Oh…yum…was this ever a good book!!! This is the third (and last) book in this series. I am always a fan of reading them in order, but this could be read as a stand alone. Leonora Garrison has traveled to England with her brother and mother to find investors for their company and an invention that Leonora is particularly fond of. In reality, her mother is more interested in finding her daughter a husband and her brother could not manage the business without her. Viscount Wyeth (our sexy book boyfriend in this book), or Rook, is always interested in a good investment and is willing to listen to the two Americans. Rook tries to walk the straight and narrow path because he is driven to be the opposite of this father. As the story moves forward, the author keeps giving us insight of what a horrible person the previous Viscount was. Rook still cleans up the mess his father left, especially with the many illegitimate children he has spread out throughout London.
However, Rook finds that the walls he has put up around his feelings and emotions are not there when he is around Leonora. They just “happen” to meet in a pleasure club for women. A super sexy, steamy kiss happens almost at the very beginning of the story – teasing the reader for more explicit scenes that will follow ;) They truly have the best kind of chemistry between them. Lorraine Heath is just really good at matching the perfect couple and writing swoony scenes. Leonora’s difficulties with a relationship is that she is an American and she is trying to run and rescue her father’s business. She is not given the credit she is due for being a successful business woman and Rook is the one who realizes just how astute she is, as both an inventor and a business woman. The banter between them is fun to read. There is just enough action and anticipation in this story to keep you reading until you are finished. This book came out Feb 20, 2024 - so it is still a month new and and worth putting in your TBR right now!

Wow, these chessmen! So gorgeous, so hot, so intriguing! This time we have a very proper hero who tries to rein in a very passionate nature. But when he meets our heroine he can’t resist her! And she is an inventor! A woman with a great mind who hasn’t been appreciated because women who have a mind and interests beyond the classic “feminine” pursuit are considered odd. I really, really loved this book and the chemistry between the characters and of course Heath is a GORGEOUS writer and I still haven’t found a book of hers that I didn’t love to distraction!

This is the third and final novel in the series, "The Chessmen." It can be read as a stand-alone.
American Leonora Garrison, comes to London to find investors for her company's invention, the writing machine. She is not looking for marriage or any relationship. She is fascinated with machinery, and how things work. Her greatest joy is to take apart something, find out how it works, and put it back together again. Her mother is hoping she will marry someone titled and very wealthy, and is not very nice about it. In fact, she is throwing her daughters to "eligible" bachelors, and alienating herself in the process. Nora's brother is also hoping she marries, if only to save their company their father left him, and have money. He is not very interested in the company, and doesn't really care about it.
Rook, the third member of the Chessmen, is the last single bachelor. Obviously. the HEA is already clear. He has some serious issues. His father is a horrible human being. There really is no other way to describe him. Over the course of at least 30-40 years, he has produced sons and daughters with other women. When the babies were born, he took them to a "baby farmer," who took his money, and either let the babies die, or gave them to other people to raise. He didn't care. He even tried to have his wife murdered, but that is only touched upon in the story. He has a very complicated relationship with his mother, but still loves her. He has spent his entire life under the horrible shadow of his father, and has made sure he does nothing to tarnish his reputation because he is afraid he'll end up just like his father. He has no interest in marriage, and is making sure he has no illegitimate children
Everything changes when Rook meets Nora through chance, or through the
"help" from his brother Aiden, the owner of a pleasure club for women, and one of the many illegitimate children his father sired Nora goes there to experience her first kiss, and Aiden convinces Rook he should kiss her. Later, they meet again, and are no longer anonymous. Rook happens to be part of the group of potential investors. He throws caution to the wind where she is concerned. She fascinates him, and despite Nora's mother's desperation in getting her married, he knows she is not trying to trap him into marriage.
They keep meeting, and he manages to get his name in the gossip section of the newspaper. This thrills her mother because she wants to shove any social success in London to the upper class in New York, who rejected her. It is quite obvious why they did. She is not a nice person at all.
Nora and Rook grow closer, but both are convinced it will be a temporary situation since she plans to return to America once she finds investors. Things don't always go the way they hope or think they will go.
While this is the third in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone. The other couples are involved, but it does not cause any confusion within the story. It gives you an insight as to how the couple are doing. If you haven't read the first two, it gives you enough information to make you want to read about them.
It is a wonderful closure for this series. Many things are resolved. The HEA includes both hopes and dreams, and it also gives someone what they deserve. I'm looking at you, Nora's mother. Not a spoiler. Her future path is pretty much obvious. it makes you happy that you know how things will eventually go for her.
As far as how wonderful of a closure this is for this series, it has an even better twist. (No spoilers) It comes full circle for the characters in a previous series, "A Sins for all Seasons." Several characters from the series are intertwined. You get an update on them as well. I didn't catch it in the beginning, but too many things sounded familiar, and I realized it was because of the first series. It's a very good series as well.
The ending is beautiful, and I never thought there would be an even better future of the previous characters from the first series. They don't confuse the story either. In fact, they provide more depth to the storyline.
There is a little heat in the story, but not much until the end. The kisses are described very well, and the passion is obvious. Most of the heat is towards the end, but there is not much of it.
I did not want to stop reading it. I lost sleep, and slacked off at work. For the two days I read it, I managed to be in different areas, to remain undetected.
I definitely recommend this novel, and hope you read the first two as well. The "Sins for all Seasons" series is quite wonderful too. It gives you Rook's backstory, by focusing on some of his father's illegitimate children, as well as showing you how horrible of a human being he really was. The stories are not about him, trust me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Like the rest of the the Chessmen series, In Want of a Viscount is an engaging love story between a strong woman and a man who's irresistibly drawn to her. But maybe because it was so similar to its predecessors, this series finale ended up feeling a little bit rote.

