The Duke and the Schemer

She wants the duke to prove his bravery, so she concocts quite a few schemes. Instead of being vexed, the duke is charmed. What happens when one of her schemes goes awry? What did Rosalind do, and what must Balthazar do to save his lady? It is a very fine muddle, indeed.

Rosalind is eighteen or thereabouts, but she is quite immature. However, you cannot help but laugh at her silly antics. My favorite part of the story is the scheme gone awry and the suspense that resulted. If you like Regency romance with humor and a dash of suspense, you might enjoy this entertaining story.

The second of the Bennington girls, Rosalind, is out and about in society and well.... it's about as riotous as the last season where her sister Beatrice was on the loose!

Rosalind is enamoured with Conbatten, the Duke who the YBC (Young Buck's Club) can't decide whether to invite to join them.

Rosalind gives him multiple opportunities to show his valour, from an incident with a hankerchief (her "darkest house") to an accidentally more real than she'd anticipated kidnapping attempt.

Highly entertaining - read this!

Rosalind Bennington wants her husband to be a courageous man – but in such a safe location as upper-class Regency London, this means having to orchestrate dangerous situations in which the Duke of Conbatten can prove his daring.

This is the second book in the A Very Fine Muddle series, which follows five aristocratic sisters who have been raised by a fanciful hopeless romantic of an aunt and consequently have very fixed ideas on what their future husbands should be like. Learning from her elder sister’s apparent failure of the last season, Rosalind decides that she will have only one quality on her list: bravery.

I had been a little disappointed in the first book of the series because I thought the humor overbalanced into farcical, but it works much better in this book. Rosalind and Balthazar are a fun lead pair, and I enjoyed their banter. The Benningtons are still over the top, but I liked them better and saw why they would be popular in London this time round. And the external plot regarding the secret identity of Shrimps was entertaining and dovetailed neatly with Rosalind’s scheming.

However, I did think that Balthazar fell surprisingly fast for Rosalind – and some of what drew him to her was that she was not like the other debutantes – but neither was Beatrice, who he was only friends with. As a result, I wished his interest in her was better articulated. I also wish that his role in the Queen’s Knights had been fleshed out more, as it felt a bit more like an excuse to tangle him up in the scheme surrounding Shrimps and introduce new secondary characters than anything else.

That said, I’m very excited for the next book in the series! Like Viola, I too have a fondness for red hair, and am curious what will be done with a heroine whose chief quality thus far has been an inordinate liking for ham.

This is the second book of the series and was absolutely a delightful read. Lady Rosalind is confident the fates will send her a courageous man, full of valor and devotion. She sets her sights on the Duke of Conbatten when she spies him rescuing a child, not having any idea who he is. With the help of her aunt and her sisters, the ladies begin their scheming in finding ways for the Duke to demonstrate his courageous spirit and rescue Rosalind from one predicament or another. Balthazar Reardon, Duke of Conbatten, had no plans to marry anytime in the near future. He is a member of the Queen's Knights and is always finding himself in one dangerous situation or another. He steers clear of silly, simpering misses of the ton, but something about Rosalind draws him in. Rather than being annoyed with the various outlandish misadventures, he is rather amused by them and somewhere along the way loses his heart to her.
A totally fun, silly story filled with humor and sweetness. The characters were well-crafted and I was endeared to them from the start. I had such a great time reading this. Definitely a story not to be missed!
I received a complimentary copy from Dragonblade Publishing via Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

The Bennington sisters are at it again. Rosalind Bennington sees the Duke of Conbatten saving a child. She has no idea who he is, but she decides he is the one she loves. The sisters and Mrs. Mayton put their heads together to aid Rosalind in her plans for the duke to prove his love. Balthazar Rearden, the Duke of Conbatten, finds the Bennington sisters and their aunt very amusing. He's never laughed so much in his life. He may think he's not ready to marry, but with Rosalind he will never be bored. I was constantly laughing along with the duke.
A clean romance.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

The quirky family is back again. Only this time the sister knows the face but not the name of the man. It turns out to be the all illusive Conbatten!. Now to convince the man he needs/ wants/ loves her. Ohhh the things she will do to get the man. Oh no she didnt!! YES SHE DID...... OH MY WORD!.
I absolutely adore Kate Archers books I can't get enough!!
I received a copy for a completely honest review, which I strive to tell to others. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s blah, sometimes it’s funny or sad. I won’t give away the ending though.

