This book was a delight. I’d been impatiently waiting for it ever since I read the first book in the series. The Hartleys are so fun and are one of my favorite fictional families I’ve read, and I can’t wait to read the other siblings’ stories!

Watching Oscar grow as a person was very satisfying. And I love that he appreciated Honoria for more than her looks. Honoria was so witty and emotionally complex. I wish we had learned more details about what happened to Oscar’s father though.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! All opinions are my own.

What a delightful story. It is so convoluted and charming! Oscar is a rogue who one can't help, but adore. Honoria is is so smart and resourceful. Her schemes and thought processes are so much fun to try to follow. I'd live to know to know what happens to them in the future!

After reading and loving the first book in this series, I couldn’t wait to get my greedy eyes on this one and it did not disappoint.

I love love loved Honoria and Oscar. They’re both looking for something of their own and are so much more alike than either of them would like to admit. They have instant chemistry, banter for days, and flirting disguised as threatening murder and/or bodily harm. Of course, Honoria’s family is one of the best and I really enjoyed reading the scenes with all of them together.

Plot wise, it was good. These two are together for the majority of the story and it’s all I wanted. There are snippets of open conversations, but it works because we are shown how they learn to lean into each other and find that safe space they want (but refuse to admit.)

Overall, this was a strong book 2 and I can’t wait to see these two in the future in the next story.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

The second installment in the Liar's Club series features Honoria Hartley, the middle daughter of Baron and Roxana Hartley. Honoria is still mourning the loss of her twin brother, Ernest, who died at age 5 and though she is of the age to marry, she has decided she does not want to. Being a member of a family that stages plays, Honoria is a master of disguise and has adopted the name of Senor Cesario in order to dress as a man and gamble in order to finance her life as a single woman. While visiting Paris, she meets Oscar Flint, a scoundrel and gambler who is attempting to win money in to pay a debt owed to a Spanish mobster. Honoria ends up besting Oscar while gambling and when he attempts to take the money from her she eventually escapes. A year later, Oscar shows up in her home town pretending to be Viscount Vandemere, Honoria's betrothed whom she's never met but has traded letters with. Both Honoria and Oscar have secrets that they desperately don't want exposed and they are forced to keep up appearances as a couple while trying to solve their problems together despite neither of them trusting the other.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this earc

This book was much fun! But honestly when a liar and a kind of a liar meet and fall in love? The best kind of story.

But this is what you need to know. This book has the best banter, so spicy scenes and super unrealistic plot twist with happily ever after. And sometimes that’s all you know. I loved Oscar. I loved Honoria. I loved Honoria’s family and how incredibly dramatic they all were. This book just hit the spot my friends. Make sure to pick it up

He's a grifter, a con artist...

Honoria (what a name for this book!) has been engaged to a long lost viscount no one has seen.
Oscar takes full advantage of that fact and when he looses to Honoria, he plays a long con, grifting that he is the viscount she is promised to. I liked Honoria but had a harder time with Oscar playing Vandermere.
This is book two in the Liar's Club and it fits in perfectly with the liar's theme.
I was really excited for this book and purchased a paperback of it.
Recommend.

Honoria is engaged to a long-lost viscount whom no one in England has ever seen. Charming rogue Oscar takes on the role of her betrothed in a dangerous game. As their attraction ignites, Honoria must decide if she’s willing to gamble with her heart—while Oscar is determined to win her, even if it means playing for keeps.

This book is so much fun. I love Honoria and Oscar, and the banter between them. They’re both reluctant when it comes to romance at first, but soon they can’t resist the intense feelings that grow between them.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

DNF at 51%. I was really excited for this book after loving the first book in the series. But I couldn’t connect with the stories or the characters. I don’t know what it was about the story, it just wasn’t for me. I even gave it far longer than I normally give books I don’t connect with because of my love for the first book but it never clicked with me. I think people will really like the story, it just didn’t work for me for some reason.


Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A big thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC— after quite a wait, I finally got my hands on it!

After really enjoying the first book in the series, I was excited to explore Honoria and Vandemere’s story. I expected a typical engaged-since-birth plot, but I was pleasantly surprised by the unique direction it took. The main characters were charming, and I loved the whimsical elements woven throughout.

