Thank you to @rachelsrandomresources for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the synopsis for this one, it sounded right up my street - lady PI hiding her identity from everyone and solving murders on the side. It started off like this, but quickly descended into a sex education lesson that I wasn’t expecting to be reading about! From that point on, there was so little of the catching a murderer part of the story that I quickly lost interest and found myself skim reading most of it.

Hannah is a great character until she meets Killian, then all is lost. I really enjoyed the investigation bits and the fights she got herself into but that was it. It was a shame as I had high hopes when it started.

I feel the synopsis for this one was a bit misleading, it was a great story idea but there was more about the seduction side of their relationship than the actual mystery which was disappointing for me.

Lady Hannah Simmons is hiding a thrilling secret. Whilst she may seem like a wallflower, she is Queen Victoria’s leading femme fatale, whose latest mission is to apprehend a deadly killer. Private Investigator to the Prime Minister, ex-war hero Duke Robert Killian is determined to put duty first but finds himself frustrated when he has to compete with Hannah. Together, they must fight their attraction in order to catch the killer.
Hannah and Killian are two quite determine characters whose attraction is evident from the start, I enjoyed seeing how their relationship changed as the story progressed. Despite Killian’s past, his charm oozes over and his relationship with Hannah, almost inevitable. Plenty of chemistry between them to keep any reader entertained. A great read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was fun, steamy, fast-paced and kept me reading. I enjoyed this book and will look for more books by this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story!! The burning sexual tension between Hannah and Killian is interesting as they’re both ready to kill anyone who threatens them in their quest to find the killer in this story. The only problem is that their ideas of justice couldn’t be wider apart!!!
I love the female empowerment that is strong in this story. Phillipa, who is Hannah’s ward, is financially secure as the widow of a titled man, so has no man telling her what to do. She has raised Hannah to be a strong, independent woman. They work together to solve crimes and bring the guilty to justice.
So if you want to read a period detective story with a side order of spicy romance, then this is the book for you!!!
Many thanks to Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read this arc copy for review consideration via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #TheBoldBookClub, #AuthorDarcyMacguire.

The Secret Life of a Lady is an entertaining Victorian historical romance. Evocative and fast-paced, this sensual romance is full of action scenes but also includes some emotional introspection. It's an easy read with complex and likeable protagonists. The Victorian setting is well researched and written, and it's easy to imagine the poverty and the society parties. I like the dynamic between Hannah and the Duke and the cast of players that help create such an engaging read.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This was an entertaining read. Hannah Simmons was a skilled agent for the Queen. She lived with Philippa, Duchess of Dorset, who helped train Hannah. Lft. General Robert Killian, the new Duke of Covington has returned to England after many years in the military. He now works for the Prime Minister. There is a murder mystery to solve and some dangerous events. As Hannah and Robert work together so their connection increases but Hannah has no intention of marrying and Robert thinks himself incapable of love. There are some interesting secondary sources and hope to read their stories. There is also humour, particularly with Philippa and her butler, Stokes. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm reviewing this via NetGalley, as part of a tour with Rachel's Random Resources.

This historical romance follows Lady Hannah Simmons, who is not all that she seems.

From the beginning, I loved how humorous this was. The way Hannah expressed herself almost made me laugh out loud. The use of profanity wasn't something I initially expected, but I felt it was used in a humorous and relatable context. Hannah had a strong personality, and I liked her feistiness.

I enjoyed the romantic element of the story, the flirtatious exchanges, and the steamier moments. As the story progressed, I felt I connected with Hannah in a different way, seeing a deeper and more vulnerable side to her, and I really liked that.

This was a fun, lighthearted historical romance. If you like historical romance with a touch of humour, this may appeal to you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Boldwood Books, Rachel's Random Resources, and to the author, for the opportunity to read and review this.

Our cast is set, our destination is justice, our mission is secrecy.

Hannah Simmons ladies companion to Lady Philippa Winterbourne, the Duchess of Dorset, agents working secretly for the Queen of England to bring justice for the common people.

