Pirates! Highwaymen! Romance! Lady Charlotte is a fun new book from debut author Violet Marsh. Charlotte's parents want her engaged to an aristocrat. But she has other ideas. Lord Hawley is a murderous, evil man, but his youngest brother is a scientist, explorer and doctor. No wonder Charlotte falls for the youngest sibling.

But unmasking Hawley's misdeeds will take the help of all of Charlotte's eclectic group of friends.

This was a quick read. The romance scenes between Matthew and Charlotte were quite overblown, and I literally had to skip past them to keep from laughing. But the plot was amusing and the secondary characters were interesting (especially the animals!)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man

By Violet Marsh - never read author

Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Format: e-book and audiobook

Narrator; Katy Sobey

Run Time: 10:11

Publication 3/5/24, Read 3/5/24

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for this ARC 🩷 ! I voluntarily give an honest review and all opinions expressed are my own.

What to Expect:
☑️Historical Romance
☑️Mystery
☑️Rom-Com
☑️Arranged marriage
☑️Brother's best friend
☑️ Opposites attract
☑️Slavery
☑️Piracy
☑️Gender and racial discrimination

Summary: Lady Charlotte is arranged to marry Viscount Hawley by her parents. They don't care about his sinister reputation, they just want to control Charlotte. She escapes the betrothal ,and plans to find proof that Hawley is responsible for his two previous wives' deaths. Dr. Matthew Talbot is Hawley's brother, but is best friends with Charlotte's twin brother Alexander. He agrees to help Charlotte find dirt on his brother, but he has his own secrets to contend with.


My Thoughts: The narrator read all characters and the voices fit the characters with standouts from Matthew and Charlotte. Their voices were the most distinct, but I could easily tell the difference between all characters. The reading style brought the story to life and the pacing flowed easily with the story. The narration and the author were in sync, and they fit together perfectly.

The audiobook's flow was steady. The narrator paused and announced every time a new chapter came. The book had a table of contents which helped me follow along with the e-book and audio.

Overall Charlotte and Matthew are opposites, but the more time they spend together makes for a classic historical romance.

My recommendation is to read the audiobook because you can adjust the speed, skip parts easily (if desired), and picture the characters more vividly. I read both the audio and eBook and loved them equally!

I loved this book! The Regency time period combined with Charlotte’s strong personality made this a fun and compelling read. I liked the added detective like plot, it gave more depth to the characters and kept me interested to see how the mystery played out.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is the first book I've read by Violet Marsh. If she keeps writing books as delightful and witty as this one, this won't be the last! I hated to put it down I was so engaged with the marvelous characters. Drat my job for getting in the way! So many historical romances take place in Regency or Victorian England, so it was a lovely change of pace being set in the Georgian period.

When Lady Charlotte Lovett is informed by her parents that she is going to be betrothed to Viscount Hawley, she does what any other sensible young lady who's heard the rumors that he killed his first two wives would do - she bolts. She takes shelter at the Black Sheep, a coffeehouse run by her two estranged cousins. Charlotte knows that she must prove that Hawley is a murderer in order to get out of the upcoming betrothal and save herself from becoming victim number 3. Surely someone can assist her...hmmm...how about Hawley's youngest brother, Dr. Matthew Talbot? Matthew is nothing like the others in his family; he's a surgeon, a naturalist and writer, plus he's shy and socially awkward. Like his brother, however, Matthew has secrets, and he doesn't want them to get out as Charlotte looks for evidence against Hawley. So he agrees to assist her. The attraction between them keeps growing, but will it, and they, survive their final showdown with Hawley?