That said, the twist became obvious early on, and I hoped for a quicker resolution. Unfortunately, it felt a bit rushed and anticlimactic in the final pages, especially regarding the villain’s role.

Overall, I think this series showcases Vivienne Lorret’s best work to date. It’s been wonderful to see her growth as an author, and I’ll definitely recommend it to my book communities.

While I enjoyed the book, it didn’t quite hit the five-star mark I was hoping for—maybe I just built up my expectations a bit too much!

I liked this story. It was a different writing style than I’m use to and took a while to really get into the book but it was an enjoyable read. I usually go for a modern romance because they are more realistic but something about this time period is so romantic. I can’t wait to tell my mom about this book because she loves stuff like this. I’m giving it 3 stars because it did take me awhile to adjust to the style of writing.

Honoria Hartley and Oscar Flint had a chance meeting in Paris while she was in disguise before parting ways, but neither have forgotten each other. Honoria is shocked when Oscar shows up at her family’s estate claiming to be Viscount Vandemere, her long missing betrothed. She knows he’s lying but can’t reveal his secret without revealing hers. The pair are constantly getting under each other’s skin but their physical attraction irks them more than anything else.

I highly recommend reading the previous book in this series before reading this one as the two stories flow together even though they focus on different couples. The book had great chemistry and wonderful banter. I also enjoyed that the book took place outside of London. I did struggle a bit with the pacing and keeping all the side characters straight, but I think I would have done better reading the two books in this series closer together. I really enjoy Vivienne’s writing style and have been meaning to go back and read the rest of her backlist. I’m excited to see where this series goes.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

OMG! I loved this book - the secrets and the mischief is just so much fun!

I read this book without having read the first in the series - and I feel like the book can be read as a standalone.

The banter is clever and funny. i loved the characters! The FMC, Honoria Hartley, is so much fun - strong, independent, smart, and definitely a little more than a mischief maker. The MMC, Oscar, is everything that you could want in a regency gambler pretending to be a viscount -- funny, smart, slightly gray morals, a traumatic backstory, and handsome.

I couldn't wait to find out what happened in this book and had to keep turning the page.

Gambling swindler pretends to be a viscount in order to blackmail his fake fiancee. A year ago, Honoria won the money in a card game that Oscar needed to pay off his violent creditor and runs off. Oscar tracks her down in her tiny country village and pretends to be the man that she’s betrothed to until he can convince her to give him the money. There’s all sorts of chaos and drama because Honoria’s family is quirky and meddlesome and Oscar’s not-family is not convinced of his identity and wants to get rid of him. But Oscar and Honoria spend more time together and are very much attracted to each other, and maybe Oscar is actually a good guy underneath all of the swindling behavior. Things get messier when it seems that someone is out to endanger Oscar’s life and Honoria is trying her best to protect him and get rid of him. Aside from all the chaos are the little clues that maybe Oscar might actually have a connection to the family that he’s pretending to be a part of, which I always love to see.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book
4.5 stars rounded up. In addition to the romance, which I felt like was executed very well, I really enjoyed the plot. Because it was actually a very interesting plot, it felt like the mystery of the “real Vandemere” was wrapped up too quickly. I wish the reader could have experienced the revelations from the MMC’s POV.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, Harper Collins Publishers, and Vivienne Lorret for providing this advance readers copy of the book. I'm providing my honest review.

When you stupefy men just by entering a room you can see your life unfolding before your eyes. A trinket on some man's arm, a trophy wife, a life of boredom. Being the daughter of an acting family has shown Honoria that a life on her own terms is possible. She just has to finance it. Scandalous things must be perpetrated, a fortune and steady source of income obtained. Gambling and adventure become the way and happens to put her in the crosshairs of Oscar Flint who becomes her nemesis and partner in crime. Oscar is a master gambler with an edge that allows him to win big. He has to keep moving to keep his head attached. Always running a con. Pretending to be Honoria's long betrothed Viscount gets him in with the long-lost Viscounts family and forces Honoria to help him play the game. The Viscounts family is a strange grouping of widows.

Lots of adventure, action, and romance make an enjoyable read. Likeable characters kept me invested till the happy ending. I do have one con, the ending was a bit of a hard twist to follow and came out of nowhere, I hadn't guessed it.

