All's Fair in Love and Ware is the latest historical fiction book by author Virginia Heath! This book details the romance between Georgie and Harry - whose characters I really enjoyed. Due to his flighty sister dropping her children off without a word, Harry needs a governess for his nieces and nephew and after two years of looking for a governess job, Georgie is ready for her first assignment. Harry is extremely rigid and Georgie likes to find the fun in life and learning. From the beginning, we know these two characters will clash, but what is enjoyable is how they end up finding how much more they have in common than they first thought.

While I enjoyed reading this book, it was a bit slow placed for me. I too kept wanting to skip pages to find out what will happen next and that was frustrating for me. Some readers might enjoy this, but I prefer a book to move along more. I really didn't care for all of the extensive descriptions and they felt a lot like fill to me and didn't move the story along at all. Still a 4 star read. Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Such a delightful romance!

Georgie is a true breath of fresh air! A bit stubborn, not conventionally beautiful, headstrong to a fault, yet devoted to her career and the young humans she takes care of. I really enjoyed reading her back-and-forth banter with Harry, a stick-in-the-mud who really needs to learn to loosen up, and she's just the one to teach him.

The children in this story are wonderfully written, with complex personalities and behaviors that are realistic and not always picture perfect. I adored Georgie's blunt, no-nonsense approach when calling them out on their unacceptable behavior, getting them to think about their actions without demeaning them.

Harry is a swoony work in progress. His personal growth as he examines just exactly what he really wants in a career was beautifully written, and I loved the resolution that he came up with in the end. His witty and heartfelt interactions with the children and their governess was always on point and so much fun to read.

My only complaint about this book is that it could really benefit from an editor and proofreader. One expects children to lack proper grammar and syntax in their speech; however, one expects better of a highly trained governess.

Harry and Georgie get a truly splendid HEA and I'm really looking forward to reading more in this promising series. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

All's Fair in Love and War is a historical romance novel that's pretty low on the steam and spice but high on relationship development, and I really enjoyed it. The outspoken Georgie ends up as a governess in rigid, proper military man Harry's household when his sister Flora up and leaves her three children in his care while she and her husband go off on their latest adventure. Mired in getting a flagship ready to sail and myriad of management tasks, Harry offloads the daily care of the mischievous minions to Georgie, who desperately needs a good reference from Harry for her next position, but chafes under the rigid instructions he leaves for instruction. Needless to say, the pair clash right away, and have a trio of children and their unruly dog in the middle of it. But Heath doesn't make Harry too frigid, and Georgie can quickly see that he loves his nieces and nephews very much, contrary to the circumstances of her own upbringing. The relationship that forms between them and their relationships with the children are sweet and amusing and there's plenty of comic relief in the story too. Beyond Georgie's refusal to be in a relationship with a military man, there isn't a lot of conflict in the story. Those spots were more filled in with funny moments, and I found myself okay with that. The past of Harry's where he fell for a beautiful woman that cost him his opportunity to capture a ship felt a bit tired, but I enjoyed him, Georgie, the children and the dogs enough that I mostly overlooked it. If you're looking for historical romance that's on the lighter side, this was a good read. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A new historical fiction series from Virginia Heath! All’s Fair in Love and War is a delightful historical romance that follows Georgie and Harry - two delightful characters - and their slow burn romance. Harry needs a governess for his nieces and nephew and Georgie is ready for her first assignment. She can’t seem to keep her opinions to herself and Harry is strait laced to a fault. They clash until the chaos spark something more…

I really enjoyed this adorable historical romance. It gave me laugh out loud and swoonie giddy moments. A perfect mesh of romance and character development. It also had a trouble making doggo and that's my krypton.

I spent most of this book hating on the MMC because he was honestly, basically, a prick the whole time who was far too rigid and emotionless to be interesting. But. The further the book got the more he thawed and became more human. I still wouldn't say this was my favorite read, but the FMC made up for everything because she was his complete opposite in every way and she was able to loosen him up in a way that made him tolerable at the end.

I love a good governess x employer historical romance and this hit the mark!

There was a bit of pride and prejudice vibes between Georgie and Harry as they both had preconceived notions about each other earlier on in their relationship. Georgie assumed Harry was an uptight military man who only cared for order and his career while Harry thought Georgie was chaos personified with no ability to control his wild nieces and nephew and was only in his life to cause disorder. But in the end, it was so nice to see them grow and learn about each other realizing how much they matched each other. Plus, the children and all the side characters were nice little additions to the story that made the read so entertaining.

Charming regency romance with a fun slow burn storyline. I enjoyed the character development and descriptive storytelling. Worth a read!

