It's hard to tell the trope of this book (is it friends to lovers or enemies to lovers?) because both the female main character and male main characters are so flat. We barely learn anything about them except the bare minimum, which makes any attempts at romance, tension, or feeling between the two main characters unconvincing to the reader.

The premise of this book is that a misunderstanding is at the root of why Jane dislikes Lord Adrian. The misunderstanding is that he should have stuck around and supported Jane and her mother after the untimely passing of her father. About a quarter of the way through the book these characters address the misunderstanding, yet, there’s still conflict between the two? I mean I guess the author gets around this by condensing the timeline, and Jane has a hard time moving from cold and distant to loving Adrian. All the action in the book happens within the span of a couple days. But because the author doesn’t expand on who Jane or Adrian are in the novel the entire conflict feels very flimsy throughout. Another issue I had was that the novel switches perspectives between the male and female main character throughout. But the author writes from the male POV every time they have an intimate scene together, and it really falls flat.

Returning to the main issue of this book is that we don’t really know much about the two main leads. We seem to know even less about Lord Adrian. We know he has a Duke for a brother, they have some sort of quarrel before the novel starts, it’s fine once the novel starts, and that he’s not sure whether he wants his next career move to include travel or not. Because these descriptions are so narrow, there’s no emotional payoff when the two main characters get their happily ever after. And for a majority of the novel we seem to forget that Jane even wants to be a detective novel writer. It shows up in chapter 10, and then not again until chapter 22. If we are to believe this is something that fulfills Jane and is part of her HEA, I’d expect it to be a little more prominent in the meat of the novel. It doesn't seem like they have changed at all, or moved through any challenges as a couple other than solving a murder together.

This is Book 4 of Ladies Most Scandalous and it’s a lighthearted historical romance with a murder mystery.

Miss Jane Hollowell is working as a governess for Lord Gilford, who was a friend of her late father. They worked together as British Diplomats until Jane’s father died from apparent suicide leaving her and her mother destitute. Her mother went to live with a cousin in Scotland and Jane went to work as a governess. She has just finished writing a detective novel and is trying to get it published.

Jane is asked to fill in the numbers at a dinner being held by the Guildford’s that is part of a week long symposium on roses. Guests began to arrive from all over the world and Jane recognizes some of them from the days when she traveled with her parents for the Foreign Office. She couldn’t understand why they were all so keen to come talk about roses. She is surprised when she see Lord Adrian Fielding, a young colleague of her father, who she had a school girl crush on. She was terribly hurt when he disappeared without saying goodbye after the death of her father. Adrian has arrived at the rose symposium to meet with members of the Home Office about a ‘talking machine’ they hoped to purchase from one of the guests.

It isn’t long before Jane stumbles upon a murder and is asked by the Home Office to assist Adrian with their murder investigation. The fun begins as they meet up with friends from previous books, including Joshua, the Duke of Langham and his wife poppy from A Spinsters Guide to Danger and Dukes.

It’s sweet to watch Adrian and Jane as they flirt and fall in love while collecting clues to the murder mystery. I was able to solve the mystery fairly quickly and some of the dialogue felt a little repetitive in places - I don’t want to say more for fear of revealing spoilers.

This story was 3 and ½ stars for me and I rounded up to 4 stars. It looks like the next book may be about the young Lord Gilford.

A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril by Manda Collins is just as witty and intriguing as the title suggests. It is part of a series, but I had not read any of the other books and found this worked very well as a stand alone. However, because of the engaging characters, romance, and very interesting mystery, I will be ordering the other books in the series.

The main character, Jane Halliwell, is working as a governess because of a scandal involving the death of her British foreign service officer father that placed Jane and her mother in reduced circumstances. A symposium held in her employer’s home forces a renewed acquaintance with Adrien, her first love. When her employer is murdered, she is in a position to help Adrian and the detective solve the case.

The writing is intelligent, and I especially like the fact that the misunderstanding between the main characters is cleared up fairly early in the novel, allowing the romance to develop and the main characters to work together to solve the mystery.
I was hooked from the beginning of the story and couldn’t put the book down.

4th book in a series and this is the best one yet!
I absolutely adored the characters, especially Jane. She’s intelligent and funny. Her love interest was bad either haha. I liked the romance between them but felt there could have been a few more scenes to really sell it.
The mystery was intriguing and fun to solve. Definitely one for the cozy mystery lovers!

Manda Collins has done it again! Jane and Lord Adrian have a brief past and since their cameo in her last book, A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes, Jane had been avoiding Lord Adrian. Her boss is murdered during a weeklong symposium forcing them to work together. This book was a delight! I have loved every book in this series. The way that Manda is able to write an independent heroine with an admiring MMC is always fun to read and each book is unique! The elements of romance, murder, mystery and historical fiction make these books standout from others. I can only hope that this is not the end of the series and that Lord Gilford will be an MMC in her next book. Highly recommend and cannot wait for my copy to come in print come in March!

Intrigue with the Foreign Office! Lady turned governess/author! Romance rekindled!

Several foreign dignitaries and their counterparts from England's Foreign offered have gathered at a symposium on roses where the host ends up dead. He's discovered by the family governess Jane Hailliwell. Jane gets pulled into the investigation with Lord Adrian, a friend from her father's Foreign Office days in Rome.

A solid fourth installment in the series! I loved that the case took us in a totally new direction, it’s got so many tentacles AND it opened doors to new characters in this world. It’s a little lighter on the romance side, I think mostly because there are enough characters around to cause romantic interruptus at all times in this house!

Cameos from Poppy, Kate and Caro from the previous books.

Will I buy myself a copy? Yes.