Leonora Garrison has traveled to England with her mother and brother to find investors for their company, something that Leonora doesn't take lightly. Even if her mother seems more interested in finding Leonora a husband than anything else. Meanwhile, Viscount Wyeth, better known as Rook, is interested in the investment opportunity but even more so in Leonora, who becomes like an addiction to him, in spite of the fact that he's sworn never to become the same kind of libertine his father was. But they're drawn together over and over, despite both being very sure that they are not what the other really needs.

There's plenty of chemistry between Leonora and Rook, and even when all they're doing is kissing, those kisses are steamy af. I enjoyed that there was an emphasis put on what can often be an overlooked element of romance. That said, the push and pull over whether or not they could be together in any real sense grew a bit tiring and repetitive; Rook only needs to think about how he doesn't want to be like his father so many times before it gets annoying. And the excuses always seemed a bit flimsy to me, even when they were *spoilers* ultimately pushed into marriage.

Still, even though this book felt a bit too formulaic to really shine, it was another enjoyable Lorraine Heath read with appearances by plenty of members of the Lorraine Heath extended universe.

3.75/5

This book was kind of heavy on the insta-lust. The two main characters immediately kiss in their first meeting and keep kissing without getting to know each other much. I liked Leonora as a character and I liked her ambition and I also liked Rook and his backstory. However this series as a whole has just been missing that spark that Heath has always had. That said, I still enjoyed it better than the last one!

In Want of a Viscount features an awkward American heroine who prefers business to romance (but the latter more because she feels unattractive) and a lord whose terrible father who sowed bastards everywhere, resulting in a man who observes strict propriety. This story grew on me as I read further, though in many ways the characters felt somewhat cardboard-y to me. Once I read somewhere that novels are typically written at a grade five level, and this novel felt that way. The words were simply there to move the story along; they weren't transporting say the way an old Judith Ivory novel is or witty and bright in the manner of Julie Anne Long. Lorraine Heath's prose is work-woman like. That said, I did like that the heroine's focus was on a writing machine, and the hero's eventual support of her. If I recall correctly, there was a tedious storyline of how the hero didn't want to procreate because of how awful his father was, and I'm tired of that trope.