If you love regency era romances this one is for you!!
I enjoyed reading it but it was a bit slow placed for me. I kept wanting to skip pages to know what will happen next and that is not a good sign. Some readers might enjoy the pace but for me it got frustrating at points. Plus there was more description and background story then the actual dialogues I guess.

What a fun and sweet historical romance! I loved the plot and enjoyed all the of the characters. Thank you SMP and Netgalley for my copy.

This was a very cute slow burn romance with funny dogs and kids causing problems. I never read a book by Virginia Heath but I would again.

Slow burn? ✅
Recency Romance? ✅
Grumpy vs Sunshine? ✅

This was a really cute read! It was worth sticking through the slower parts. It's low angst, and open door but mild spice. Looking forward to what comes next!

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

All the characters were lovable in this story. The dogs and the kids cause lots of ruckus. Harry finds out the life he had thought he wanted and planned out was not what he wanted after all!

Cute regency romance with opposites attract with a strict naval officer having to suddenly care for his nieces and nephew and the governess he employs who has a hard time following rules. This was a fun read with a good amount of funny moments and both characters were likeable and well developed. It was definitely a slow burn which I think worked in this book. Giving this 3/3.5 stars and would recommend I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love Virginia Heath's works. I was excited for a new series to start and this delightful slow burn did NOT disappoint. A Regency take on the Grumpy vs. Sunshine trope this book is extremely enjoyable and swoon worthy.

The plot was predictable but fun. I like both Georgie and Harry. And the dogs of course. There were lots of funny moments. This was teh first book I read by this author and I am planning to read more of her books.

As a fan of the author’s Merriwell Sisters series, I was always pleasantly surprised by this new series. We meet Georgie as a 16 year old, dropped off at a school for teaching young women how to be a governess and we meet some of her friends that I’m sure will be featured in future books.
Georgie is hired by an Admiral named Harry, who has his three nephews and nieces dropped off with no notice by his adventurous sister. Needing help immediately, Georgie is brought in to help even though her methods are a little more relaxed than Harry would prefer. As she wins over the kids’ trust, Harry finds himself vexed by the woman while also completely infatuated. As they realize their feelings for each other, they work through their conflicting dreams and find a path to happiness.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins for the arc.

Tropes: grumpy MMC/sunshine MFC; governess falls for her employer
Steam level: 2ish (open door sex scene is pretty mild)
Angst level: low
Start of a series

Although this started off rather slow start for me, I found myself charmed by the end. Georgie, the MFC, is a likable heroine whose stubbornness and outspokenness are balanced by intelligence and honestly. While the MMC, Henry (his nickname Harry is used through most of the book) seems stuffy and negative at first, he gradually shows a sweet, vulnerable side that's genuinely appealing. And while I'm not always into HR's that feature multiple kids and pets, the kids in this one are cute and non-obnoxious, and I absolutely loved the scenes between Harry, Norbert, and Cuthbert. It's hard not to be a sucker for a guy who's good with animals.

The plotline is predictable for the most part but well executed in the last third, with the baddie not exactly who you might expect. The romance is slow-burn. No OTT confrontations or language; everything is PG-rated. The central theme of not living someone else's life is nicely conveyed, but what makes this a solid 4 star book for me is the intelligent writing and the warmth of the humor.

Why not 5 stars? I mentioned the slow start. There is a glut of long-winded interior monolog-ing, particularly in the early chapters, which is honestly best skimmed through. I wish the author had edited out some of this and replaced it with more scenes where the MC's got to know each other. For all of Georgie's pondering her difficult past with her stepfather, for example, she and Harry never discuss how it's impacted her take on men and relationships; meanwhile, he gets a chance to explore what he really wants but on his own. Also, there are occasional lapses into purple prose.

Bottom line: I think this does ultimately do what it sets out to do. It's lighthearted, good-hearted escapism that's like a fluffy confection that you have to spend a bit of time getting into before you hit the best bits.

I read an advanced reader copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. Opinions are my own.

This book had really cute moments but overall I was just bored while reading it. It moved at a glacial pace and even still there was no real chemistry between the main characters. As someone who usually finishes a book in a day or two, the fact that this one took me almost a week says it all.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review..

- I enjoyed reading this book. However, I didn’t love it, for a few reasons. First, it felt like there was a general lack of attention to historical realities, including those of class and the workers’ conditions. So many of my favorite historical romance books are radical and abolitionist and this was not that. It felt too ahistorical to even register, honestly. Second, I don’t feel like we got the character development arcs we (and Georgie and Harry) deserved. The last third of the book felt generally rushed and kind of unfinished? I think both main characters had deep-seated trauma that was kind of just pushed aside for a convenient, quick ending and I feel like we missed out on some of the good stuff. I will absolutely read more by Heath, because I loved her Merriwell Sisters series, but this one just wasn’t it for me!