"Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man" is good but not great, and I liked but did not love it. The book tells the story of Lady Charlotte Lovett, who's allegedly tyrannical parents have betrothed to the heir of an dukedom who is also widely suspected a being a double murderer. Understandably freaking out about this, Violet ends up becoming an investor in her unconventional cousin's coffee house, intending to both build up her nest egg and to suss out the truth about her would-be fiancee's nefarious deeds. Of course the coffee shop, its owners, and its assorted patrons (including Charlotte's twin brother) are connected with Dr. Matthew Talbot, younger brother to the evil fiancee, who has been in love with Charlotte from afar for years. Through a series of improbable events, the group becomes a Scooby Gang of sorts, determined to somehow expose the fiancee for the dastardly duke-to-be that he is. Concurrently with this, Charlotte and Matthew are realizing their feelings for each other.

The premise had a lot of promise, and I loved the coffee shop setting. But many things here did not work for me, including:
**Charlotte's parents are supposed to be terrible. Yet she ran from the modiste, and presumably ruined a very expensive dress, with apparently no consequences. She is able to flit around London without issue. She somehow comes home with a serious arm issue and it seems like no one in the parents' household bats an eye.
**Charlotte's easy access to her inheritance, allowing for an almost overnight reinvention of her cousin's coffee shop. Much as I wish this wasn't the case, Charlotte is a young, unmarried woman. It seems doubtful that she would have such easy access to money, her own or not.
**Matthew's superhero vibe. He is doing good work, but I don't think he needed to be a rooftop leaping superhero to be doing such work.
**This being marketed as a mystery. It is a romance novel with a minor mystery element.

There were things I did like. I loved the rest of the Scooby Gang, and while I don't love clean romance, would probably pick up Alexander's upcoming story just for more of him. I loved the coffee shop setting, especially with the history captured in the author's note. The characters were diverse, and I loved the set-down given by Charlotte's cousin when Charlotte claims to be trapped in her place within the ton.

3 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary ARC of this book. These opinions are my own.

4.5/5 stars
1/5 spice

Tropes:
Friends to lovers
She's engaged to his brother
Doctor MMC
Secret Businesswoman FMC
Mutual pining
Mystery solving
Secret lifestyle
Dual POV

This was my first book with this author, and I had a lot of fun reading this one. The cover looks cute, but it has some serious topics intertwined with the romance. If you're looking for a bit of mystery in your historical romance but also some action, then you'll enjoy this one. The romance was very sweet and was full of tension. Other than some hot and heavy kissing, this romance was more focused on the growth of their relationship. Overall, this book was well paced and had some fun characters. I highly recommend this for all historical romance fans.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever/Grand Central Publishing for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.

Trigger/Content warnings:
Violence, mentions bullying and cruelty towards a disabled person, emotional abuse, injury details

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is a fun, old-fashioned, quick-witted romantic mystery with medium stakes and a sense of humor; it’s a good mix of genuinely suspenseful romance and lighthearted romp. It lacks nuance and has some anachronistic behavior, which means I had to drop the grade a bit, but overall it’s a good time that starts off what appears to be a series of romantic historical mysteries about a lady and the doctor she entrances.

Lady Charlotte Lovett is not thinking of love, though her mother definitely is. She quickly learns she’s been betrothed to Viscount Hawley, who has a long and awful string of marital relationships behind him. She’s heard that he killed his two previous wives along with multiple other innocents, and she’s determined to prove it. To that end, she enlists the man’s brother, Dr. Matthew Talbot, who has recently returned to England, to prove that his brother is a psychotic murderer before her mother can announce her engagement to him.

Bookish Matthew can well believe that his brother is capable of such felonious behavior. The best friend of her twin brother Alexander, Matthew has known Charlotte for a long time and loved her from afar for just as long - though it’s been years since he’s seen her. Determined to protect the Talbot family secrets (and his own) while preventing Charlotte’s marriage to the Viscount, Matthew agrees to help, but might there be something more interesting waiting for them once the mystery’s solved?

