I did not enjoy this one. Giles was so unlikeable, his sister Lydia was awful , and took up way too much of the book. I honestly just felt bad for Yasmin, she deserved better than Giles. The only thing I really enjoyed was Yamin’s grandfather and that was about it. I love Eloisa James but this one just missed the mark for me.

The lastest in the Would-be Wallflowers series, The Reluctant Countess is the romance of Yasmin (who readers will happily recall from the other books as the somewhat hedonistic French lady) and Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford.

Throughout the first book, Yasmin was a most enjoyable character, and Giles was what one would expect to be paired with such a force of nature: stern, stiff, and disapproving. In The Reluctant Countess, Giles remains for the most part just as mean and boring, even though the bride of his choice keeps turning him down. He continues to pursue her, all the while maligning her background, her nationality, and her interactions with his extremely unlikeable and naughty sister.

Meanwhile, Yasmin quickly becomes a quivering mass of insecurities and waffling tendencies, rather killing any hope that somewhere along the line this book was going to redeem itself. It lacked the humor I look for in an Eloisa James novel, and I found myself truly loathing most of the characters. Hopefully they're a little more likeable for the next book!

Eloisa James never disappoints. I love just about everything she writes and this one was no exception.
After a scandal in her past Yasmin is not looking for love.
Giles has no intention of marrying someone whose reputation has been ruined, but he is very attracted to her despite this. Yasmin is also drawn to him.
One of my favorite parts of this book was Yasmin's relationship with her grandfather and her friendships with Cleo and Mary.
One thing I didn't like was Lydia and her relationship with her brother Giles. I realize that she was needed as the villain, but she was just so horrible. It didn't seem very likely that someone like Giles would allow his little sister to get away with behaving as she did. She was only 17 years old, it felt off.
But overall I liked enough of the story to set that aside. Yasmin and Giles had amazing chemistry and this book has more sex scenes than I was expecting. That's always a bonus.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I would say that this historical romance is perfect but there's something about a man treating a woman like garbage just because he's attracted to her and doesn't want to that has always been a big turn-off for me. So Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford starts off on the wrong foot and goes even lower before we get to the emotionally satisfying ending. It's a pet peeve of mine and might not be an issue for others, but I see it as justifying treating one's partners awfully because it's "not knowing how to express emotions." It sets a bad example.
Aside from that little detail that most might be able to ignore, Lady Yasmin is a delightful leading character with her grit and kindness in the face of how awful the Ton is to her. It's a total boss move that proves there's a very good reason why Giles feels attracted to her beyond her gorgeous good looks. And she has the most delightful relationship with her grandfather, which makes it a joy to read about her interactions with him.
There really is a lot to enjoy with Yasmin, but not so much with Giles. He fell a bit flat for me and the scenes where he's at his most passionate feel like reading a completely different character. I understand the why behind it, but it was still disorienting.
And I know I've been going on and on about the things I didn't like, but I do admit that the love story overall is romantic and interesting. The couple continually butt heads and push each other to see things from another perspective and their eventual HEA feels truly earned.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Avon for this very romantic read!

I love, love, loved this book. I fell right back into the world and remembered the characters from the first book in this series, which shows how "sticky" they must have been! Giles and Yasmin's story felt really nice to fall into and Eloisa James continues to be a masterful storyteller.

This is not my favorite of Eloisa James' latest books. I like Yasmin just fine but not her love interest Gus. He treated her abominably all because of his hateful sister Lydia. I'm generally okay with villains in Romance but not if they have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Lydia ruined this book for me. If not for her, I would have given this four stars. Yasmin's grandfather was funny, her friend Silvester was great, the sexytimes with Gus were steamy, and her friendship with Cleo and Merry was ideal. As it is, 2.5 stars rounded up.

The last thing the very proper Earl of Lilford needs in his life is to be associated with the so very unproper Lady Yasmin and yet he gives in to temptation night after night by dancing the first waltz of the evening with her. It's definitely against his and his family's best interests to take that relationship any further and yet the heart wants what the heart wants.
Yasmin is the granddaughter of an English Duke and thanks to his position is accepted in the Ton.  Her past as the daughter of Napoleon's mistress and aborted love affair with a French dandy keeps her from being welcomed or even considered marriageable material. Of course, it doesn't help that she provokes society by dressing and acting provocatively.
She's attracted to Giles and he to her, but that attraction has no future. Besides his sister is definitely not cupid on the scene doing everything in her power to come between her brother and his heart. Interestingly his sister is guilty of all that she accuses Yasmin off and more.  That is one lady who does not get her comeuppance in this story.
When chance puts Giles and Yasmin into a compromising situation, Giles offers for her hand.  The story sparkles as the two of them dance around each other on their way to the altar. A great cast of secondary characters and a bit of drama this is a wonderful chapter in the series.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for this ARC! Opinions are my own.

