YES YES AND MORE YES. WHEW this was a wild ride in all the best ways! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

Lady Charlotte’s parents has arranged for a betrothal for her to a Viscount and heir to a dukedom. An illustrious match… that is if you don’t consider his two other deceased wives under mysterious circumstances!

Happy in her spinster ways, Charlotte is not going to lay down and take her fate gracefully- she’s going to fight back and prove what a monster her soon to be fiancé is!

Dr. Mathew Talbot, the Viscount’s younger brother also has a beef with his brother, and is trying to make him pay for his crimes. Who better to gang up with on this mission then with the woman being forced to marry him… who happens to be his best friend, younger sister, that he has been crushing on forever!

With help from her brother and cousins, this pair starts falling for each other as they investigate the Viscount. Plenty of hijinx, a parrot, pet monkey, a masquerade and lots of coffee at her cousins coffee house result in an HEA and their problems solved.

This book had a fun cast of characters and a pretty villainous villain. I liked the idea of falling for your betrothed brother, especially with him being your brother’s best friend- a double trope whammy! But I did find that the mystery elements and investigation kind of fell short and instead of getting a really complete wrap up to this element in the story felt more like a good enough ending.

I had the privilege of listening to the audio narration by Katy Sobey, and found that her voice give a fresh flare to the story that spun towards the modern. It worked well with the book and her pacing kept the book going. I found listening to this audio enhanced, my reading experience that I had started by e-book.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man by Violet Marsh is available now.

Thanks to Forever Romance and Hachette Audio for my e-book and audiobook review copies. Opinions are my own.

Thank you to Violet Marsh, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free eaudio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Soooo in the approval email, there was a <i>bolded</i> paragraph about how much they wanted feedback on the audio production in addition to the book. Which is incredibly ironic because the audiobook was faulty; multiple chapters were cut short. I have no idea how much was missing, but I'd guess it was a healthy chunk.

I deleted the file and redownloaded, thinking I had done something while downloading. Nope, same thing. The approval email had said we shouldn't hesitate to contact Nita Basu if we had problems or questions---but it didn't list an email or any way to contact her. I'm not on Twitter or Facebook, so I just googled her with crossed fingers. I found her LinkedIn page and sent her a note, but didn't hear back. Don't invite us to contact you then not give us a way to.

If it had been just one chapter, fine, I'd have listened to the rest. But all except perhaps one of the first six chapters was cut off, and it wasnt just me; other reviews remarked on the faulty audio as well. No. I'm not fucking around with that. If they provide a janky audiobook, I'm not wasting my time trying to make sense of it. Sorry, Ms. Marsh.

What I did manage to absorb of the story was strange. It opens on Charlotte getting fitted for a dress and being told she was to marry such and such, then cuts out and chapter 2 opens on her running away in said dress. You'd think she'd be fixated on her forced engagement, but her mind jumps to wanting a coffee shop women could go to. She goes to a coffee shop and proceeds to very tediously negotiate a deal with a cousin...... It was jarring and weird.

My condolences to Katy Sobey, whose narration was the best part of this unfortunate experience. Since I listened to less than 10%, I didn't rate it. Well, NetGalley demands one, so here's a neutral 3 star.

Unfortunately, I can't review the audiobook version, because I didn't get a chance to listen to it, so I can't comment on the quality or the narration.
But I did read the digital copy, and here is my review from that:

This was my first time reading something by this author and I found it to be quite an entertaining read. It's an historical romance with an interesting mystery woven in. Charlotte and Matthew were complete opposites but complemented each other well. She was such a strong-willed character. Trying to escape a marriage to someone rumored to have killed his past two wives, she runs away. Matthew is shy and sweet, and had his own issues, keeping secrets trying to protect those he cares about. When Charlotte sets out to prove the crimes of her betrothed, who happens to be Matthew's brother, Matthew agrees to help, only because he wants to keep his own secrets from coming out. As they spend more time together, they grow closer, but in the process, they also grow closer to danger.
An intriguing story that kept my interest from start to finish. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and watching them grow closer. A very well-written and entertaining story!
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Matthew is a regular Dr.Dolittle with his menagerie of animal companions but the emotional trauma depicted in his childhood is truly heartbreaking. Lady Charlotte is so completely cool under pressure, no matter the situation. It is a shame she is not keen to be the future duchess as she clearly has all the bearing necessary. I greatly enjoyed the suspense and tension of their adventures and romance.
I do love eccentric animals in romance, it adds such wonderful humour. Pan is an absolute delight with his cheery antics. I love a regency parrot! Marsh gives us not one unlikely romance, but two. And what is more unlikely than Pan the Parrot and his monkey love, Banshee! All in all this story was thoroughly entertaining and provided a great escape.