There’s a lot of Enola Holmes in Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man, occasionally to its detriment. Sometimes anachronistic, the book delivers some thoughtful, heavy morals while also boasting a love affair between a capuchin monkey and a parrot. Yes, really. The uneven tone here can be a bit sticky.

Charlotte and Matthew hang out at an underground coffee shop run by biracial cousins of Charlotte’s who have been disowned by her awful, social-climbing parents. The fight for racial and sexual equality provides a major backbone to this story, and a lot of different issues come up in the romance when Charlotte isn’t performing acts of derring-do, with Matthew eventually her helpful accomplice. But everyone here is pretty sweet, and the romance between Matthew and Charlotte is truly enjoyable.

But then there are the villains, from Charlotte’s parents to the Viscount, and they have absolutely no moral complexity or depth. If you want a mystery that’s a little more mysterious – and one with complex villains and a reasonable degree of historical accuracy you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. Yet I liked the vivid writing style and the romance is top-notch. Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is fun and sweet, but not quite DIK material.

Lady Charlotte is the daughter of a duke being set up to marry the heir to a duke, but he’s got a reputation for being violent and may have actually murdered his previous wives. She’s looking to find proof of his guilt so that she can avoid marrying him. Meanwhile, that man’s younger brother and her own brother’s best friend Matthew is back in town and he’s hiding his own secrets. Charlotte isn’t sure whether or not to trust him, but we know that Matthew is trying his best to find proof of his brother’s crimes too. These two are definitely in each other’s way and skirting all sorts of danger, but they’ll shortly realize that they need to team up in order to accomplish their goals. This was an action-packed mystery type of story with two people who have had pre-existing crushes on each other and kisses only. We get a fun group of crime-fighting friends and cousins and a chatty parrot, if you’re into that sort of humor.

I mean, this book was okay. It was silly, very silly in some parts. I like women who are strong, it just come toa point where it felt repetitive and I was bored. I was waiting for it to finish. It's not that I don't recommend, it was just okay.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A fun quick romp, a little cheesy and didn’t love all of the humor in this, found it quite predictable and the romance lacked the steam I wanted.

When Lady Charlotte Lovett’s mother announces that Charlotte has been betrothed to Viscount Hawley, the heir to the Duke of Lansberry, and they will be announcing it in two months. Charlotte is horrified, especially when it is clear that her parents don’t seem to care that he has buried two wives in three years, both dying from tragic accidents. So Charlotte does what any overwrought woman in early-Georgian England would do – she bolts, in the gown she is being fitted for, to a sketchy part of town and then realizes that she is near the coffeeshop owned by her estranged cousin. Charlotte uses the opportunity to introduce herself and propose a business venture, but first, she needs to get out of this betrothal, and with only two months to prove that Hawley is a murderer she is going to need some help. That’s where her cousin, brother, and brother’s best friend (who happens to be Hawley’s younger brother and the man she has long held a secret tendre) Dr. Lord Matthew Talbot, comes in.

Matthew Talbot is quite the Renaissance Man, he is a doctor, naturalist, author, illustrator, abolitionist, scholar, spy, and all-around good guy – who also happens to harbor a secret tendre for Charlotte and will do anything to save her from marrying his brother, but must be careful not to reveal his own secrets.

I so wanted to love this book, but it was just not for me. The writing wasn’t bad per se and the plot had potential, but it was too wordy with too much going on and twists and turns that dragged the book down rather than further the story. There was too much modern verbiage and too many “talking points” with contemporary ideals, not to mention the author did not seem to have working knowledge of formal address or honorifics. The book does have positives; there are some humorous moments, the “good” characters are very likable and the villains are easy to hate, there are informative author’s notes and there is a happy ending complete with an epilogue. I do wish there had been some steam or at least some chemistry, but this is pretty much a PG13 kissing book with a bit of mystery. I haven’t decided if would read another book by this author, but I am not keen on recommending this title.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

This is a childhood friend’s romance and mystery all put together in this wonderful read. The animals in the story added so much to plot. So much going on you have to stay glued just to see what happens next.