I was very excited to read this after enjoying How to be a Wallflower! I enjoyed watching Yasmin’s confidence throughout the book - not something you see quite a lot of in historicals. I also enjoyed taken Giles was for Yasmin! Love me a man absolutely taken for the love interest!

Something I could’ve done without was the Earl’s horrible sister! I don’t think I have ever seen a character be so cruel for absolutely no reason. And she doesn’t get better at the end either! I wish we could’ve just seen less of Lydia.

All in all I enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to read Silvester and Stella’s book!!!

This book was provided to me by NetGalley.
I ended up DNFing this after several attempts to read it. I love Eloisa James, but maybe it’s this new time period and the conversational style that is not connecting with me. I also do not find either main character particularly engaging. I do look forward to more from this author in the future. I usually do not rate DNFs, but NetGalley requires it.

The back and forth of these two main characters was a bit much, and I found it difficult to root for a romance with a hero who so badly wanted to to stifle the heroine's energy and style.

I love Eloisa James books but this one was not a favorite. I liked the heroine and her grandfather but did not care for the Hero or his sister. That being said I will continue with this series.

What a lovely read, frustrating at times (thanks, Lydia) but wonderful. Eloisa writes such smart, well rounded romances I can not get enough. I read some reviews that disliked a lot of the tension and conflict within this book but throughout each bit I understood completely where it was going and what Eloisa wanted to get across to the reader. I appreciated every situation and its resolution, making for an epic love story.

Yasmin was a phenomenal leadin glady. She was head strong, poised, silly and quirky with a huge heart for everyone with an incredible capacity for love. Giles was a fantastic fictional hero, the kind of guy we enjoy reading about but do not actually want to be with, you know. The way he protected his heart by never getting close to Yasmin but once he did he could not stay away, the protective and stoic hero that let lose while with the heroine, and the possessive lover who writes love letters everyday to win back the love of his life. *swoon*

I highly recommend this series but especially 'The Reluctant Countess", it might be one of my favorite historicals to date.

Giles is the Earl of Lilford. With his parents dead, he is in charge of finding his younger sister, Lydia, a husband. Lady Yasmin's reputation was ruined by a man who pretended to marry her and deceived her. They don't like each other but the attraction is there, but Giles feels that he can't have her, Yasmin decides that because she is ruined, she cannot marry, and Lydia does everything possible to steer Giles away from Yasmin because of her reputation.
While I liked the story and the hero and heroine, Lydia was just awful despite being quite hypocritical with her own behavior. I loved how supportive Yasmin's grandfather was. The one thing I really didn't like was the back and forth between the two main characters on their relationship and Yasmin's overall feelings of her worth being only tied to her ruined reputation. It was nice to finally see them come together, although the back and forth got frustrating after a while.

After being seduced into a sham marriage by a much older man when she was just 16, Lady Yasmin Regnier has refused to hang her head in shame. She stayed at the French court and then, when she was older, moved on to England to live with her maternal Grandfather in his Ducal residence. People aren’t aware of the exact details there, unlike everyone in France. So she has more freedom to be upbeat self. Yasmin has made a splash with her daring French fashions and lighthearted personality. But through bitter experience she has also learned not to trust someone’s flattering words or obvious admiration.

Perhaps that’s why she’s so drawn to Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford. He always seems to disapprove of her, despite dancing at least once with her at every ball.

This is a lovely, lighthearted, not enemies to lovers, but skeptics to lovers romance. It’s not going to challenge you. There’s nothing very scary or dire going on. It’s a pleasant diversion. It’s as light and breezy as Lady Yasmin, herself. Like that charming friend you like to go shopping and grab a coffee with. It’s comforting and reassuring and all comes out nicely in the end. If you really want a lovely escape with nice people, this is the book for you.

Yikes this was disappointing. I didn't like the first book in this series, but I had higher hopes for this one because it had a more exciting premise.

My issue with the first book was just how boring it was. The problem here wasn't boredom, but actual dislike for the characters. I started out enjoying the vibes between the MCs and how the Hero was reluctantly attracted to the heroine. However, that quickly turned sour because the H actually is just judgmental and looks down on the h for her "frivolities."