Such a pleasure to read this book. It was an incredibly fun, LOL, kind of book that held my attention. The situations were very much tongue in cheek, (especially Miss Eloise Mayton ("Aunt Mayton") who insisted on going around in all black as she was morning the loss of her many "loves" who all seem to come to very violent and tragic ends, but the characters are so warm they have you rooting for them from start to finish.

The fact that all the sisters were seriously lacking in talent but were incredibly confident in conveying to anyone who would listen to them that they "took to said skill literally overnight" created some funny moments that kept you laughing.

I loved that all the other characters around this wonderful family, including little Shrimps, the ever-suffering butler and the poor eldest sister's husband, Van Doren were all in a constant state of nervousness over the increasingly crazy situations the sisters and especially Aunt Mayton got into. Loved this from start to finish and cannot say enough good things about this! Definitely looking out for the next book!!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this! What an entertaining story, full of wonderful characters and so much humour.

If you are looking for a book that will give you chuckles, laugh out loud enjoyment, then read this gem of a story!!!
Thank you Kate Archer for your creativity in coming up with all the characters in the Bennington Family. I hated to put the book down as I so enjoyed the different (humorous) shenanigans Lady Rosalind got into guided by Miss Mayton. I loved that Balthazar enjoyed Rosalind for who she truly was and he realized life would never be boring with Rosalind as his wife.
I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Oh my goodness! What a delightfully eccentric family!
The Bennington girls are off to Town again. This time it's Lady Rosalind who is to have her season. Her list might not be as long as her sister's was, but she will insist on certain qualities in the man she will marry.
Balthazar Reardon, Duke of Conbatten is known to be a very particular man. Many are intimidated by his perfection.
The giggles start right at the beginning of this historical romance and carry on all the way through. Thanks mainly to an extraordinary aunt who has looked after the girls since the death of their mother, they have been encouraged to let their imaginations run wild. The results can be startling. How the men in their lives keep their sanity, I don't know. The father is just about the most loving papa any girl could want, and I don't think he's half as ignorant about what they're up to as he pretends. He just likes a quiet life. The poor butler suffers so much stress.
Our hero in this story has his work cut out for him trying to keep his secrets and resisting the fascinating new debutante. His valet just might throw himself in the Arno river because his nerves can't take it.
I really can't wait for the next book in this series. Although each suster has her own story, I think it would be better to read them in order to enjoy them best.
I loved it.

A fun filled misadventure that celebrates the ridiculous & deluded perceptions in us all!
A book to be enjoyed entirely for the fun, joy and sheer pleasure of it! A farce of hi-jinks and positively bazaar goings on that have become so commonplace for the troop of sisters at this series' heart...who have been brainwashed, in many ways, by their aunt's fantastical, melodramatic tragic versions of love, that they have become so ingrained in their everyday life, they believe wholeheartedly they are the norm.
I couldn't help but become sucked into the laughable madness and flabbergasted trail of bemused and in awe faces they leave in their wake, that I developed this need to know what would happen next as I gradually became so strangely addicted and entangled in the ladies' fanciful outlooks, sisterly devotion in each other's misguided genius...who remain so entirely unaware of their own peculiarities...it became a need to keep turning the page.
So beguiled by the idea of bravery and courage being the pedestal to judge romantic love by, Rosalind falls hard, in love at first sight (or should that be rescue) with the paragon, the Duke of Conbatten, and lives in 'rose tinted' hope that he feels the same way too. Which opens up an array of laughable attempts to help fate along and create an opportunity, for Balthazar, to show his love in return by arranging him countless chances to rescue her.
I particularly loved the addition of the mysteries threaded within Rosalind's pursuit for romance and how they all encircled and slotted together so well: the criminal organised gang of housebreakers, the Queen's Knights' quest to hunt them to ground and especially the truth about the pickpocket her sister took in in book one - the nervous, bewildered Shrimps, his beloved dog and the secrets of his past. That really brought an enjoyable thread of an on the horizon encroaching threat and danger to the tale that broke up the humour and infused an intriguing mystery and spot of tension into the mix.
A tale designed so perfectly to brighten up your day and be able to laugh along with the oddity of human nature. There is just this sheer disbelief that envelops an 'I can't believe what they will come out with next' originality to them that is almost childlike and innocent in the kindness they project that makes their lack of artifice and calculating manipulation just plain entertaining as they remain so completely untouched by society's dictates and whims and unapologetically themselves. I'm really growing to love their long suffering butler Tattleton too and his drive to protect while desperately attempting to prevent his own nervous breakdown at their antics... priceless!