Im not usually one to like thrillers/action books. I thought the writing was great and the book interesting. I liked that romance was played into the plot of the story as well. I give it a solid 3 for writing and plot, but it wasn’t really my kind of book.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The category of “Regency novel” has expanded to include many new authors and storylines. As is true in this title, there now seems to be more room for original storytelling, humor and a bit of mystery along with the romances that readers crave.

This is a fun read featuring the titular Lady Charlotte. When she does NOT want to be married to a man who may have killed his two previous wives, she wants to take action. Of course, this is not a recipe for a great marriage if true. Charlotte knows that she needs to find out more.

Charlotte is then led to the brother of this possible villain. He is very different. What will happen when Matthew, a doctor, and Charlotte meet? What will be discovered about the viscount? And, what does Matthew want to hide? With whom will Charlotte find romance? This is all enough to keep the pages turning.

Readers who enjoy this genre should definitely put this book on their spring reading list.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Forever Grand Central Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

You know... it says a lot when I was more invested in the romance between Banshee (a capuchin) and Pan (a parrot) than I was in the romance between Matthew and Charlotte.

Now that I have your attention, let me explain. There was just something missing between our (human) couple that I can't quite put my finger on. And to be honest, I'm not sure if it was a lack of chemistry between the two, or the fact that the characters were both just.... odd to me.

Let's start with Charlotte. She was one of those characters who was ahead of her time (in ways not entirely compatible with the time period in which this story took place), and also extremely reckless. Oddly enough, I enjoyed her, probably because she went against everything society wanted her to be.

Matthew however was just a touch too.... well everything. When we first meet him we are told that he is quiet (to the point he doesn't engage with society because he tends to prattle on about things that interest him and no one else). But he's also quite scholarly as in addition to the books he has published (and illustrated) he is also a doctor after all, or was that a surgeon? He is called both at different times throughout the story after all so it's hard to know for sure. Oh, and let's not forget the part where he is able to effortlessly scale walls, jump from roof to roof and do all sorts of other secret hero stuff because of course he has a double life. And I'm not saying what he does isn't admirable, I'm just saying that aside from allowing himself to be bullied by his older brothers, and his inability to successfully navigate within the confines of the ton, he seemed very what is the term? Gary Sue? Is that what we call guy characters who are just too perfect at everything?

And that brings us to the entire plot of this story. Charlotte has been betrothed (without her knowledge and against her will) to Matthew's older brother who is in line to inherit a Dukedom. Only, Charlotte would be said brothers THIRD wife after the prior two died in very mysterious circumstances (to be fair the manner of death for both was different, but they both died of broken necks with the same vertebra broken and NO ONE thought it was odd?). Of course, Hawley is the epitome of over the top, almost cartoonish villain, consorting with the stereotypical "goon/henchman" characters and just being overall insufferable, but without actually showing the reader that he has anything but bad luck on his side. Of course, we want to believe Charlotte and Matthew since both of them are convinced he was responsible for the deaths of his former wives.

But then, the story takes a turn. And okay, yeah. Hawley is up to something. But it has nothing to do with the original storyline and while it WAS satisfying to see him get what was coming to him, I wish the truth would have been revealed about what really did happen to his ex-wives and have him face justice for that.

Now I'm going to touch on something that no one else has. Charlotte RAN AWAY from the modiste while wearing the dress she was supposed to be married in, yet as far as we saw, she faced no repercussions from her mother (who otherwise comes across as some kind of tyrant ruling over her daughter with an iron fist), nor was there any gossip about the incident from either other clients who knew Charlotte had been at the modiste, or people seeing someone make a mad escape from said stop (through a back set of doors nonetheless). If you're going to have a tyrannical mother than in my opinion, they need to have more of a presence than Charlotte's did. Instead, it seemed the only time she showed up was when it was convenient for the author to move something along without her ever really seeming to be an actual threat to Charlotte's happiness.

