This is a book about slut shaming and gossip. Basically like going to high school in the 1990s amirite gen X ladies? Except this takes place in regency London where the ladies of the ton are a hive of gossipy, judgey, uptight Karens.

Yasmin is the beautiful daughter of a French duc and duchess who was seduced by a mustachio’d sexual predator at the age of 16 and tricked to believe she was married when she wasn’t. Scandal has followed her to London where everyone thinks she’s a super tramp (which she’s not)- thusly all the men love her and all the ladies hate her.

Giles is an Earl who wants a virtuous wife but falls for Yasmin, but struggles with her reputation as a skank. Giles has a sister who is a twatgoblin. Honestly, she’s the worst. Trust me you will hate her.

I found Giles to be frustrating. He wants a lady in the streets AND a freak in the bed. He doesn’t want Yasmin to dress like a ho, but at the same time wants to fuck her in his family’s vault on his great great great grandmother’s tomb. #mixedmessages

Again, @eloisajamesbooks hits it out of the park. While I didn’t love Giles, I loved everything that Yasmin what and stood for and how she proudly carried on despite what people said about her. I love how Eloisa examines the sexual reputations of women in Regency England and Napoleonic France. Def recommend this one.

This gem drops 11/29. Thanks @netgalley and @avonbooks for this ARC.

Smut- 2.9 stars
Romance- 4.1 stars
Story- 4.4 stars
Regency Karens- neg 7529 stars

This grumpy sunshine story is book two of A Would Be Wallflower series. We follow the scandalous Lady Yasmin Regnier and the Too Perfect Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford.

Yasmin has a past she left behind in France to pursue a happy life in England with her grandfather. She is confident in who she is, but still holds insecurities about a mistake she made as a young 16 year old. Her fashion choices and rumors of France earned her a reputation that makes her anything but worthy to be a countess to the Earl. Society loves to hate her and men want to love her. She is witty and gorgeous, not to mention smart and observant.

Giles needs the perfect wife. She needs to be quiet and likable by the haute ton, no rumors must be swirling about her. However, this does not mean that he cannot desire Yasmin, after all, he is a man. The first waltz at every ball he allows himself to dance with the lovely, yet off limits Yasmin. Yasmin informs Giles of his sister’s behavior which has them work close together.

Naturally the two will fall for each other, and their romance was sweet but their alone time was HOT! Giles does not hold back and I absolutely loved it! He pursues Yasmin and it was so much fun to read!

So many thoughts! Yasmin held on to her secrets because she accepted that people had made up their minds about who she was, regardless of its falsehoods. Giles had to learn to love her with her faults before she would share the truth. I love that she made him earn the truth - I outwardly cheered for her. I loved this story and you will too!

This was an entertaining, well-written book. Lady Yasmin Régnier was such a wonderful heroine. The book was fun, sweet and hard to put down. I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next and how it would turn out. This book can be read as a standalone story, though it is part of the Would-Be Wallflowers series. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

Thanks to @avonbooks for an advance copy of The Reluctant Countess by Eloisa James, out now!

Yasmin and Giles were a couple I was dying to read about after finishing How to Be a Wallflower, so I was delighted when I got approved for an ARC of this book right before pub day!

She’s a French flirt. He’s a starchy nobleman. Can I make it any more obvious? (Sung to the tune of Skater Boy by Avril Lavigne). But seriously folks, I flew through this one. It gave me all the Pride and Prejudice vibes:
-joyful heroine, hero who allegedly has no feelings
-I’m proposing but I’m embarrassed about it
-a sister named Lydia who RUINS EVERYONE’S GOOD TIME
-Per the author’s note, a Lizzie v. Catherine de Bourg inspired scene

I read Pride and Prejudice at a formative age and now those things are cemented in my brain and my heart and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. This book felt like a steamy P&P retelling and I was absolutely, 100% not mad about it. I definitely had major frustrations with the author’s choices surrounding the resolution of the conflict re: Yasmin’s clothes and literally everything about Lydia’s storyline, but I wouldn’t say that they impacted my overall enjoyment of the book. The same can’t be said for others though: I was shook (and cried laughing) at some of the negative reviews I read when I added this book to my Goodreads. It’s historical romance! We’re here for a sexy, emotionally vulnerable, beautifully costumed time, and The Reluctant Countess delivered. I’m thrilled that Stella and Silvester’s book is up next so Avon, feel free to send that one my way!