This was another issue for me. She is characterized as basically being loose and scandalous, but no one actually knows that she has been "married." She is constantly either getting the cut direct or being gossiped about, but at the same time, she calls herself a "prude" and doesn't like bawdy jokes. The H is so insanely attracted to her because she wears scandalous clothing, but at the same time he insists on calling her a lady. He won't marry her because she isn't suitable, and he lets his sister talk shit about her constantly. However, he will dance with her every ball? He is constantly putting her in compromising situations, but they just act like it's not a big deal because she's on the shelf. It just didn't make sense. I couldn't figure out what she actually was like. And I really didn't like the way the H talked about her and let other people talk about her.

Which leads me to how awful his sister was. And she really didn't need any part in this story. I can't stand a conflict that revolves around an outside character just being awful. It's unoriginal and doesn't really add anything to the story.

So yeah. I'm counting this series as a loss. I just don't think the writing style is right for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eArc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really expected to love this one. I really wanted to. But sadly, that wasn't the case. Our MMC, Giles was an absolute asshole, and I hated him. He deserves to be cooking in a vat of frying oil. He was toxic and domineering, and not even in a way that could be construed as hot. No, he was just a horrible person. Same goes for his sister. And our FMC was a doormat who was too nice for her own good. I knew I would have issues with this as soon as our characters agreed to marry at 40% but I never expected this to get so bad. No thank you.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

Lady Yasmin is trying to outrun the shame of her past. After running off at age 16 with a scam artist, she can't seem to put the past behind her as she approaches spinster age. The Earl of Lilford, Giles Renwick, is the exact opposite. Giles is the pillar of propriety. He despises gossip, scandals and drama of any kind, yet he can't find himself taking his eyes off of Lady Yasmin. After being forced to turn to her for help to avoid scandal, will he be able to overlook her past and realize that she's his one true love?

The Reluctant Countess had so much promise and potential when I received a copy of it. I thoroughly enjoyed the back story of Lady Yasmin and her mother and loved the originality of it (the mistress of Napoleon!),and absolutely loved the relationship between Yasmin and her grandfather, but like other readers, 2 of the main characters were just not enjoyable to read. The Earl was such a hypocrite, never stood up for his woman and lacked backbone was oftentimes hard to root for. He believed gossip and tried to change who Lady Yasmin was and don't get me started on his sister, the antagonist of the book, Lydia. What a sniffling, spineless crybaby. She did everything she could to keep them apart, then at the end, when all was revealed, absolutely nothing happened to her. What?!?!? Such a disappointment to not have the typical "beautiful woman needs her knight in shining armor to save her from the evil villain" plotline.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my review and honest opinion!

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and author, Eloisa James, for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review. The Reluctant Countess came out on November 29, 2022. I love Eloisa James, and this is a new favorite from her historical romances!

Lady Yasmin Régnier isn't an English rose or an average Lady. She debuts in London under her Duke Grandfather, but she is immediately branded as a scandalous, whimsical, and daring lady because she is ... dun dun dun... FRENCH. Not only did she grow up in France, but her mom is Napoleon's renowned mistress, yep as in the emperor. Napoleon is overthrown and currently exiled during the novel (Yasmin's mother is making quilts to send to her lover to cheer him up in exile lol). Yasmin is instantly thought of as a loose and ineligible lady because of her family. But, she is beautiful and charming so she manages to wrap some of the ton around her finger. Except for the starchy-grump Earl of Lilford. I love a starchy hero who gets unstarched, and if you do too - pick it up!

As a huge fan of Ms Eloise James, I have read and listened to every one of her historical novels. This one is simple amazing. I can’t stop gushing over it. The audiobook is even more fantastic. Just go grab the book

After reading over twenty Eloisa James novels ,I did not think she could surprise me anymore, boy was I wrong! Eloisa spins a tale of scandal, intrigue, and sweet love in this unexpected romance.

Our heroine, Lady Yasmin, has been hurt by almost everyone she has ever loved. Her father is absent, her mother is the mistress of Napoleon and has had little care for her only child, the man she loved had a fake marriage performed in an act of revenge. To escape her parents and her past, Yasmin moves to England to live with her loving grandfather, the Duke of Portbellow.

Our hero, Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford, is also no stranger to scandal. After his father committed suicide and his mother went on to sue anyone who spoke against him, Giles is alone to take care of his younger sister, Lydia. To restore his family's tarnished image, Giles is determined that he and his sister will both make excellent (not scandalous) matches on the marriage mart this season. However, Giles cannot help but fall for the scandalous Lady Yasmin. The course of true love is never easy though, particularly when you have a sister named Lydia (think Pride and Prejudice).