A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes is the third book in Manda Collin's A Lady's Guide series. When I read the second book in the series, I felt like the romance had taken a big back seat to the mystery. This next installment in the series brought the romance back to the forefront, Don't get me wrong; the whodunit storyline is still completely interwoven throughout the story but the romance was a priority.

Flora was introduced in previous books but we come to find out her entire background was a façade. She is really Poppy Delamare who escaped an engagement with a repugnant suitor. that her swindler stepfather was forcing her to marry. She must return home when she learns her sister is accused of murdering her husband (Poppy's old betrothal.) Poppy runs into the Duke of Langham on the train platform. They have have a tenuous relationship but agree to enter into a fake engagement for the duration of his grandmother's house party. He'll get some relief from the matchmakers and she'll get the resources and protection of his name to help her sister. It's hard to see the line between real and fake when feelings become involved.

I really enjoyed this book. Poppy in particular has a great personality but her chemistry with Langham was top notch. Langham definitely fell first. All the little touches and glances. He wanted to take care of Poppy but knew she had the need to be independent. There are a lot of stuff going on with murder, cults, abusive parents, fake identities and more but it still felt light and fun. I read it in almost one sitting. Couples from previous books do make an appearance. I don't feel like you need to read the prior books but they do add to the experience. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, Manda Collins, and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.
#netgalley #mandacollins #forevergrandcentralpublishing #aspinstersguidetodangeranddukes

Fun rom com set in the past with a mystery and intrigue to keep you hooked from the start. The characters are engaging and while I am usually one for guessing a mystery this one kept me on my toes which was a nice surprise. Would highly recommend

I LOVED this book so much. The banter, the intrigue, the mystery, the pining, AND adding a fake relationship trope? This was absolutely perfect. I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to more by this author!

Flora Deaver, spinster, and employee of a newspaper in London has skipped town to go back to help her sister who has been accused of murder. Flora is also not Flora, her given name is Miss. Poppy Delamore amd ahe changed it to escape marrying a man whom her stepfather promised her to. The man whom her sister Victoria married and is accused of murdering.

Poppy runs into Duke of Langham, Joshua Fielding (whom she despises) at the train station and he assists her in getting to Little Kidding to help her sister, and agrees to help in any way he can, for a favor of course. Poppy must pretend to be engaged to the Duke while in town so that his grandmother doesn't try to get him engaged to some random woman. While Joshua doesn't much care for Poppy the more he learns of her situation he begins to respect and care for her more and more. But clearing Victoria's name promises not to be quite as easy as he expected it to as he finds corruption in his hometown.

If you enjoy adventure, mystery, romance, history, and recency novels this is the story for you and a great follow up novel to Manda Collins previous novel. A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes is hands down one of the most fun novels I have read this fall and something that you too shall enjoy.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

This book was a fun and romantic read! I haven’t read the other two books in this series but I still enjoyed this story without missing a beat. So you can definitely read it as a stand-alone without issue. I loved that this book was more than just a romance; there was real plot and well written characters. And fake engagement? Perfect trope!

I enjoyed the characters and the fun plot of a murder mystery. I totally thought I had the ending predicted but I was way wrong haha. The romance was adorable and I loved the mutual respect and adoration the main characters had for each other. Plus the banter and excellent spicy scene 🌶️

Overall, I highly recommend for fans of historical romance with fun twists!

I was completely unaware that this is the newest addition to an established series. I was a bit concerned over the fact that I hadn’t read either of the previous books but I didn’t feel lost, at all however, in my reading.

Despite way too many “chits” and “gels” (which I despise), I really enjoyed this one - Collins’s style is very fun and absolutely steeped in her younger taste of Jane Austen and Nancy Drew, in the best possible way - this story is engaging and fun to read. I’m planning on reading more of this author’s work.

This one is an open door romance.

Recommended.

Cute and suspenseful!
The main part that I disliked about it was the premarital s*x and the fact that it also described it (which means that I skipped past that section).

A seriously fun historical rom com! Delightful to read and definitely pulls on your heartstrings! A warm and wonderful read!

Manda Collins is the master of blending strong heroines with caring men to create wonderful stories of intrigue, excitement, and love.

Poppy & Joshua’s story was an utter delight. In addition to the budding romance, there was some great gothic history and murder mystery vibes going on. A great book to curl up with and enjoy!