CW: mentions of suicide, grooming/abuse, sexual content

This was one of the most wonderful reads by one of my favorite authors. Ms James writes so beautifully with lots of zesty phrases. She is the top of her game when it comes to this especially fine regency from start to finish. The characters are fully developed with thoughts and feelings of their own. Even though this is the second in the series, it can be read as a stand alone.
You meet Lady Yasmin who is the daughter of French aristo whose mother was the mistress of Napoleon. (Yes, the little dictator of France who got his at the end). She is not British but her grandfather is and loves his granddaughter. Yasmin wears her dresses too tight, dampened to show her figure to extreme. And the one person who takes notice, is Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford who finds that Yasmin different than other women. She flirts and laughs too much, and really could care less what the ton thinks.
Giles is totally smitten, but he can't really approach Yasmin as his next mistress since she is a "Lady". So what happens when Giles proposes to her and will Yasmin say "yes" or what? Is this lust or love at first sight? Well, I know romance and this one does have a happy ever after.
I appreciate Net Galley for this ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

She's already ruined...

We briefly meet Yasmin, when at 16, she is ruined with an ellaborate fake marriage that was never a marriage...she was just used by a ruthless fortune hunter. The daughter of one of Napoleon's misstress' and a duc, Yasmin is French and English aristocracy (her father is a duc, her grandfather is an English duke). Now, nine years later, in England, Yasmin is sunshine to Giles, grumpy. I do so adore a proper British earl, whose own family was destroyed by gossip. Giles is seeking a proper lady-wife and is stymied by his lustful attraction to Yasmin, who is not chaste, not proper, and not wife material. I liked Giles and Yasmin's interactions and dialogue. I also liked at Yasmin has embraced her outgoing, joygul nature, despite jum,ping headfirst into joy is what ruined her to begin with.
Recommend.
Purchased.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved spending the day with these characters . I was looking forward to seeing the heroine get her happily ever after. She was a fun main character that you really grow to root for. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes historical romance. I would also recommend you read the first book in the series if you haven’t yet. You don’t need to read it to fully enjoy this book, but it is also a great book. You will not be disappointed with this series.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy of this book.

I really appreciate Eloisa James as an author and her many contributions to the genre. I was somewhat hesitant to read this book, because I had read the previous book in the series and found it somewhat of a struggle to get through. But I love the grumpy/sunshine-esque tropes, and will always give Eloisa James's books a chance if I can.

I found this second novel in the series to be much more interesting to me than the previous. I do think that they could be read as standalone novels - you don't necessarily need to remember or know much from the previous book. The plot, especially with Yasmin's previous ruination, felt like a bigger risk/issue than many other novels in this genre portray, and I enjoyed seeing Yasmin and Giles overcome the problems stemming from this central issue. The other supporting characters in the book - the grandfather and sister - were really sweet touches that I appreciated having as more thought out characterizations in the world of this series and for the h/h.

I really liked this story. Beyond the excellent wordsmithing, the book had more steam than I expected. Bonus!

After being tricked by a fake marriage, Yasmin's reputation is ruined, She vows she will not be fooled again...
Fast forward nine years. Yasmin has caught the attention of Giles. Although not intending to marry her, Giles is intensely attracted to her, but resists.

During an outing, he can no longer deny his feelings, but finds that convincing Yasmin he has changed proves to be a difficult task.

Given his parents' scandalous marriage, Giles seeks a countess who's above reproach. Yet he falls for Yasmin, who has a reputation as a flirt. Can she forgive the indifference he showed her in the past?⁠

This book focuses on the intricacies of relationships within the bounds of Regency etiquette. I liked Yasmin's strength and self-confidence. I'm not sure Giles actually does enough to redeem his initial treatment of her. Since the author mentioned Pride and Prejudice in the note at the end, I will say Giles is no Darcy. Darcy progressed from admiration to love, from love to marriage without backsliding like Giles did. Darcy didn't give two f***s what Lady Catherine thought, while Giles actually commiserated with his sister.