#TheTroublewithInventingaViscount #TheLiars'Club #NetGalley #VivienneLorret #Avon #HarperCollinsPublishers #historicalromance #romance

Tropes: enemies to lovers; MMC has a dark past; secret identities; pretend betrothal
Steam level: 3

3.25 stars. I really went back and forth on this one, as I usually like this author and I normally love the "conman meets his match" trope. I even re-read the last third or so just to see if I'd missed something. But this just didn't quite come together for me. For the first 60% or so the pacing seemed uneven, and although the MC's had good chemistry in the steamy scenes, their emotional connection and the proceedings just seemed off. Maybe I'm comparing this book too much to recent HR's I've read recently that use the "conman" trope; I'm not sure. Then the last third or so of the plot sped along, but not everything made sense, becoming unnecessarily convoluted and rushed. I knew what the conclusion would be for a while and wished the suspenseful elements, as well as a new character, had been introduced earlier. Another nitpick: as in the previous book, I wasn't crazy about how the MFC ended up looking rather TSTL. There were chances to give her a touch more depth and make her more grounded, beyond the grief she held for her twin. Admittedly, there was a broad cast of characters the author was juggling (I wondered why the MC's from the last book made occasional appearance in the first half, only to disappear).

There is humor here, just as in the last book, which I enjoyed.

Overall: the steam and wit work, but this often reminded me of a rather frenetic stage play that needed a bit more focus.

4 Stars! Great book. Didn’t end the way I thought it would. This is the 2nd book in ‘The Liar’s Club’ and can be read as a standalone. I never read book one & still enjoyed this book. The main characters are Honoria Hartley and Oscar Flint/Lord Vandemere and they were great for one another. I liked both of them. I really enjoyed their witty banter and the dual point’s of view.
A lot of things I thought would happen, didn’t, and a lot of things I didn’t see coming, did happen. I still have unanswered questions that left me a bit confused & the book could drag on a bit at times but I just skimmed through them, easy. Anyway, other than that, it was a really great read! You won’t see stuff coming.
*I received this book at no charge & I voluntarily left this review.*

This book is ridiculous in the best possible way. If you love historical romances that have a healthy dose of romcom shenanigans and explicit content, you will love The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount.

Honoria Hartley is desperate not to get married, so when her mother suggests it might be time for her to head to London for a season, she claims she cannot possibly go, because her long lost fiance, the viscount of a neighboring estate, is writing her love letters, and she intends to marry him when he comes home. The trick is, there is no fiance. The letters are fake, and Honoria's plan is to be an engaged spinster forever.

That is until the handsome and rakish Oscar Flintridge shows up at her door claiming to be the long lost viscount and ready to blackmail her into marriage.

This story is as tender as it is funny. The cast of characters are surprising and loveable Oscar and Honoria have incredible chemistry, and their care for each other grows despite the games they play to one up each other.

Vivienne Lorret is masterful at crafting spicy scenes. There's a picnic scene in this book that, while not explicit, will absolutely make you blush. Don't even get me started on the castle scene.

This book is perfect for fans of Martha Waters Regency Vows series. Thank you to Avon Books for providing a digital ARC of this book for me to review.

Thanks you to Avon & Harper Voyage for providing me with an ebook arc in exchange for my honest review!
This second book in the Liars Club follows Honoria, Verity's sister, in her journey of defying societal expectations while simultaneously falling in love with someone who sees right through her acting. Oscar is used to living on the run since his skills in gambling do not make him a well liked man. He jumps at the chance to get back at the woman who out gambled him in order to secure a future for himself. What he didn't know was that he'd also be falling head first in love. Being the only two who know each others secrets, Honoria and Oscar try to outwit and best one another. How long can their ruse of a fake engagement last before the stack of cards falls?

This book was such a fun read. With Honoria's confidence and outlandish ideas, it had me laughing and eager to see what the outcome was. The banter between the two main characters was very entertaining and reading how they slowly went from wanting to destroy each other to protecting each other had my cheeks hurting from smiling so much. I can't wait for the next sister's story.

Vivienne Lorret is one of my favorite authors and this series takes on one of my favorite tropes - the invented fiancé. This one was really fun - I loved getting to know Honoria and Oscar. The ending did feel a little bit rushed, but maybe I just wanted more from our MCs. Looking forward to the next book in the series!