I will say, that this story ended on a perfect non-related cliff-hanger should this author decide to make a series out of it, and I enjoyed Alexander (Charlotte's twin brother) just enough that I may be tempted to give his story a read.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This looked like a fun historical mystery but it definitely felt rough. The writing was a little bit all over the place and just clumsy enough that it kept tripping me up. The author uses fairly modern phrasings in some places and then throws in random occurances of 'swounds' and 'ne'er.' To make it more historical-feeling I guess? It ends up just being awkward and weird though.

The plot keeps jumping from one thing to the next and none of the supposed stakes seem to really have any consequences. We find Charlotte running from a dress fitting after her mother informs her she's to marry a man Charlotte insists is a villain. Then she buys a stake in a coffeeshop in a rough part of town. Her mother just... doesn't notice she's gone?

The audiobook had a decent narrator although I wouldn't seek out more things she's narrated. Everything felt rushed and overly dramatic but I'm not sure how much was the narrator and how much was the story itself.

Overall if you can forgive weird awkward phrasing, clumsy writing, an odd mix of modern and ye olde style, and a plot that jumps all over the place, you might enjoy this one. It's not for me and I ended up not being able to finish it.

*Thanks to NetGalley, Forever, and Hachette Audio for providing an early copy for review.

3.5 stars. I wish the book would have moved more quickly at times; it definitely dragged. I was very tempted to give up around 30%, but reviews of the book encouraged me to keep going. Once Matthew’s secret was exposed and Charlotte’s posse (for lack of a better term) entered the book, it was a much more enjoyable read—the pace picked up, and the stakes became obvious. But it took too long to get there. I would have liked to see those plot elements introduced sooner.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is a sibling’s best friend, opposites attract historical romance. Violet Marsh weaves together a wide variety of plot elements that attempt to work together, with mixed results.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

When Lady Charlotte discovers her parents’ plan for her to marry Viscount Hawley, a man who is rumored to have murdered his previous two wives, she’s terrified. Her twin Alexander’s bff is scholarly Matthew, who’s always adored Charlotte from a distance, but now she’s about to be engaged to his vicious older brother. Matthew also has secrets of his own. As Charlotte and Matthew are thrown together in their attempts to implicate his brother for murder, the connection between the two grows. Will Charlotte evade her betrothal and find her happily ever after with Matthew?

I love a good siblings’s best friend romance. In this case, it’s fun to watch Alexander try to matchmake for his friend and his sister, instead of working against them. He realizes that Matthew has a longtime crush on Charlotte, even while both of them are oblivious to each other’s feelings.

I’m fan of a romance with tons of plot and a mystery too. But in this book, the cloak and dagger stuff feels forced. Add in an uneven tone, and it was tough to gauge if this was supposed to be a lighthearted romance, or a more serious woman in peril story. Are we concerned about a murderer, or the antics of an exceptionally well trained parrot? I enjoy both elements in my books, but they didn’t seem to mesh well here and made the story drag.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man has a promising premise, but it ultimately didn’t work for me. The author creates a plot where the many different pieces never truly come together and the connections between the characters feel forced. This book has the feel of a series starter, and perhaps the next book will have a stronger sense of which story is being told.

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

Content Warnings: classism and sexism.
Mention of: racism, slavery, murder, and child labor.

This was a cute historical read where Charlotte is determined to do whatever it takes to get out of her betrothal.

Quick and easy read that gives us a sweet love story, a mystery, and a whole lot of hijinks. ^^

This is such a fun and unique historical romance, and I adored it. The characters, human and animal, are fantastic, and the romance is super swoon-worthy.

Charlotte only has two months to get out of a marriage to a man who has already lost two wives under mysterious circumstances. Charlotte is smart and determined to take control of her future, and that does not include marrying a reprehensible man. She decides to start a business to gain financial independence, but to be completely free, she must find proof that her future husband was involved in his past wives' deaths.