If you're looking for a well-written, entertaining book, this one fits the bill. If you're looking for a hero who's more of an advocate for the heroine than she is for herself, then you might be disappointed. Did Giles ever really accept Yasmin as she was, or was he ultimately too in love to care? Love without acceptance leads to contempt, and contempt is a warning sign that a couple is headed for divorce in the modern age. If you approach the book from the perspective that romance novels aren't necessarily intended as guides to building a happy marriage, then this is a fun book.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

There is a surprising amount of this book that is dedicated to the "villain" of the piece rather than Yasmin and Giles. There is so much that it leaves a little less room for our h/h and for their eventual reconciliation after the Big Misunderstanding.
Yasmin's family is already notorious with her mother being Napoleon's mistress. Then, she runs away with a gentleman who claims they were married but he actually tricked her in order to get money from her father in order to hush it up. Now, in England and living with her grandfather, she spends her day attending society parties and trying to avoid her attraction to Lord Giles Lilford.
Giles is also trying to avoid Yasmin as she is loud, brash, and full of fun while he tends to be a little more straitlaced. Even when he starts to realize the inevitability of their attraction he's always trying to rein her in. And it leaves me not liking him when his stodginess keeps him from being run over by his sister.

Three stars
Follows How to be a Wallflower
This book comes out November 29, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Reluctant Countess is a lot of fun in the best Opposites Attract kind of way. Yasmin is bold, confident, and stuck with an almost completely unearned bad reputation among the people of the Ton. Giles is an earl, proper to a fault, and trying desperately to ignore that he’s falling for Yasmin, a woman he considers completely inappropriate. She’s exactly what he needs, and I wanted to reach into the book and shake him by the shoulders for not figuring it out sooner.

I liked this book a lot, because I loved Yasmin and I enjoy Eloisa James’ writing. It was refreshing reading a completely confident female character, who knew her worth in the face of severe judgment and didn’t want to change for anyone. But because I loved Yasmin so much, it made a lot of the book difficult to read. The other characters, particularly Giles’ loathsome sister, treat her horribly. She handles it with such grace, much better than I would, but I still hated reading those scenes.

As for Giles himself…when he’s good, he shines. He could incredibly lovely and totally worthy of Yasmin in one moment, and then judge her for the way she dressed or that other men flirted with her in the next. It took him far too long to realize that Yasmin was amazing and didn’t need to change to become a countess. I’d have preferred to see him fully on Yasmin’s side earlier in the novel, rather than coming across a little wishy-washy.

Overall, James’ How to Be a Wallflower series is so much fun, and I hope there are more stories coming.

Will review when the Harper Collins Union receives a fair agreement. Will review when the Harper Collins Union receives a fair agreement.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (would be 2 stars but I loved the heroine and her grandfather so I bumped it up!)
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Tension: ⚡⚡
Romance: 💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the second book in James’s Would Be Wallflower series but I found it fine as a stand alone. There is some light character page time from the hero and heroine from book 1 (they are friends with the heroine from this book).

Basic plot:
Honestly...I’m struggling here. Giles doesn’t approve one bit of Yasmin, but proposes to her anyway. That’s all I got.

Give this a try if you want:
- Regency time period (1816)
- Mostly London setting
- Medium steam (3 full scenes but lots of implied, partial, and alluded to additional scenes and kisses)
- Dislike to lovers-ish? At first at least. You walk into the story and are told they dislike each other
- English Earl hero, French heroine
- Scandalous heroine – she is trying to overcome her past from France
- You’re all right with a jealous, jerky hero

Ages:
- Heroine is 24, hero is 32

My thoughts:
I did try to like this one! Giles and Yasmin just don’t get along – and it’s no fault of Yasmin. Sure she bates him a bit, but really she’s just trying to get him to loosen up and talk to her instead of being a stick in the mud. Giles comes into the story judging her, acting superior to her, and for all the wrong reasons. Her mother was the mistress of Napoleon – as if she could help it. She wore too low cut of gowns – because she loves fashion and isn’t a prude.

And I love a good turn around story. I love jerk heroes if they can acknowledge their behavior and grovel a bit. But Giles is just...unlikable to me. And he doesn’t stop. He just keeps it going right up until almost the end of the book. Yasmin, I adored in this story. I hate that she is with Giles. She deserved infinitely better than him and I am left sad with this book.

I just didn’t quite get how and why this story took the path it did. We walk in on them basically not getting along, but then he kisses her. I had no tension build up for this and it seemed like he didn’t even like her or himself that he did it.

