Violet is one of those incandescent characters who grab your heartstrings with her hilarity, determination and bravery and lingers in your mind long after her story is told. Violet is desperately trying to locate her mother who has been missing and presumed dead for 10 years. No Life for a Lady is a great historical fiction that is full of mystery, laughter and fun. I loved everything about Violet and her adventures! Highly recommended,

A terrific novel, lively and entertaining, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Violet is a wonderful leading lady, bright and intelligent, adorably naive in affairs of the heart and superbly unconventional in her efforts to learn more. Her desire to investigate her mother's disappearance 10 years ago sets off a rollercoaster of events which are further complicated by her father's desire to find her a suitable husband. Violet's manner of disposing of unwanted suitors is hilarious as are her efforts at housekeeping. The seaside setting of Hastings works a treat for a kaleidoscope of colourful characters and Benjamin Blackthorn is perfect as Violet persuades him to be her partner in crime. The plot is cleverly crafted and moves along at a cracking pace with a suitably outrageous climax. I do hope there are more of Violet's adventures as a lady detective in the pipeline. Hugely enjoyable and great fun to read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy.

I loved the spunky heroine Violet! It was a lovely romance story that was well done and an easy holiday read.

This is such a wholesome read, set in a time where being a women meant all that was expected of you was to marry well, keep house and have children.
Violet is a pioneer of her time, dreaming of living outside that mould whilst dealing with the disappearance of her mother ten years ago.
I enjoyed Violet as a character and how she handled stepping outside her comfort zone and pushing for more.
This book was really easy to read and made me laugh at points. The story at parts felt slow but this is a book that drops clues throughout that you will miss if you aren’t careful.
I enjoyed all the different characters from different social standings.
I wish there had been more of Benjamin and relationship building with Violet because although this isn’t a romance book I LOVED their interactions and wanted more of them together. I feel this also would have given a clearer view of Benjamins feelings.
I also have a strong appreciation that most of the side characters were women, giving those who had less of a voice in their time a chance to be seen.

Enjoyable read, perfect for a cosy evening in

What an absolute joy of a book! Violet is a force to be reckoned with as she embarks on a venture to find her mother, who disappeared 10 years ago. She encounters fierce male detectives, ladies of disrepute, lots of male attention and a rather handsome furniture dealer in her quest to become a Lady Detective - quite a feat for a Victorian/Edwardian lady! I loved everything about Violet and her adventures! Highly recommended, witty and full of joy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When taken at face value, No Life for a Lady seems like a fun little bit of fluff, enjoyable to read, but with little longevity to make it memorable. However, when one really delves into the book and examines the topic, it is so much more than that.

Violet Hamilton is a young woman living in Hastings/St. Leonard, desperately still trying to locate her mother who has been missing and presumed dead for 10 years. She refuses to live a traditional life and neatly evades all attempts made by her father to ensnare her in matrimony. This book opens with Violet hiring a detective to locate her mother, but immediately we know something is off about this detective. Through her own wits and charm, Violet meets another detective turned furniture seller, Benjamin Blackthorn, and has a few adventures along the way, befriending others who live on the fringes of polite society.

In a typical historical romance novel, when the female lead doesn't meet societal expectations, the difficulties of being such a woman are vaguely hinted at. In No Life for a Lady, the sometimes harsh realities of being an unmarried woman in the late 1800s are presented, Violet struggles against these expectations and forges her own path through subterfuge and lies and disguises.

This book was a joy to read, and I hope that others will pick it up when it releases for publication in March 2023. Thank you to Aria & Aries, and NetGalley for the electronic ARC for review.

Violet is 28, and does not wish to marry, which was not usually the case in that time period. Instead she wishes to find her mother, and hires a detective to do that. Her views are uncommon for the time, and this novel is a delight. I cannot recommend it highly enough, it is so good. Reminds me of 'Lessons in Chemistry' in some parts. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

Simply brilliant! File this under mystery, romance, historical, family, relationships but above all humour. A thoroughly entertaining read which often made me laugh out loud. So many hijinks and misunderstandings and I totally loved the hilarious turns of phrase by the main character.

I don't give out 5 stars very often but No Life For a Lady deserves it.

I received this arc from netgalley and Head of Zeus in exchange for my honest review.

I just loved reading this book over my Christmas holidays and finished it in two days. Violet is a hero we can all cheer for - everything about her is lovable and funny and we are completely on her side throughout. The novel is funny and heart-warming and a pacey read.

Hmm this one took a while to draw me in and felt too long to get going. Once it did (about a third of a way in for me) it was OK. Bit of a clunky plot- is it a mystery or a love story - i'm not sure it knows which itself.
Some good moments but bit long winded for me.

This was so much fun! I love a historical mystery. This had a little romance that I really enjoyed also.

I think that this maybe won't be for everybody. It takes a while for things to pick up in terms of the mystery aspect - I personally didn't mind this, but I think some people might. For me, I thought it made sense for the tone of the novel. It was charming. It gave us time to get to know our main character, Violet, and about her life and the things she's up against as an unmarried woman looking for meaningful employment.

I would say it renders the mystery sort of low key. I liked that though, as this book is actually more about Violet wanting to become a lady detective. This is how we get introduced to Benjamin, the love interest, who I really enjoyed. It was very sweet but also sarcastic, and we love that.

