandalous bargain that forces them to question their views of each other, themselves, and their futures. Written in dual POV, the novel explores the push and pull between these two stubborn, evenly matched sparring partners. It has two of my favorite tropes: 1) two characters in mutual want and pining believing their feelings are unrequited and a relationship is impossible, and 2) one giving the other lessons in dating, love, sex, etc., and it’s by one of my favorite historical romance writers. Bateman’s vibrant description and complex, relatable, and excellently developed characters drew me into the novel in short order. I love Carys and Tristan, who captured my imagination and heart from the first scene with their sexy, sweet, funny banter, pining, and stubborn determination to stick with their life plans despite their desire for each other. Bateman develops their characters and romance deftly, organically evolving with the story. My heart aches for Carys, her situation’s sheer horribleness, and the loneliness it causes her. I admire her for her strength, perseverance, and courage. She and Tristan are perfect for each other. They challenge each other to be true to themselves and not settle in their choice of partners and lives. His genuine affection and respect for her are apparent beneath his cool façade.

Carys must hide a ruinous secret to protect her family. To keep the secret from being revealed, she’s avoided marriage for the last two years by dissuading potential suitors with brazen behavior and outrageous outfits, scandalizing the ton. While she puts on a façade of bravery, boldness, confidence, and being carefree, in her heart, she’s disillusioned with men and love and straining under the burden of keeping her secret. Unfortunately, Tristan, her favorite sparring partner and the only man who makes her heart race, sees through her charade. Tristan values self-control and calm as an intelligent, proper, honorable, and analytical architect. He’s hard-pressed, however, to restrain himself and hold onto his self-control, composure, or care about what’s proper whenever he gets too close to Carys—especially once he tastes her and experiences passion with her. They agree to a week of clandestine meetings in which Tristan shows her what she’s missing by deciding not to marry. Unexpectedly, both experience just as much pleasure—possibly more—from their passionate trysts than sparring. After becoming involved in a treasonous plot, will Carys and Trystan trust one another with their secrets, hearts, and lives or continue to push one another away?

Bateman brilliantly explores the burdensome nature of society’s constraints on young women that restricts their choices based on societal status, wealth, the ton’s rumor mill, and whether they marry whomever their father chooses for them or capriciously decide to choose for themselves to ruinous ends.

A Daring Pursuit is an amusing, sexy, angsty, snarky, steamy, enthralling enemies-to-lovers historical romance with intriguing twists, adventure, and suspense.

Carys is a firestorm of a woman- smart, wants what she wants, caring especially towards animals, and charges forward. Tristan is the next land over neighbor- family hundreds year feud- but he has come back from war and the travel looking all grown up aka HOT. This one has the perfect enemy to lovers but is more plot with friendship and understanding. Glad we also get Wales, some fun with twists and danger, and just Carys’ dressing! Carys is always viewed as too much but Tristan finds her perfect.
I’m really enjoying this series that is outside London for a lot of it. We have great wonderful steam- amazing leading ladies and fun men that fall for them. This one we get great steam as Tristan is teaching her just how great sex can be after blackmail and a horrible man.

It's low drama and a fast-fun read! Great HR!

Carys and Tristan have always been enemies...and obsessed with each other. When Tristan discovers Carys is being blackmailed by her ex, and her lackluster experience has left her disillusioned with romance and sex, he offers her lessons. When they start their enemies with benefits arrangement, they can't keep their true feelings hidden anymore.

Throw in treason, bears, and lifelong pining of enemy neighbors you get a spicy enemies-to-lovers historical romance!

I was a little worried about the blackmail plot but her ex has nothing and it took a big backseat to the sex lessons plotline so the focus stayed on Carys and Tristan's relationship.

This was a great continuation of her Rival Families series and I'm excited for the next one! You know Morgan is going after Harriet next...

Read for: decades-long pining, enemies-to-lovers, sex lessons, protective hero, finally teaching her a lesson ;) (read: spanking)

Not quite enemies-to-lovers and not quite childhood friends, <i>A Daring Pursuit</i> is both a worthy follow-up to the first book in Bateman's <i>The Ruthless Rivals</i> series and a good story all on its own. Carys, who was presented as somewhat reckless and grating via descriptions of her in the first book, turns out to be both a warm-hearted person who takes no garbage from anyone and a woman desperately trying to pretend that she doesn't want who she wants. Tristan, meanwhile, puts on an excellent icy facade around Carys to mask that <i>he</i> feels the same way about <i>her</i>. The bargain they strike is a sop to both of their egos while still giving them precisely what they want most of all: each other.