My favorite character in the story is Yasmin’s grandfather. I adore him. He was such a delight and loves his granddaughter unconditionally. And defends her always. Giles should have been half the man her grandfather is. How utterly disappointing.

I am also sensitive to downright nasty sister-in-law/mother-in-law characters because I lived it for too long – and the hero’s sister in this story is an absolute villain. Another thing that gets me is when there’s little or no repercussions for evil behavior and we don’t get it here. Basically all is forgiven. Boooo that can be for real life but in fiction I demand true villains be punished!

I’ll get into specifics below about the things Giles did that made me abhor him. I hope if you give this one a try you like it more than me! James is hit or miss for me. There have been a number I have absolutely adored, but this is not one.

Reluctant is the perfect word to describe Lady Yasmin, an atypical lady who does not abide by the rules of British Society. Raised by a mother who was a mistress of Napoleon, and a father whom is mostly absent, she is sent to live with her grandfather in London after a scandal occurs when she is 16. Not one to shy away from harsh criticism and gossip, Yasmin does not let the British aristocracy ruffle her feathers and acts and dresses how she pleases which includes entertaining various suitors all vying to marry her. But it is the uptight Earl of Lilford that she can’t help but enjoy waltzing with and finding herself oddly attracted to even though she cannot bring herself to like very much. It would seem the Earl feels somewhat the same towards Yasmin; he finds her magnetic, but is similarly repulsed by her. In a way this is classic enemies to lovers as Yasmin and Giles both desire each other and push against it. He thinks she is a gossip, enjoys the spotlight all too much (even when scandalous) and she thinks he is arrogant and uptight. So of course these two have physical chemistry and when they kiss, it’s electric.
Initially the book was a little slow and stiff to me, but as Giles and Yasmin had more encounters during the season, especially the scavenger hunt, the book really started to take off. I liked that Yasmin let gossip and snobbery roll off her back and just generally lived her life as she pleased, which I think ultimately won the Earl over to her. I also loved that even though Yasmin was very attracted to him, the idea of feeling like she had to desire sex with Giles made her want to put up boundaries. And he LISTENED to her boundaries (as short lived as they were). Unfortunately, Lydia, Giles’s younger sister proves to be a complete wretch towards Yasmin even though she herself is always bordering on some kind of scandal or being ruined. I kept hoping Lydia would have a change of heart, but she just proved to be unlikable and immature when it came to her brother’s affairs. Even the epilogue have a sense that Lydia has not changed. I would still say that I enjoyed this and it was a fairly fast read for me. I always like it when I learn something about history from historical romances (I found myself Googling “dampening skirts” and 19th c. scavenger hunts), and thought the Napoleon and Hippolyte characters were an interesting aspect to the story. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Historical romance, Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Would-Be Wallflowers series. Lady Yasmin has a scandalous reputation, with her mother playing mistress to Napoleon and herself being tricked into thinking she eloped and married when she was sixteen. Now in England with her duke of a grandfather, she causes gossip wherever she goes with her frivolous and flirtatious ways. Giles is the stuffiest most serious earl you’ve ever met, trying to avoid any and all scandal after the death of his father and the outrageous behavior of his mother. He’s openly disdainful of Yasmin, even though he desires her and watches her every move. These two bicker and banter and fight and know that they would be a poor match for each other, but Giles does ultimately propose marriage to her. Meanwhile, Giles’ younger sister is the brattiest brat to ever brat and makes a spectacle of herself and says mean-spirited things about Yasmin (and others) making her the villain of the story. Even though Giles tries to overcome Yasmin’s scandalous reputation, he is still quite overbearing and jealous throughout the book and is an overall unlikeable guy for the most part. And of course, Yasmin’s hardened stance on her own reputation is just a hard shell protecting a fragile and vulnerable girl inside.

Four solid stars for this low(ish) angst romance focusing on reputation, appearance, and authenticity. Our two lovers, Giles and Yasmine, are that classic romance pairing: sunshine/grump, whimsical/starchy, carefree/serious. Not a lot of time is spent on the love story. Giles is uncomfortably pining for Yasmine at the beginning of the book, while she is also uncomfortably aware that he is the only man who's sparked her interest in the past year, so it's a given that they're attracted and ready for more. Instead, there's an examination of Regency slut shaming and the difference between reputation and authenticity means. Of course there's also the fantasy of an ending where the nice girl gets what she deserves, while the gossip mongers end up having their own shames revealed.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS: That said, while Yasmine gets everything she deserves (marriage to a young, handsome, rich nobleman who loves her very, very much), her sister-in-law, the antagonist in the story, gets off a little light. Sure, she's now living in disgrace, but she ruined the life of a good man and nearly ruined her brother's happiness as well. It's great that Yasmine can be so forgiving, but it's tough for the reader to feel the same way...