I don't know if this is going to be a series, but I hope so because there's a lot more for Violet to achieve! This is her just starting to learn about the world and herself for that matter and I would love to see more of her adventures.

TW: Sexual assault

The story follows Violet’s journey to reunite with her missing mother while she is taking the risk of her freedom. To help her along the way, she hires a sketchy detective. He’s totally consumed about the case of Lily Hamilton. It has told from the MC’s narrative, which is more interesting and has kept my interest until the very end. Thus, Violet is quirky and a likeable book main character to me.

Isn’t sound familiar? Yep, I do have same feeling of the book’s vibe. The MC is magnificent as Enola Holmes. She is a young lady who is intent on running her own life on her own way.

It was a great escapism that this book had brought to me on Christmas eve. It was packed with hilarious adventures and self-discovery. It had immediately transported me to stunning recreation scenes of the English countryside in the 19th century. It was fun and entertaining as the mystery unravels in unexpected plot twists.
Overall, the storyline was great and delightful. I was totally absorbed.

The book felt too long, almost as though it had been written to become tv episodes where very little happens and the story progresses very slowly. The ending felt very rushed and ended so abruptly that it was most unsatisfactory. If the ended had been longer and more well rounded I would’ve upped my rating.

A delightful little treat of a read. I immediately fell in love with the protagonist, and I devoured this book in one sitting. I genuinely chuckled out loud on more than one occasion, and I was completely engrossed the entire time. Highly recommend, and will definitely be reading more by this author.

4.5🌟
Thank you to NetGalley, Aria & Aries Publishing and Hannah Dolby for a chance to read an ARC for “No Life for a Lady”. This is my honest and unpaid review.
I really enjoyed this book! I loved the inner monologue that Violet has going throughout the book. It was interesting to see her go from being the innocent ornament that women were supposed to be back then to becoming a stronger, more independent woman by the end. Many parts of the book made me chuckle and I liked the the clues and twists that kept the reader moving forward. I hope those poor animals will finally be free of their habits one day.
The only reason I didn’t give the book the last 1/2 star was that I had some difficulty with the pacing of the story. Some parts seemed to be long then others almost jumped ahead and I had to reread to make sure I hadn’t missed something. Otherwise, I really liked it! I felt like this might be the first book of a series based on how it ended so if it is, I will keep my eye out for another!

A delightful read great characters so well written a mystery to be involved in.Will be recommending a book many readers will enjoy.#netgalley #ariaaries

This book was very fun, and I ended up enjoying the protagonist immensely. It did take me a bit to get into the story and to embrace the humor of the main character. To be frank, I initially found her utter lack of self-awareness jarring. Then, about a quarter of the way in, I began to realize the tone of her internal dialogues is probably not so different than my own.

Embrace the absurd realism (or realistic absurdity?) and enjoy a delightful, awkwardly romantic adventure.

What happens when a woman wants to finally get answers to a decades old mystery and a new detective just happens to come to town? You wind up with discovery, a not-so-competing detective agency-cum-furniture seller-cum quasi detective agency, and a leading lady that wants to make a real impact. I really liked this book, but felt the main character seemed a little too naive for her age, still I would recommend it!

THis was a light, fun read. There were some laugh-out-loud moments, though the book could have done with some editing. I liked its setting of Hastings, and the period detail-though some of it was anachronistic. Good debut effort.

I was given a copy for review by NetGalley without me asking for it, so here it goes:

Really tempted to give this one a lower review, but this novel has both high points and low points.
On one side, I did not care for the constant drilling of certain concepts. The constant "women aren't supposed to do this and that", "marital relations are awful for women", etc. Generally I think these points can be explained and delved upon in a much different context and I would have no problem with it. But together with the general tone of the book, it feels disconnected, it pulls me out of the story. I feel like it could be handled in a different manner and an editor should have probably trimmed it and made it a bit more poignant.
As for the plot, the aforementioned point muddled the story in the first half. I feel like we were shown a loop of occurrences that went nowhere, and a bunch of attempts at jokes (like the protagonist's "quirky" attempts at making up fake charities to get out of uncomfortable social situations). I can't say I am a huge fan of the protagonist, but I didn't hate her either. I feel like she could have been replaced by any other modern protagonist and things wouldn't change much.

Onto the good. From the middle onwards the story really picks up the rythm and it starts to feel like it goes somewhere. I liked the new perspectives and development of the protagonists, the subtle conversation about getting over grief and how moving away from a negative mindset can make all the difference in your life.
This might be getting spoilery, but the decisions Violet (the protagonist) makes from a certain point onwards, while sometimes made me say "god you're so stupid" were really interesting and endearing, and I could understand where they came from, even if I did not share her perspective in the slightest. Even then, at that point my focus went from wanting to just finish the book to actually wanting to know how the story went. Turning around this perspective is not easy and I commend the author for it. I would like to read more from her.

So in the end, it was a positive experience, despite my initial resistance to it. The romance was cute and I was left with a few questions, since the story ended with some questions left unanswered, right at the brink of Violet's life changing forever, but I can't say I'm unsatisfied with the ending. While the humor of it did not work for me (it rarely does), there were enough positive elements to be left with a benevolent rating.