This book was riveting from start to finish. It was an interesting story, but it was the awesome characters that kept me glued to the page. Charlotte was a smart, beautiful young woman. Unfortunately, her parents simply saw her as a doll whose express purpose was to marry a wealthy and powerful man. It didn't seem to bother them at all that it was rumored that he already killed two women; it was their will that Charlotte marry Hawley, who would become the duke when his father died. To me, her parents sounded more despicable than Hawley! Charlotte wouldn't stand for that. She took the inheritance she received from an aunt and went to the coffeehouse owned by her cousins Hannah and Sophia Wick. They were not acknowledged by Charlotte's parents, as the young women had pirate blood in them, and Sophia was mixed race. Charlotte convinces them to let her stay there while she searches for evidence against Hawley, using her inheritance to expand the coffeehouse and have a secret room where women, too, can join in philosophical, political and other discussions. (After all, the coffeehouses in that historical period were referred to as "penny universities".) At the coffeehouse, Charlotte is reunited with Matthew Talbot, who is her brother Alexander's best friend since childhood. My, he's changed in appearance, and Charlotte is drawn to his quiet mien. Matthew has to be careful, because he has some secrets of his own. I will not disclose those here, because it was quite exciting to learn what. Matthew has been doing all these years, besides traveling, drawing, writing books and being a doctor. I was totally not expecting what he wasi hiding! Matthew, too, didn't have a good homelife when young. His father was convinced Matthew was a fae changeling since he wasn't like his bawdy and brash brothers. His father actually had his other sons "test" Matthew to prove he was fae. We're talking about putting a hot iron on his leg, repeatedly holding him down under water, etc. That is one evil family! Matthew loved his mother, but she died when he was young, leaving him defenseless. He spent a good deal of his time in Scotland, and friend Tavish Stewart took him under his wing. Matthew was absolutely captivated by Charlotte; he couldn't believe this beautiful young woman wanted HIM. Of course, we knew right off the bat that they were meant for each other! They were sweet, funny and had great passion for one another. There were some other great characters, especially Alexander, Charlotte's twin and Matthew's best friend. He was born with a club foot, and his parents essentially wrote him off. He wanted nothing more than the two people he loved the most to get together. We also met Charlotte's best friend Calliope, and a Welsh playwright/actor who constantly sparred when they were together. This story was hysterical and swoony at times, but there were some serious topics here, including indentured servants, slavery and child abuse. But it all came together perfectly! The ending seemed to be setting up this as a series; I certainly hope so.

Alas, I must be honest here... The love between Charlotte and Matthew was beautiful, but there was a love story even greater than theirs: the love between Pan the one-eyed parrot and his monkey love, Banshee the capuchin.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Ahh Lady Charlotte... She does always get her man, in more ways than one! I will say that this book was off to a great start and Charlotte was quite the heroine, not letting life happen to her, which is being engaged to a Viscount who may have killed his first 2 wives. It turns out that her brother and his best friend, the Viscount 's youngest brother, is also investigating what's been happening with his brother. Matthew seems like a real Renaissance man being a doctor and naturalist and then also harbouring secrets. It had the potential to be an amazing book but there were a few things I thought was a hindrance:
- the pacing in the middle seemed to sag and didn't bring the story forward
- there were probably a smidge too much going on in the book that detracted from the story itself and all the characters involved partway through
That being said it could have been because Violet Marsh is doing some world building here. All that to say, it ended in a satisfying matter that was quite vivid and hilarious, and I am looking forward to the next one.

Steam: 🔥
Heart Flutters: ❤️

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is a lighthearted and fun historical romance. Readers who enjoy strong heroines, especially those determined not to let their fate be decided by others, will love this book. Charlotte could easily have followed societal convention and instead manages to save herself and other woman from her murderous intended. Matthew is a very sweet character who is head over heels for Charlotte. There are not really any steamy scenes and the mystery takes some zany turns, but Marsh has clearly done careful research on the time period. Readers who seek friends-to-lovers, cinnamon roll characters, and lighthearted historical romances will enjoy Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man.

Thank you to Violet Marsh, Forever, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

This is one of my favorite historical romances of the year so far. There is a plucky heroine and a hero, who is such a cinnamon roll, and just tries to help. It’s a combination of a historical romance, and a cozy mystery, and a romcom altogether. I love that there was a mystery solved, and I really enjoyed the banter, the couple themselves was easy to root for and were delight from start to finish. This is going to be one of my new comfort reads.

A nice historical read, but not very romantic.

I did struggle a little reading this book, the writing was good, but a bit too flowery for me and I found myself skipping a lot of descriptions. Everything was a bit too much for me, but I can see a lot of people enjoying it. The characters are over-the-top and quirky, which isn’t my preference, but they are also very lovable.