3.5 Stars
Lady Rosalind Bennington, second daughter to the Earl of Westmont, has put a great deal of confidence in the fates. She is certain they will deliver her a man of the utmost courageous spirit, as she considers herself unusually courageous. Her dear aunt, Miss Eloise Mayton, is a helpful sort of lady. As such, she schemes with Rosalind to provide opportunities for a certain gentleman to demonstrate his valour and devotion. After all, there are no lengths she will not travel to see her girls happily settled and her judgment is entirely unreliable—a combination that results in very little being out of bounds. Balthazar Reardon, Duke of Conbatten, has no intention of marrying anytime soon. As a member of the Queen’s Knights, he is often striding into dangerous situations between the balls and parties of the season.
The second book in the series & another lighthearted tongue in cheek read. Whilst it was silly & totally improbable it was just what I needed & it certainly brightened my day. If you’re looking for a fun, absurd but enjoyable read then look no further
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I like Kate Archer as an author, but this series is not a favorite. I can appreciate a romantic comedy of sorts, but the Bennington ladies are a bit too much. Book one was stupid, funny and I muddled my way through it. Book two was just the same nonsense from the ladies, but a little worse. I liked parts of the book, like Shrimp's story. Overall I felt the story a little long at 318 pages. Some of the stuff the ladies do are outlandish and nothing is ever said by their brother or father. I may or may not read book three. I can't decide yet.

The stunning cover art with a woman in a purple gown was enough to catch my interest, so much so that I gambled and gave it a try. While I am all for unconventional characters, this one was a little too far-fetched. Lady Rosalind’s mind and perspective are out of this context in this era and corky. Unfortunately, women were so strictly managed that such thinking could’ve been enough cause to send them to a mental institution. For example, no respectable lady would let the “fates decide”.

Duke Conbatten (odd name, but okay) is stable headed, but with more interest in the ongoings of assisting the arrest of criminals than high society. Also, another outlandish notion is that a Duke would be in the know and work to apprehend criminals.

The author’s descriptions and voice are skilled with the right pacing and plot points to keep the story moving. Sadly, the believability of the characters was so low that it literally threw me out of the story with more questioning the whole experience.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the ARC.

I am normally drawn to books from this time period with strong female leads. But, the book was not my type, and I found it to be difficult to finish. The characters, particularly the main character Rosalind was overly childish, and frustratingly so. I prefer much more mature leads and stories that go deeper than a surface plot.

A Storyline Not To Be Missed!

The Duke of Conbatten wasn’t what he seemed, he had a long kept secret he was happy to perform and wasn’t yet looking for a wife!

Lady Rosalind Bennington took one look at him not knowing who he was and fell instantly in love with the stranger.

OMG the fun and antics within this storyline will keep you giggling for hours!

A wonderful romantic story with wonderful characters, a swoon worthy Duke who believed when he found his Duchess he would lead a quite staid life until he met Rosalind. He just knew, his life with her would be one big mad adventure that would be filled with love and laughter, one he couldn’t wait to start.

I just love the humour Ms Archer brings to all her books and this series so far is simply brilliant! It certainly brightens your day and makes you want to read more!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Conbatten, a duke, is not really looking for a bride as he is too busy looking into some criminals for the queen. Rosalind comes to town and sees him rescue a young girl and knows he is the one and only for her. She just has to make sure he could rescue her from harm. The reader cannot help but laugh at the absurdity of this story. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing for my honest review.

Kate Arcehr captured my heart with her flawless words, deep emotions and not so perfect main characters. This was a beautiful love story with all the feels involved and one that I will re-read many times over. An emotional romance that is a MUST READ.