It's not a complicated plot, but it's one that really works. The stakes are high enough for tension without allowing the book to devolve into angst, and if there's a moderately silly conflict towards the end, well, the rest of the book largely makes up for it. The simplest way to put it is that this is a good book about nice people trying to figure out how to be together and it also has bears. What more could you ask for in a romance?

You know those books where there's a plot device that sort of makes you want to run for the hills? For me, one of those plot devices is apparently blackmail over the fact that Carys isn't a virgin anymore and Tristan is sort of a jerk about it until he realizes the real facts. I am generally conscious of the concept of ruination in all historical romances, but it was really rough in this book to have it thrown in Carys's face so much. This idea that historically women were valued more or less exclusively for their virginity is just a really hard pill to swallow and I'm unconcerned at present that it's historically accurate. It's hard to read.

Anyway, setting that part of the plot aside. Eventually this book turns into sex lessons and that is a favorite trope so once we got to that part, this book mostly took a turn for the better. The romance after the misunderstanding was cleared up was really engaging, although I never really understood why Tristan felt like Carys was too much for him to have. He didn't ever articulate some reason he needed a perfectly non-scandalous society wife so it just never really made a ton of sense to deprive himself of pursuing who he really wanted.

Bateman also, as usual, included a bit of a romantic suspense plot toward the end and I don't think it was fully incorporated into the plot as well as it could have been. I don't have a sense of resolution about that part and I'm fairly certain I was supposed to have one. All in all, this wasn't a bad book, but it also wasn't a new favorite.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC, although I wound up purchasing my own copy of the audiobook. (I don't really recommend the narration, for what it's worth.)

Oh what a delight!!

This enemies to lovers romance really pulled me in and whisked me away to a different world.
The characters were hilarious, and their banter thoroughly entertaining. Don't have a bad word to say about this.

Historical romance,second in this series. Two sworn enemies from feuding families,end up working together. Lively story with some twists.

Wow! I binged the first two books in this series. I really enjoyed Maddie and Gryff's story from A Reckless Match, but I enjoyed Carys and Tristan's relationship and story even more. I love that the books in this series have some action/solving a mystery, etc. It really kept me enthralled and I didn't want to stop reading. I enjoyed that this was an enemies to lovers story because that's one of my favorite tropes. This was steamy and the banter was top notch. I like how they are drawn to each other despite the long feud between the Montgomery and Davies families. I really hope there is a third book in this series!

4.5 Stars - Top Pick

You ever read a book that just lives up to the blurb? The book that reminds you of the reason why you love reading romances? A Daring Pursuit by Kate Bateman is that book for me. Bold, funny, sexy and just downright entertaining.

Carys Davies is hiding a secret from everyone. She is riddled with fear of being discovered so she hides in plain sight from everyone…well at least she thought. Tristan Montgomery definitely sees Carys and when he discovers her secret, it just draws him a bit closer.

Tristan has always liked Carys but the bickering between their families never helped. However, after discovering her secret, he proposes that for them to become more “friendly” towards one another.

Tristan has jerk-like tendencies at times but he is still smoldering. I like how he defended Carys and took his time to get to know her more. Carys is a sweet character trying to maintain her dignity and I enjoyed her rediscover herself more.

The tension and animosity between the two families is still there despite the two families blending from marriage (book 1). It did take a bit to get to the real meat of the story but the author has to set up the tension in order to make it a great enemies- to-lovers trope that I love.

Can I just say the sexual tension was just as great as well? The sneaking around was sexy. Tristan wanted to make sure Carys knew the art of seduction. The sex scenes made their connection stronger. The only thing is the author relied heavily on the sexual tension to reflect that the characters were falling in love instead of the natural process of them getting to know one another.

Since I haven’t read a book by the author, I can not wait to go back and read it. I don’t pick up historical romances as much but I’m so glad I did. Fans of historical romance and/or enemies to lovers trope will enjoy this story.

~ Samantha

This is an enemies to lovers that is fun and sexy and just all the things wrapped into one. This is the second book in the Ruthless Rivals series and it’s just gotten better