Some scenes didn’t make sense to me. In the beginning of the book, Charlotte runs away in the middle of a dress fitting, but it is never addressed again. An unmarried woman was running half-dressed across London, all the way to a coffeehouse where women are no allowed, and her mother said… nothing? I really expected her to actually run away, but the next chapter she’s back home listening to her mother as if no one noticed her little escapade. I was confused and stayed confused until the end.

The big villain of the story didn’t do enough to make me hate him. I know he killed his wives (we’re literally told at the beginning), but he wasn’t present enough in the story to make an impact.

Overall, I wanted a romance and got more of a quirky murder mystery.

DNF-ed at 25%

I unfortunately could not connect with the characters or the story. There was not enough to draw me in as it felt more like a historical mystery than a historical romance. Wishing I could have felt more compelled to continue on with the novel.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

There are so many aspects of this book that I liked a lot. The unconventional approach and premise to a historical romance, for one. The mystery and intellectual aspects, as well. In fact, this book will likely make me seek out more coffeehouse/Salon-type settings in books that I read.

I found this book to be really unique as compared to other historical romances I have read. I think there is definitely an audience for this book if you’re looking for a historical mystery with a lot of other plot aspects of a more typical historical romance.

For me though, it felt like there was just a little romance tacked onto a book that doesn’t really fit my expectations for a historical romance (or the cover of this book). Personally I wish there had been more to the romance. Charlotte and Matthew were both great characters. But I wanted more of them.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. it was action-packed, held my interest and kept me reading. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh which takes place in Georgian England is a story full of intrigue with an interesting cast of characters including a truly vile villain, a one eyed parrot who runs recognizance and did I mention a companionable monkey? All this adds up to a delightful five star reading for me!


While at the modiste, Lady Charlotte’s mother blithely announces that she is to be married to Lord Hawley. Lord Hawley is a duke’s heir. The joining of two ducal houses is a common occurrence for the time period. But sinister rumors swirl around him as he has already buried two wives who have both died under mysterious circumstances. Lady Charlotte does what any level headed person would do. She gathers her skirts, pulls her panniers sideways through the door and RUNS!


She heads to her cousins' coffee house, the Black Sheep. Naturally Charlotte’s family shuns them for being in trade <gasp!> and for her mother’s sister who ran off and married a pirate <double gasp!>. Lady Charlotte knows that she can start there to learn all she can about who Lord Hawley is and if he really has killed off his wives. Her cousins, the mistresses Wick, are leery of her being there but Lady Charlotte has a plan. She proposes a secret salon in the back room of the coffee house that allows both men and women so she can ferret information on Hawley.


Lord Hawley’s brother Dr, Matthew Talbot happens to be Charlotte’s twin brother Lord Alexander’s best friend. Matthew is a third son and is Lord Hawley’s opposite in every way. He has secrets of his own. One of those is the regard Matthew has always had for Charlotte. Another is that he, too, suspects his brother of foul play and, unbeknownst to Charlotte, is also investigating him. But time is running out for Charlotte as their official engagement looms on the horizon.


Matthew and Charlotte along with their friends come together to work on Hawley’s downfall. There were times when I highly doubted they would meet that goal. Hawley seemed to be one step ahead. That is a credit to Ms. Marsh’s writing. I really wanted to see what would happen. I also became invested in Charlotte and Matthew and their friends. I also look forward to reading more about these characters in future books. I do love a series! I highly recommend you grab this book and the beverage of your choice and settle in for a great read!

~Reviewed by Santa for The Romance Dish.

ARC received from publisher via NetGalley
Fair and unbiased review

A brilliant and quite epic historical mystery! I loved this story from start to finish, however, don’t be deceived by this cute illustrated cover as the story’s content is more serious and dark. Marsh expertly delivers a historical mystery full of danger, high stakes, rooftop chases, animal sidekicks, a fantastic diverse cast, a swoony MMC with a heart of solid gold and a penchant for scaling walls, hopping rooftops, and befriending animal companions, and a fiercely independent, witty, enterprising FMC who regularly dons widow’s weeds to conceal her identity.