Thank you so much Forever Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I have read the first two books in this series and while I wouldn't consider them a necessity to read before this one, you'll definitely understand some of the references in this book. But I also fully support chaos reading, so you do you friends.

This book was fun! If you want an engaging and enjoyable historical romance with pieces of murder mystery then this is the book for you. Manda Collins is a queen of combining mystery and romance perfectly in one book, which those happen to be the two genres I love the most. Between the emotional character development spurred on with the romance and then the mystery pushing forward the plot, there are very few slow parts.

Poppy/Flora is such a stunning character. She knows her worth and doesn't back down. This made for some exceptional moments in the book where she easily holds her own against other characters. Adding her personality in with Joshua's more stoic duke-ism, made for a lovely romance. He definitely falls first her which was spectacular. And the way that they helped each other through some heavier moments was the absolute best. Both had their moments of weakness, which severely helped the book when you're dealing with a decent power differential, that and Joshua was so kind. I do think there should have been a bit more build up in their romance, but that's just a personal opinion. Some more longing would have been just the icing on the cake. I do think even without that, it was a well balanced romance.

The murder mystery of the cult and Joshua's history was morbidly fun. I was guessing about the mystery and who did it until the very end. Adding this kind of weirdness/morbidity to the plot I think really made there book. I *needed* to know how it ended. So I stayed up all night reading it... rip work. I'm not going to go any further into this because I need you to go in blindly into this because it would be a disservice to the book if I ruin it.

Long story short, I highly recommend this book if you're wanting a nice balance of romance and mystery. I think that it makes for a perfect weekend read with a nice cup of tea and some nearby food because you won't want to put it down. I think that this was my favorite book of the series simply because I loved Poppy and Joshua so much, just well crafted characters.

This book would be great if you liked the earlier books in the series, if you like Emily Sullivan's League of Scoundrels Series, Evie Dunmore's A League of Extraordinary Women Series, or Elizabeth Everett's The Secret Scientists of London Series. (Also recommend all those books!!)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a lady in danger must be in need of rescue, but whether she wants to be rescued is up for debate—for fans of Evie Dunmore and Netflix's Bridgerton from the bestselling author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem!

England, 1867: Miss Poppy Delamare is living a lie. To escape an odious betrothal, she fled to London where she’s been hiding as the unassuming secretary Flora Deaver. However, when her beloved sister is accused of murder, Poppy cannot leave her to the wolves. Only a most unexpected—and unwelcome—collision interrupts her journey home . . .

Despite a rather dismal first meeting, Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, has no intention of abandoning a lady in need. But he’s not above asking a favor. A fake betrothal will give Poppy and her sister the power of the dukedom and protect Langham from the society misses intent on becoming his duchess.

Yet the longer the ruse goes on, the more Poppy and Langham realize how false their first impressions were—and the less pretend their engagement feels. But before Langham can propose in truth, their search reveals a tangled web of lies and betrayals. With time running out, can Poppy and Langham find the real culprit—before Poppy becomes the next victim?

I'm not normally a fan of period romances, but this one surprised me with how much I enjoyed this book
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own

This is the third book in the Ladies Most Scandalous series but I haven't read the first two and I still enjoyed this immensely. Intelligent and independent Poppy literally runs into the Duke of Langham on the worst day of her life. She's always found him arrogant and he's always been exasperated with her but his heart goes out to her when he finds out she is rushing to save her sister who has been arrested for a murder she didn't commit. They agree to work together and decide the best way is to have a fake betrothal. She can stay at his Estate and his family won't be bothering him asking when he's going to get married already. ⁠
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I'm always here for fake dating and fake engagements. It's my favourite trope. I don't read a lot of Victorian romances and I think this is my first romance/mystery. It was so much fun to read and I loved the characters and witty banter. This romance is fairly steamy but also quite swoony. ⁠
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I'm really hoping there will be a fourth book about the Duke's younger brother and a certain sensible governess! And, of course, I'm off to read the first two in this series - I've already downloaded the first on Kindle. ⁠
A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes will be available on March 28, 2023.⁠
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Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the opportunity to read this advanced copy for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review. For some reason I knew this book was part of a series but I mistakenly thought they were stand alone novels. I was initially a bit disoriented with the introduction of the characters, as ideally I should have "known" them already. Nonetheless, it was so easy to fail in love with our two main characters, especially Poppy. Who doesn't love a strong, independent, crime fighting ahead-of-her-time female protagonist? This story had a bit of everything: fake dating or engagement in this case, a murder mystery, family ties and and a romance where our Duke who is against marrying, falls first. One thing I especially enjoyed was the witting style. It fit so well with the time period. It is always a bit districting when reading a period novel and one reads characters using phrases more suited to modern times. I will be definitely doing my due diligence and reading the two preceding books in this series. I am excited to read more about Poppy’s friends and having the chance to meet Poppy and Joshua again for the first time.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