Goodreads review TBA - I loved this. It was probably my favorite in the series - - I can't believe it's over!!

A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril is an unputdownable comfy murder mystery served with a heartwarming romance. I gobbled it up in a day. I adore Jane and Adrian. I have been eagerly waiting for their book ever since I read A Spinster’s Guide. This is probably my favorite of the series.

Miss Jane Halliwell’s comfortable life as the daughter of an esteemed diplomat crumbles following the shocking death of her father. Shunned by society and friends, Jane obtains the position of governess to the daughter of one of her father’s colleagues. Jane is also struggling to find a publisher for her crime novels. Jane’s woes are compounded when her employer is murdered during a house party. Now, to discover the identity of the killer, Jane not only has to act as hostess, but she also must team up with the man who broke her tender heart 5 years ago. Lord Adrian Fielding, on the other hand, is surprised by Jane’s coldness. All he wants is for Jane to be safe and comfortable. I love the moment when they clarify old misunderstandings and renew their friendship. The scene is infused with such tenderness and empathy. Their slow burn romance is so lovely. I love both Fielding brothers, but Adrian has my heart.

Manda Collins has written a classic whodunit that brims with intrigue, a deranged killer, clever twists and turns, and a whole lot of fun.

My thanks to Dana, Forever (Grand Central Publishing), and Netgalley for the e-ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I had a lot of fun with this. I loved the historical romance aspect of it combined with a bit of mystery and intrigue. Jane was absolutely lovely. I adored that she was an aspiring author, and that she was working hard even when it wasn't her passion. I didn't quite understand why she was so angry with Adrian, the belief that he had wronged her after her father's death didn't really ring very true to me. Adrian was lovely, although a bit...blustery, trying to make grand pronouncements about keeping her safe. It was fun watching them grow together and work to unmask a murderer. All in all, very enjoyable!

A fun and fast paced regency era mystery! This book reminded me of a clue or a murder mystery dinner plot! Would definitely recommend!

Another great addition to the series, "Governess's Guide" was a book that was hard to put down and enjoyable from the first page. Not one to miss.

Manda Collins does it again! I absolutely love her whole series and how they intertwine with each other! Fantastic!

I was so excited to find this novel on Netgalley.

I have read every novel of Ladies Most Scandalous and was thrilled when this novel was listed.

This is the 4th of the series and I highly recommend starting at the beginning.

I can’t wait to see what comes next and will definitely read the next one.

Great author and great stories!

I just reviewed A Governess's Guide to Passion and Peril by Manda Collins. #NetGalley

I’m a marketing and publicity associate Forever, so I am reading this for work! Aaaaaaand there's a character limit on reviews here are some more words

I received a copy of this from netgalley in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed the first three books in this series, so when I saw this up in netgalley, I knew I wanted to get it to read and I’m so glad I did.

I really liked Jane Halliwell and her story leading up to the beginning of the book. I liked that she did her best to take care of herself after her father died and her mom went away to live with relatives (speaking of her mom, hated her until I met her, then liked her a lot). I LOVED her and Adrian. There was just something about them that I loved, maybe the way he knew she had a schoolgirl crush on him years ago but didn’t do anything untoward regarding it, maybe it was how she went from being mad at him a bit to understanding what he was going through, maybe it was the fact that with each other they found the home they were longing for. I don’t know, but I loved it.

The murder mystery plot was pretty interesting - I got bad vibes from the later revealed to be murderer earlier in the book, so I was glad it did end up being him.

Another Mischief and Mayhem book written perfectly! The story of Jane and Lord Adrian was just as wonderful as the three preceding novels. If you loved the first three, you will love this one.

This was another great book in this series. It had the perfect mix of love and mystery. I enjoyed the journey these two characters went on to get to their HEA. I recommend this book, this author, and most definitely this series.

This is such a fun series and a nice change from the helpless female saved by a rich man typical romance story of the time period. The murder mystery was also well done. I will read more in this series / by this author!

I have been such a fan of this series and was so excited I was able to read A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril early! It was sooo good!! I love romance, especially historical romance, and then when you add in a murder mystery element like that just makes it even better! I really hope this is not the last book in this series but I want more!

I’ve been loving The Ladies Most Scandalous series, which introduced me to a whole new genre / subgenre of reads I didn’t even know existed and I love. The series is a Historical Romantic Suspense (Historical Romance meets Cozy Murder Mystery) - think Nancy Drew meets Jane Austen. The books are interconnected and feature recurring cameos of some cast, but each can be read as a standalone.

For A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril, old friends Lord Adrian Fielding and Jane Halliwell (who due to reduced circumstances has been working as a governess) are reunited and find themselves investigating the murder of a mutual friend at a house party.

Once again, I was immediately swept up in the story - I love these characters and the world Ms. Collins has created. Im always excited to jump in and they give me that same feeling I had reading my Nancy Drew reads growing up. This one was a quick paced, easy read.

I liked both our mains, and was excited for the cameos of former characters in this one as well. If you’ve read others in the series, we were briefly introduced to both mains in a former book (and Adrian is Langham’s younger brother). I appreciate that each of the FMCs is always an independent lady, with her own thoughts, hopes and dreams and Jane was no different in this regard.

I will say I had my suspicions of the culprit earlier on in this book, but found solving the mystery and unraveling the particulars alongside our mains satisfying as always. I was charmed and entertained and I’m hoping the ending was leaving things open for another book in the future as I’m reluctant to say goodbye to this world and characters.

I look forward to adding this sunshine-y, bright cover to my physical shelves. Thank you to Netgalley and Read Forever Pub / Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read an early copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.