Wanting to escape her impending betrothal to Viscount Hawley, who most suspect to have murdered his first two wives, Lady Charlotte embarks on an investigation to bring these sinister acts to light and land the murdered behind bars. Unbeknownst to Lady Charlotte, her childhood friend Dr. Matthew Talbot, Hawley’s brother, is trying to do the very same, while simultaneously hiding secrets of his own. When Charlotte and Matthew are reunited after not seeing each other for a few years, they begin to discover that they have much in common, including their admiration for the natural world, quirky animals, and salacious sea shanties, and a desire for justice. There was such tenderness and respect between Matthew and Charlotte and their eventual declarations of love left my heart full and my eyes misty.

Marsh crafted a story that not only draws readers in with its mystery and slow burn romance, but also created a space to discuss the slave trade, colonization, indentured servitude, class, and gender. While the overall tone of the book is serious, the animal companions provided moments of lightheartedness that were absolutely wonderful and made me wonder why don’t more historical romances have menageries??

This was such a fantastic read and with the open ending, I truly hope this means more is to come from the Black Sheep!

What a delight this book was! I wasn’t sure what to expect but it mixed so many elements of my favorite things in romance up and it blended perfectly to be the best of all worlds! It was historical romance with a suspense subplot, and quite a few excellent tropes like friends to lovers, brothers best friend, doctor…. So much fun! I was definitely not expecting it to be as fantastic as it was - 4.5 stars!

I really enjoyed the suspense or mystery element, where Charlotte was trying to get out of a betrothal her parents were forcing upon her, to a terrible man her parents couldn’t see anything wrong with… his last two wives died mysteriously and Charlotte was setting out to prove he did it so she could get out of this farce. His brother has just returned to London after years at sea - Matthew happens to be her twin brother’s best friend and on the same mission to prove his brother a terrible person, and who also has always had an unrequited crush on Charlotte. The witty banter between everyone (especially Charlotte and Matthew) really made this story even better than it was!

A beautiful story, written so well, and one I definitely recommend!

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and this is my honest feedback.

Avoiding a marriage!

Parrots, monkeys, a wicked duke soon to be a fiancé, and the solid, reliable younger scholarly brother of said duke who is more than he seems. No wonder my mind was all a whirl whilst reading this.
Lady Charlotte Lovett’s more a restricted doll living in a guilded cage. Everything (and I mean everything) had to be just so. Charlotte’s parents have decided to marry her to the Duke of Hawley despite his previous two wives both having died in “tragic” accidents. He’s a bully and more. Her parents see it as a step in their march to influence and power.
Lady Charlotte is made of sterner stuff. She’s working on a plot towards freedom.
Charlotte’s mother runs a literary salon. Charlotte takes that idea and inveigles her cousins to let her invest in their coffeehouse, The Black Sheep. Here she’ll run a variation on her mother’s salon for those of all genders wishing to converse and argue the point about politics, literature, the sciences, whatever, in rooms adjoining the coffeehouse.
All she has to do is have Hawley confess to wrong doing in front of witnesses. Make no mistake, Hawley is depraved and sinister.
The “how” is the big question...and that becomes the stuff worthy of the best dramatic theater.
A fun read with more serious matters underlying the whole.

A Forever (Grand Central Pub.) ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Mystery, secrets and a bride to be....

Charlotte does not want to marry the shady viscount.
Her only hope is to work with his super sweet, shy brother, Matthew. He's adorbs.
Matthew does have his secrets (so many secrets) but he's charming and sweet.
A cray-cray cast of characters. Think Enola Holmes in regency times.
Recommend.

This book was quite fun and sets up an obvious sequel, which I’m definitely going to read. I really liked both Charlotte and Matthew as individuals, though I thought there could have been stronger chemistry between them as a couple. Still, I was rooting for them the whole time. They’re charming together and a wonderful example of opposites attract because their strengths complement each other so well.

They both have complicated family relationships - that will probably make you thankful for your own family in comparison - that give the book some emotional heft and heighten the stakes. There’s also the fact that they’re both trying to prove Matthew’s brother is a murderer - the stakes in this book felt so much higher than in a lot of other romances.