Now I will say that I normally am not too interested in reading historical fiction, but I had heard about this author's other books before and I was intrigued to read one, and this did not disappoint! I love me a good mystery romance where they work together and fall in love in the process! The banter between Poppy and Joshua was so fun to read and I thought they had great chemistry!

It was a little hard for me to get into, since I normally do not read anything historical, but once I did get into it, I enjoyed it!

HOW HAVE I COMPLETELY MISSED THIS SERIES?! Anyway, this book is just so delightful. The banter, the pining, the mystery, just all so well done. This is the historical romance pick for all my true crime gals. I do feel like I wanted a little more oomph out of the climax, ultimately, but it didn’t really lessen my overall enjoyment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be going back and binging the previous books in this series that have inexplicably flown far too low on my radar.

Mini Book Review
A Spinsters Guide to Danger and Dukes
Manda Collins

3rd in the Ladies Guide Series

Tropes
Fake engagement
Forced proximity
Regency romance
Murder mystery
Cult

Characters
Poppy aka Flora- determined, independent, stubborn, Loyal
Joshua aka the Duke- private, brooding, entitled

Thoughts
Romance with a hint of mystery and intrigue
Easy reading
Fun storyline and characters
Happily ever after guaranteed

Thank you to @readforeverpub for my gifted copy in return for an honest review. Opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I love this series, it’s so much fun - the author’s bio says she grew up with Nancy Drew and Jane Austen and I totally see those influences in here, with an added dose of smut.

If you like the first two, you’ll like this one! Collins’ style is also really pleasant to read: I’d recommend it as a great starter regency romance if you’re new to the genre (but I’m pretty seasoned and loved it all the same).

I don’t want to mention specific tropes because I don’t want to spoil, but may extend this review later.

If you like historical murder romance, you will probably like this book. My issue with this is that it doesn’t lean heavily enough into either - there’s insufficient banter for a historical romance and solving the murder mystery almost happens by accident. It’s book 3 in a series but works as a stand-alone.

Manda Collins does it again with this book! I loved the first two books in this series and had high hopes for the third. Poppy has been living under the pseudonym, Flora Deaver, in London for the last 2 years working with Kate and Caro on their crime column. Poppy hears that her sister, Violet, has been accused of murder and goes to Little Kidding, but it happens to be in the town near the Duke of Langham’s estate. The two of them join forces in a fake betrothal to help keep Poppy’s sister from being convicted of a murder she didn’t commit and so Langham does not have to entertain marriage propositions from his unwanted house guests. The two characters have great chemistry and this murder plot involves, cults, blackmail, and attempted kidnapping!
Just a warning, this book has an abusive father whose actions, while not depicted in detail, are mentioned. Also, Langham suffers from claustrophobia and that is depicted on page.

A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes by Manda Collins

England, 1867: Miss Poppy Delamare is living a lie. To escape an odious betrothal, she fled to London where she’s been hiding as the unassuming secretary Flora Deaver. However, when her beloved sister is accused of murder, Poppy cannot leave her to the wolves. Only a most unexpected—and unwelcome—collision interrupts her journey home . . .
Despite a rather dismal first meeting, Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, has no intention of abandoning a lady in need. But he’s not above asking a favor. A fake betrothal will give Poppy and her sister the power of the dukedom and protect Langham from the society misses intent on becoming his duchess.

Yet the longer the ruse goes on, the more Poppy and Langham realize how false their first impressions were—and the less pretend their engagement feels. But before Langham can propose in truth, their search reveals a tangled web of lies and betrayals. With time running out, can Poppy and Langham find the real culprit—before Poppy becomes the next victim?
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Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes! I am a HUGE fan of Collins and this was by far her best in the series! Such a great read and I loved the main characters!

5⭐️