I'm getting pickier and pickier, so I rate this a 3.5. It was good, solid, but not great.

An ARC was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Leonora travels to England along with her mother and brother to look for investors among the aristocracy. She has invented a writing machine but her father left his machinery business to her uninterested brother instead of her. They need funds to put it into production. She has always been considered odd for her interest in how things work, being made fun of by the men in her circle instead of courted. She goes to the Elysium Club owned by Aiden Trewlove, a place where women's fantasies are granted. Hers is for a kiss. Aiden is short on staff and sends up his brother, Rook. Things get a little murky for me here since I haven't read the all of the Trewlove series of books. They have the same parents but didn't grown up together. Aiden is illegitimate while Rook is the heir. Something about murder, their mother being their fathers mistress before he married her and had Rook. Lots and lots of illegitimate children on the father's part. So there is a feeling of having missed something. Rook has always worked to be honorable and scandal free to prove he is nothing like his. father. This gets more difficult as his attraction to Nora grows. It's nice that he appreciates Nora for her intelligence and interests and encourages her to follow her dream. Lots of steamy scenes and an epilogue that views their life a few years later.

First a very big thank you to NetGalley and Avon HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

I love Lorraine Heath’s books, while she generally delivers an HR that is pretty deep and filled with loads of tension, & chemistry “In Want of a Viscount” the 3rd book in the Chessman series was a little more subdued. But while it is a softer romance it’s still amazing and has a lot of really great and lovely moments that I really enjoyed and I absolutely loved seeing so many of my favorite places and characters from Heath’s other books, it made the story richer and much more exciting.

I love historical romance because I love it when olden-time virgins fall in love. How’s that for an elevator pitch? Virgins wearing a lot of clothes fall in love. And there’s no electricity. And women have no rights…Yes please, sign me up.

Nora is an American in England with her dense brother and arsehole mother trying to find investors for their company- and maybe a hubs for Nora since she can’t find a man due to being smart and inventing things like a typewriter. Ew gross, who wants to marry a woman like that? Nora goes to a ladies club and requests a kiss from a stranger bc #desperate. Rook, a viscount, kisses her as a favor to his brother who owns da club. Nora refuses to marry bc she wants to be a bizness lady and Rook refuses to marry bc his dad was the Earl of Manwhores with approx 33200 bastard kids and he doesn’t wanna be like his daddy. Despite wanting to remain single and friendzoning each other, Rook and Nora spend most of the book making out and even have quite the rendezvous in a greenhouse. Like the old saying goes “those who bone in glass houses shouldn’t throw bones in glass houses”…but these horny hooligans do it anyway.

This was a fun and sexy historical romp. There was a bit too much exposition about typewriters and machines and now I know why nobody wanted to bang Nora…bc typewriters aren’t very sexy or interesting. Thankfully, I’m not here to bang Nora, but Rook is and he found typewriters to be a super turn on- qwerty and flirty!!!

Smut- 3 stars
Romance- 4.6 stars
Story- 4.1 stars
Me inventing the saying “qwerty and flirty™️”- 8.3 stars

Leonora is an American woman with a dream. She is an inventor and is hoping to save her late father’s business. With the support of her brother and mother they go to England to find investors who will support her machine that will change the future of correspondence. But I think secretly Leonora is also seeking adventure and danger- which leads her to a private women’s club. For the evening, she becomes sleeping beauty when she meets her Prince Charming. Rook, brother to the owner of the women’s club, pulls a favor and kisses Leonora to fulfill her request of having a kiss. Rook finds more than he bargained for when he becomes more acquainted with this mysterious women.

I would rate this a three out of five; it was a slow burn romance. I would suggest this novel who like a more mature romance with a side of wine and dining. Rook was very thoughtful with Leonora and recalled things that held a lot of meaning for her. I felt like these characters knew what they wanted from one another but also respected their independence. This ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

I love all the connections to other books and series in her universe- Aiden was one of my favorite MMCs, and I was so happy when he popped up in this book, too!