The pros far outweigh the cons but I did think it was a bit dragged out that the reader didn’t know what Matthew’s big secret was. This could have worked if we only had Charlotte’s POV, but since we had his as well, it was kind of annoying to read him constantly thinking about how he had a secretly but conveniently never having any specific detailed thoughts about it.

This is one of those books that if you are a stickler for the rules of the time period it will it will bug you. I like strong females and accept occasional breeches in following the societal rules within reason. Lady Charlotte Lovett is betrothed by her parents to Viscount Hawley. She doesn’t want to marry him especially as it is rumored he killed his first two wives. The only way out of the engagement is prove his guilt. She turns to Dr. Matthew Talbot her intended’s younger brother for assistance. He is bookish, a professor and surgeon. He wants to help her but also wants her to not find out all the family secrets.

There is some zaniness in all the happenings. I didn’t love the parrots or pet monkey but others will probably find them humorous. I did like learning that there were coffee houses in the 1700s but not sure I can believe she could become part owner so easily. Matthew is smitten early but needs to be convinced he is worthy of love. I found I was distracted by some of the anachronisms used taking me out of what should be a historical romance. Overall this was fun and some serious topics are brought into discussion. The cover very cute. I would have liked more passion on the romance side. (3.5 Stars)

Genre: historical romance, mystery
Georgian era

Lady Charlotte Lovett finds herself nearly engaged to William Talbot, Viscount Hawley, the son and heir to a powerful duke. As a duke’s daughter herself, this is not unexpected, except the man in question has already had two wives die under mysterious circumstances. When Dr Matthew Talbot returns from his recent travels to discover his best friend’s twin sister who he has been pining after is promised to his older brother, he’s worried because he’s convinced that Hawley murdered those wives and can’t stand the thought of Charlotte being the next victim. Not one to let fate decide for her, Charlotte flees, working with Matthew to try to uncover the mystery, all while Matthew tries to hide other secrets.

What a fun historical mystery/romance. Lady Charlotte has some fun adventures and wild plots. On the surface, Charlotte has been training to be the perfect salon hostess, to inspire intriguing conversation with poise and grace. She’s perfected the art of pleasing her mother, while still maintaining personal boundaries, investing in a coffeehouse and finding a way to manage her own funds to give herself a future outside of a potentially loveless marriage.

I approached this book as a historical romance reader, and I think it leans a little more to the romance plot than the mystery plot. The romance is low-steam and very sweet, and honestly my favorite part is how in favor of the relationship Alexander Lovett, Charlotte’s twin and Matthew’s best friend, is. Obviously he doesn’t want his sister to marry someone who might murder her, but he also couldn’t be more thrilled that his very principled best friend is a perfect match for his fiery sister.

There are a lot of plot lines in Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man, and while they were easy enough to follow, just know that there’s a lot going on in the story. Violet Marsh gives us really strong historical context though, and I always enjoy finding something in the Georgian era with its highwaymen, adventuring naturalist doctors, and early medical techniques. Matthew Talbot is modeled on the example of 18th century physician Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin’s grandfather. The historical components add a rich layer to the bananas plots, keeping the overall story anchored.

Thank you to Forever for the advanced reader copy and to Hachette Audio for the advanced listener copy. These opinions are my own.

This was a fun new historical romance with a mystery included. Charlotte's parents tell her of their plan to betroth her to Viscount Hawley. She is horrified at the idea because both of his last two wives ended up dead in mysterious circumstances just months after their marriage. So Charlotte sets off to establish her own independence and to prove Hawley's guilt. Along the way, she starts working with her brother's best friend and Hawley's younger brother, Matthew.

I adored this book more the further I read. It has such amazing characters and animals. The mystery kept me intrigued throughout. And it brought in a lot of other great elements. I was especially pleased by the attention to social class and the acknowledgement and fight against slavery. And there was an underlying current of feminism through Charlotte's behavior. I have always been fascinated by the coffeehouses of old as places where people from a variety of classes could interact, and this book made me want to visit the coffeehouse so badly.

And then there's Charlotte and Matthew. Their romance is so sweet as they get to know each other better. And both of them are such strong characters, rebelling against their places in society.

I appreciated that the audiobook included the acknowledgements and the historical note. That's something I always look for in historical fiction.