This objective review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel.

I so wanted to love this story. I have two categories of books for Eloisa. I either love them or really dislike them. Unfortunately, this one was a very much dislike. None of the characters, except for the grandfather and Huntington, had any redeeming qualities. Too vengeful, too hateful, too immature, too wish washy and the story is all over the place. I could go on but feel that because she sometimes produces work that is great, Eloisa deserves a short review for this story.

Explosive, dynamic story!

The story opens with the horrible treatment that Yasmin endured when she was far too young to know better. The events force her to grow up way too fast, so when the story starts nine years later, she's well-accustomed to the rumors and double standards of Society and has made her peace with her current role, finding some freedom in her own brand of self-expression. Giles is a man still reeling from the scandals of his parents, so he values virtue and conformity above all else. Which makes his unrelenting attraction to Yasmin very difficult. And he never lets her forget it.

There's some serious tension in this story, as neither Yasmin nor Giles can ignore the other, yet neither one considers the other suitable for anything more than an occasional dance. It's not a real "hate/love" dynamic, except they each hate themselves for being attracted to the other.

This book truly evoked strong emotions for me - I was angry with Giles when he was brutally honest with Yasmin, devastated for her when she realized just what everyone else really thought, heartbroken for them both when the necessary separation didn't go as planned.

I loved the unexpected pacing in this story. Even after things seem to progress with their relationship, the most unexpected scenario completely derails their progress - for a time. Giles handles it far better than I would have given him credit for, and it even seems to surprise himself. The problem of his selfish sister continues to stand between them, but once that was overcome, I was ready to cheer this couple all the way to their HEA.

I was happy to see that Lydia, for all her efforts, ends up in a stew of her own making. And the epilogue that demonstrated Yasmin's triumphs was very nicely done, indeed.

This was a stand-out book for me simply because it didn't follow any predictable or formulaic path, instead giving us a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows with some scenes leaving everyone's hearts shredded on the floor. That the author was able to still believably lead us to a very satisfying HEA is a tribute to her skill with character development. It is like no other book I've ever read, and I can't wait to read more. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

2.5 Stars. After highly recommending the first book in this series this one didn’t work as well for me. Lady Yasmin Regnier grew up in the French court with a mother who was mistress to Napoleon. Tricked by a fake marriage she is seduced and left in shame. Now nine years later she is living with her titled grandfather in London. She is great cause for gossip because of her past even though none of the current stories are true. She has decided to wed this year and is attending the season.

Giles, the Earl of Liliford, always seeks the first waltz at every gathering. He is drawn to her although he believes her to be scandalous. He is pompous and believes he must marry above someone above reproach. His younger sister Lydia, who he is trying to chaperone through the season actively spreads and creates gossip about Yasmin. This could been so much better if Giles loves and embraces a woman with a past or if he cares and protects her from the lies being spread. But he does neither. He is a stuck up prat.

Yasmin is lovely and confident in herself. She knows she can’t control the wagging tongues or lusting looks so she ignores both. But Giles is as much of a drag on her as is the rest of society. He never stand up for her or actively supports her like her friend Duchess Cleo (the delight from the first book). He behaves as lust driven and judgmental of her appearance as the rest of society. Their first intimate moment was ewww and not passionate or pleasant. I wanted her to find literally anyone else who could be worthy of her.

Lydia is also a huge problem in this book. She actively engages in activities that could lead to her being ruined. And she speaks filth and stirs the pot about Yasmin because she sees her brother lusting for her. This is not an ingenue debuting for her first season. She is active villain and I hate that her actions are excused because of her youth. Innocent mistakes are one thing but a villain needs a comeuppance or the chance to realize their mistakes, make amends and suffer consequences.

Usually James is usually a solid storyteller and a writer you can trust. I’m not sure how this one went so far off track for me. Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.