I’m a big fan of Lorraine Heath and yet I somehow missed this fun series, The Chessmen. Leonora Garrison is an American woman who knows what she wants. She is also an amazing inventor with a mind for business. Rook is an all around good guy. He is trying to do everything that’s best for his family. Leonora’s brother won’t let her do what she wants in the business and her mother is determined to marry her off, and well.
After Rook is talked into helping out at his brother’s club he ends up in a kiss with Leonora after she has decided to take chances and take life in her own hands. Rook definitely falls for her and adores her for who she really is. Can they find their way to each other?
This adventure is exactly why I love Heath’s writing. She always has strong characters, and I love her strong female characters. She has detailed back stories and the absolute perfect amount of humor and spice to create the perfect adventure. A woman with brains and a gentleman who is a good guy, perfect combination. I have to go back and read the whole series. You are going to love it. I couldn’t put it down and I want more. I received this as an ARC but this will be going on my bookshelf with the Lorriane Heath collection.
Can't give it enough stars. Enjoy this adventure.

I'm loving the Chessmen! Leonora has resigned herself to forever being single so she can run the family business. She takes a daring trip to a club that grants women's desires. All she wants is a kiss. The sparks fly from the moment Rook walks in. He's the hero you love. Determined not be like his promiscuous father, he spends so much time righting wrongs. Their chemistry has you flipping the pages wanting to see when they realize they've fallen in love. Can't wait to see if there's more to the series.

In Want of a VIscount is the third book in Lorraine Heath's delectable historical romance series The Chessmen: Masters of Seduction. I just love this series; the first two books were 5-star reads for me. However, I found this one a little bit harder to get into; perhaps it was the slow build-up between our leads. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this installment.

Leonora "Nora" Garrison and her family have come to England in a desperate attempt to seek investors to keep their family business from going under. (That's Nora's main concern; actually, her brother and mother want her to marry a rich lord.) Never having been kissed, Nora goes to an exclusive ladies' club in London in search of a new experience from an anonymous man. Not knowing who he is, she is kissed by John Castleton, Viscount Wyeth, who is known as "Rook" to his friends, at the request of his brother who owns the club. Rook's father is a despicable libertine, having fathered by-blows across London. Rook has vowed to live above reproach and to never put himself in his father's shoes by having illegitimate offspring. Once he kisses the "Lady of Sighs", however, he's extremely tempted to cast aside his good reputation. When they are later reunited, they are both torn between incredible desire and duty. When caught in a compromising position and everything is put at risk, will they be able to get everything they truly want?

As I stated earlier, this book took me a while to fall into its spell. I was able to put it down for extended periods of time, until I got about halfway through. Both characters, however, were truly engaging from the start. Rook, one of the "Chessmen" known for their business acumen, absolutely detested his father, the Earl of Elverton. The man was an absolutely horrid human being, and Rook's only regret about his father dying is that the man had no redeeming qualities. His reputation meant everything to him; in no way, shape or form did he want to resemble his father in any manner. That didn't mean he didn't enjoy the opposite sex, however. He just went to the greatest lengths to avoid his paramours giving birth to any by-blows. It wasn't too horribly difficult to resist...until he met Nora. Nora was absolutely wonderful! Her family - and most men - thought her odd. She had a great mind, and her greatest pleasure was learning to disassemble items and learn how they worked, then put them back together. She was extremely close to her father, who passed away from a debilitating illness. She learned everything from him. The family business manufactured weapons, but many other businesses did as well. What Nora wanted to do, though, was rebuild the family business to produce a "writing machine" that she helped her father develop in order to give him the ability to write when he became so ill. The family was seeking investors for this machine, though her brother Sam - who now owned the business - wasn't the least bit interested and didn't have any idea how to truly run the enterprise his father left to him. It was Nora who was the brains in this outfit! All her mother wanted Nora to do, however, was marry a rich lord; her mother figured that was the best way for HER to be welcomed in Society back in New York! (This is a character you will absolutely love to hate!) Rook couldn't understand how other men didn't realize how beautiful she was or how incredibly smart. When the two became intimate, sparks flew off the page. It was the sweetness of the romance, though, that captured me. When Rook arranged for Nora to go behind the scenes of Big Ben to see how it worked, my heart just melted! When caught in a compromising situation, it didn't seem that either would get their happily-ever-after. But Ms. Heath is a master of happy endings, so I knew to just hang in there! It was a pleasure seeing the other Chessman and their wives again. It was seeing Aiden Trewelove again, however, that made me the happiest! Aiden was Rook's brother, and I fell in love with him in The Duchess in his Bed, one of my favorite books by Ms. Heath. After a slow start, I wasn't the least bit disappointed, and I know you won't be, either! What will Lorraine Heath come up with next?!