Matthew has always been bullied and treated poorly by his brothers, one of whom is about to be betrothed to Charlotte. A man who forged his own path, Matthew is a reserved and intelligent doctor and naturalist. He and Charlotte work together to expose his brother for the dastardly man he is, and Charlotte begins to see Matthew in a new light. I love a good opposites attract, brother's best friend romance, and Charlotte and Matthew have a ridiculous amount of chemistry. I actually laughed out loud when reading this story. The banter between Charlotte and Matthew, as well as some other characters, is clever and funny, and it made for such a fun read.

There's also some mystery behind Matthew, which is intriguing, as is the business Charlotte engages in. Overall, I thought the plot was a bit different from the typical historical romance, and I found it refreshing. I eager to learn more about some of the secondary characters, especially Charlotte's cousins. They were so intriguing, and I enjoyed the relationship they built with Charlotte.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh is very cute, very Bridgerton-esque, with a delightful little mystery. I really enjoyed the heroine Charlotte. She was very easy to root for and engaging. The hero of our story Matthew is her brothers best friend, which is one of my favorite tropes. I had so much fun reading about their antics. I really hope this continues on as a series!

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed Violet Marsh’s previous historical novels, and I was excited that she was releasing a Regency romance, although I was a tad concerned that it was being cross-marketed as a mystery. While I love a good historical mystery/romance, they often fall into two camps for me: too cozy, or with too much emphasis on one over the other. While I don’t think it was so much the former, I did feel like the latter was somewhat the case here, with the mystery being very underwhelming. I don’t mind when the culprit is known, but that does mean that catching him out has to be interesting, and I just didn’t feel there was a ton of suspense there. And while he’s very much a villain who deserves to be punished, I really didn’t feel the stakes with him specifically.
I did like how Marsh captured a new aspect of class and gender warfare through the dynamics of the coffeehouses. While this setting (or something akin to this setting, like gentlemen’s clubs and the like) are not unfamiliar for historical romance, it was great to see this interrogated a little more than most books in the genre do, beyond the surface-level illicitness of it all.
And the characters are a lot of fun, and I love the dynamics between them. Charlotte is great, and I love her blossoming romance with Matthew throughout. And there’s a great found-family dynamic with the supporting cast, including Charlotte’s twin Alexander, among others, so I’d love to see another book with them all working together again with a more compelling mystery plot.
While I didn’t 100% love this book, I enjoyed a lot of aspects of the book and see the potential here. If you’re looking for a historical romance with great found-family group dynamics and a howdunit mystery plot, I’d recommend checking this out!

A historical romance with a mystery - exactly what I needed. Lady Charlotte always gets her man was a delightful book with a determined, heroine and nerdy, but dashing hero. Lady Charlotte is getting married. Unfortunately, it’s against her will to a horrible man whose past wives keep ending up dead. So she’s determined to figure out if her soon to be husband is actually a murderer. Throw in a dashing old friend who happens to be her future husband‘s, younger brother, and her brothers best friend and more mysteries show up. A great cast of characters hey, sweet romance, and some mysteries to unravel make this such an enjoyable read. I need future books, especially the way this one ended. I loved it, highly recommend.

There was a lot going on in the plot of Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man. Including:

-a parrot and monkey love match
-daughters of pirates owning a coffee shop (in Georgian England…yuh right)
-the mild-mannered MMC who is a doctor/professor doing parkour and being a secret spy
-a duke’s son being both a murderer and no one in “polite society” cares

It was just too ridiculous for me. I like a little irrelevance in my historical—I love Erica Ridley’s Wild Wynchesters series—but this didn’t seem to work. It felt like it was trying too hard, and the romance between the two main characters wasn’t plausible. There was no chemistry.

Alas, not a winner. Thank you to Forever Publishing for the review copy.