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!

This is a nice cozy reading that mixes elements of romance and historical fiction. It's not going to change your like, but it's a fun read!

Lottie is engaged to be married to the villain Viscount Hawley who killed all of his previous wives. But her parents don't care about it, they only care about status and money. So, she takes matters into her own hands and tries to prove that he's a villain.

I DO feel weird that Charlotte ends up with the best friend of her twin brother. Like It does have some incestuous remarks here

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is a mystery-romance that mixes swash-buckling humor and social ills of the mid-18th century. It proved to be an entertaining read, as long as you don't mind suspending reality quite a bit. Lady Charlotte, her brother and his BFF, Matthew, as well as the proprietors and clients of the Blacksheep are all entertaining characters, but a trained one-eyed parrot and a capuchin monkey provide much of the comic relief. Remember what I said about suspending reality. All in all, I recommend this to readers who are looking for a fun read where the good guys win.

Katy Sobey does a wonderful job voicing the characters.

DNF @ 30%

This book wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t for me. The characters and plot were interesting enough and I liked Charlotte’s drive for independence. However, it just wasn’t my thing and didn’t hold my interest.

I'm not completely sure what to say exactly about this book. There wasn't anything that I disliked about the book itself. But there also wasn't anything that I loved about it either. If you are interested in reading a historical mystery, this one might be for you. I did listen to the audiobook and I might have enjoyed it more if I had read it with my eyes. I wasn't a huge fan of the narrator. While they didn't do a terrible job, I just felt like it could have been so much better with some of the voices. If you are hoping to read a slow burn, brother's best friend, historical romance/murder mystery, then you might enjoy this one!

I unfourtunatly had to DNF @ 40% of the book. One of my goals I gave myself this year, was to just stop reading books that I’m clearly not feeling or enjoying, and sadly this is one of them.

I really did want to like this audiobook, as the plot sounded really good and catchy. However, I found the execution of the events just really chaotic and a bit over the top. In theory, this would have been a great idea for a book. Sadly, it just didn’t cut it for me.

I know there are people out there who will really like this one, especially if you are a fan of a Bridgerton meets Sherlock Holmes vibe. If this sounds like something you’d be into, I definitely recommend looking at other reviews to see what others have said.

Thank you to Forever Books, Hatchette Audio and NetGalley for providing me with this adio-ARC, in return for an honest review.

I loved this! A perfect blend of mystery, romance and found family fun. I love an intellectual love interest and seeing them work together as equals. The author set up for so many future books, excited to see the series continue

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??

The audiobook experience was fantastic and I cannot recommend it enough. Katy Sobey’s narration was sublime and her voices, emotion, and comedic timing for the characters, as well as the cast of animals, were expertly delivered and I thoroughly enjoyed the parts where she had to sing the salacious sea shanty. If you pick up the audiobook, make sure you don’t skip the historical note following the acknowledgments for more history on coffeehouses and Marsh’s inspiration for the story and characters.

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! The audio was narrated very well by Katy Sobey. Hopefully the advance copy file kinks get worked out before release (Many early chapters cutting off mid-sentence and skipping to the next chapter after only a few lines, missing a ton of the book, so I was really glad I had both audio and ebook)!

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

As much as the audiobook cut out, I did enjoy this. Charlotte made me LOL a lot, I think her character was very well written. I liked that this was a comedic romantic murder mystery, it proved to be light even when there were moments of darkness.

Best friend's twin sister and he encourages him to marry her, but also has adventure with a bit of mystery, fun comedy to break up any tension. Most of the romance takes place after 50% of the book, the build up has slow and very believable.

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted copy! This is a cute and lighthearted regency romance. I definitely think there is an audience for this book, and while I typically like this genre, I struggled to connect with the story and characters. That said, I think many will enjoy this one.

This book was a whirlwind of adventure and always kept me guessing. I wasn’t able to guess what was going on before the author clued us in. I always love a good book that can continue to keep me guessing. This was an amazing brothers best friend romance with the historical standpoint of difference. I loved this book and would absolutely read it again.

The narration of this book was done well. The narrator was a perfect fit for this book and was able to keep the book moving smoothly. The combination of the story and the voice kept me enthralled in the story and waiting for the next bit.

Narrated by Katey Sobey

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.

Unfortunately the audio copy I received from NetGalley had tracks that cut off in the middle of chapters, so I primarily read the eARC. Katy Sobey is a good fit for the narration though, and future readers obtaining the final audiobook copy will be pleased.

While I enjoyed the storyline of this book the audio formatting seems to have some issues. Frequent jumps from characters and scenes had it a bit difficult to follow along. Hope it is resolved for publication!