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.

There is an element in this book I find I have a love/hate relationship with. There must be a simpler “catchphrase” for it…like only one bed, or brother’s best friend, or friends to lovers. In this case, it’s when both main characters express their desire to never get married yet fall in love, but love the other so much they don’t want to hold them back so don’t allow their true feelings to show. And each character also construes every romantic moment as a fluke and the other MMC as just being kind. What’s the quick explanation of this? I love it for the yearning and the romantic overtures, I hate it because I get frustrated at a certain point and want them to open their eyes already!

Rook aka Vicount Wyeth and Leonora are incredible together. He worships the ground she walks on and she has no idea. In fact, he doesn’t quite realize his devotion to her either. Of course, those closest to him have no problem seeing his infatuation and they just patiently wait for him to fall. Leonora may be a bit of a wallflower, but she’s no shrinking violet. She has always been thought of as “other” because she is always questioning the world around her and is fascinated by machines and how they work. Get her on a topic she is enthusiastic about and you’d be hard-pressed to get a word in edge-wise. But she would be lost if asked to recite poetry or play the pianoforte. Unlike many men of the time, Rook finds these attributes to be fascinating. With the other Chessmen all paired up with strong-minded, independent women, he is well aware of the asset women are to the workforce.

While I loved the connection Rook and Leonora had, especially Rook’s fascination with Leonora, this story moved a bit slowly for me at times. I think it was, as I mentioned before, the couple not fully giving into their love for each other sooner. But boy, could Rook make me swoon with his thoughts about Leonora and his actions regarding her.

I was completely gripped by this book from the beginning. I thought Lorraine Heath was absolutely incredible at translating the sexual tension between these two characters right from the start. I absolutely loved the connection they had from the start, and I also think throughout the book a great job was done at developing a deeper, emotional connection between them. I thought Rook and Leonora has a great connection together, and they just seemed like a perfect fit.
I also quite liked them as seperate characters. Rook is quite different from his friends, and he's haunted by his father's past. I thought the emotional journey he had around that was quite interesting, and I really liked how it was done throuhgout the novel. Leonarra's in this interesting place where her desires aren't in line with what society at the time accepts from women. I thought her interest in inventing was really interesting and shaped how she saw the world around her. I also just really loved how Rook was ready to fight anyone who thought her interests were strange, even before he realised he was in love.
I just loved how both characters became each others biggest supporters, as well as their save havens throughout the novel, and how their pull to each other became much more than just physical as the book continues. I do have to say that this book gets a little bit slow at the times, and the third act conflict is just completely stupid and the resolution way too quick. However, this was definitely a really good read that I would highly recommend.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of #InWantofaViscount by Lorraine Heath in exchange for an honest review.

I have only read a few of Lorraine Heath's books but she always amazes me with how she can take a very unique premise and tell the most wild stories and you think she can't possibly make this work and make me like this story and yet, she does it every time. I really shouldn't still be surprised by the magic she can do with her writing. This is the final book in the Chessman series which unofficially begins with The Duchess Hunt and each book was so delightful. Rook, the hero of this book, is my catnip of heroes. He was starchy in the streets and wild in the sheets, he was head over heels for the heroine, and dead set against marriage because of daddy issues. Rook was perfect in this book. I had problems with Nora. Ordinarily I love a wallflower/bluestocking heroine but Nora bothered me from time to time. She just kept talking about how everyone's eyes would glaze over when she got to talking about her writing machine and to be honest, mine started to glaze over once or twice because I was tired of reading about it. It took entirely too long for her to want to find out about Rook which made me think she didn't really care for him but was glad to have someone who was interested in her. In the end, I enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to going back and reading the Trewlove books as I've not read that series yet but I definitely want to see how their found family came about.

Rook has deliberately done everything in his power not to be like his manslut father who fathered untold numbers of children and then gave them to a baby farmer (this plot point is connected to the Sins for all Seasons series but it's not necessary to read those first). Until he meets a lady in his brother's club who wishes to be kissed. They kiss and he's fascinated by his Lady of Sighs (don't get me started on that atrocious nickname). The lady is Leonora, an American inventor who is looking for investors for her writing machine. Her mother however is looking for a titled husband for her. So Rook is determined to stay single and not dip his wick anywhere due to his father's reputation and Leonora just wants to invent things and not get married. This is basically the entire plot.

I adore Lorraine Heath. I have several of her books on my keeper shelf. But I've been very lukewarm about this series. This book in particular was fine. The writing was fine, the plot was fine, and the characters were fine. But there was very little internal or external conflict. Why couldn't these two be together? The reasoning was flimsy so the romantic tension was nil. It had some very sweet scenes and the spice was spicy for Heath. What it was missing was the Heath Angst and bonkers plot twists. What made her books so rare and special was the absolute unhingedness of some of the plots. This is the author that wrote Gorilla Twins book ffs (The Earl Takes All) Would that book have been published today? Doubtful. Unfortunately, Heath has also been cleansed and sanitized for today's audience and it's a damn shame. I recommend this book for those who love quiet character-driven romances with little to no tension. As for me, I want mess, I want my heart twisting, and I want to question how they will possibly end up together. Heath was so very good at this and I wish she would go back *sadness*

The green fairy gives an entrepreneurial woman the courage to seek her first kiss. A Viscount is encouraged by his half-brother to grant said kiss. Thus begins the story of "In Want of a Viscount", the latest installment in Lorraine Heath's Masters of Seduction series. While I adore the author's writing, this story just seemed a bit more repetitive than past works I have read. I loved Viscount Wyeth's typical banter with his pals, but I was a bit disappointed in Leonora's character. It just irked me that a woman with such an incredible mind and passion for inventing, put up with so much from her mother. Her brother came across as rather wimpy to me as well. I feel she should have stood up for herself more.

I received an E copy from Harper Collins Publishers via NetGalley, and this is my voluntary and honest review.

Curiosity kissed the cat and many more nips followed as the final Chessman falls in “In Want of a Viscount” by Lorraine Heath!

I adore the meet-cute of Leonora Garrison and Rook, Viscount Wyeth, and that they can’t get enough of each other. They are themselves and more when together and It was sweet reading how well matched they are even though neither are not looking to marry.

I love how bold Nora is. She want it, she got it… even if she risked scandal or was very direct in what she desired. She was the force behind the family business and deserved better from them, so I’m happy for her get-it-gurl moments.

I love that Rook sees Leonora and encouraged her interests. He was absolutely thoughtful so could we not swoon as he found ways to feed her mechanism curiosity. His actions regarding his family, all of them, was admirable. Then his grand gesture was perfect!

If you enjoy kissing, innocent yet sensual trysts, and women receiving their deserved recognition, then I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Net Galley, Avon, and Harper Voyager US for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.