Lord Cavendale, Duke of Landington, his son Alfred, deceased son Patrick, daughter, Ivy. I yes friend Miss Millie Whittenburg.

Lieutenant General Robert Killian, Duke of Covington, his friend Major General Drake, agents for the Prime Minister.

Lord Geoffrey Bradford, .Lord Raymond Smythe, the Baron Ragnor.

Hannah hides in plain sight, she blends in so she can gather evidence. She is trained in fighting, knives, swords, weapons, and silence. She has completed numerous assignments. Sarah Bright’s murderer is her mission for the queen, it needs to be solved before the prime minister and his men can bring charges in the house of lords as nothing will happen in terms of justice.

The Prime Minister has tasked both Killian and Drake to figure out who murdered Sarah Bright. It is believed to be a member of the Ton. To bring charges in the House of Lords, they need solid proof.

Killian stumbles upon Hannah as she is gathering evidence. Not believing that she is a simple companion he keeps an eye on her as he follows leads.

As the two follow leads the run into each other and when Killian watches Hannah take down four men meant on harm, he is impressed. This leads to an unusual bargain between the two.

However, can trust, secrets, and seduction all mesh together? Who solves the murder first? Will these two be able to put the past haunts behind them?

Join the hunt for the killer, meet lively characters, and visit the countryside, ballrooms and drink tea laced with whiskey. Great fun, witty banter, and a steamy plot will have you engrossed in this suspenseful romance.

Good romance and mystery!

This book is a good mix of romance and suspense. I liked both main characters, Hannah and Robert. She is a determined heroine. She swears like a man and fights like a hellion. He doesn’t mind verbal sparring matches with her. We can sense the tension between them while they're together, which leads to romantic moments and great, funny exchanges. I also enjoyed the novel's thrilling plot. This book offers great potential for other romances, with some interesting secondary characters. I’ll be looking forward to the author’s next book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Fantastic! I thought this book was delightful. loved the mystery style romance. Thank you for an arc!

‘All creatures deserve love, Hannah. And no woman should feel shame for her desires. Men certainly don’t.’
I could not put down The Secret Life of a Lady— a new release from Darcy McGuire. Equal parts historical romance and romantic suspense, The Secret Life of a Lady follows Hannah Simmons, a wallflower by day and the Queen’s investigator by night, as she races Robert Killian, a Duke of the peerage, to find the killer behind a string of dead women in caskets.

Hannah is a unique woman. Under the patronage of a Duchess, Hannah has been trained in the arts of hand-to-hand combat as well as the use of knives, pistols, and the use of force by any means necessary. All of which comes in handy for her investigations. What Hannah doesn’t count on is that Robert Killian is also assigned this same case by the Prime Minister. Determined to outwit Killian, Hannah is relentless, showing up at every turn and causing Killian countless sleepless nights.

A woman steeped in her own darkness might understand his.
Unused to being thwarted in his own investigation, Killian is equally determined to come out on top. Driven by an unhealthy need for perfection, Killian is haunted by his past as part of the military. He also sees that working together with Hannah could be as effective—even if he is inexplicably drawn to the foul-mouthed wallflower.

When Hannah and Killian (reluctantly on her part) team up, The Secret Life of a Lady truly begins to hit its stride. I truly felt for Hannah, because for as much as she’s been trained as an effective femme fatale, she’s woefully resigned to being a lowly wallflower for the rest of her days: no husband, no prospects, and dowdy dresses for the unforeseeable future. Of course, she cannot resist Killian, nor can he resist Hannah. Their fake relationship for the benefit of the investigation is threatened by each of them catching real feelings. And what fake relationship would be complete without some lessons in the bedroom? *swoon*

‘I would rather be destroyed by her than live with anyone else.’
The Secret Life of a Lady is completely unputdownable. Once the investigation plot reached its pinnacle, I could not read fast enough. Darcy McGuire’s storytelling is fast paced, brilliantly quippy, and effortlessly addicting. I adored getting to know the back stories of both Hannah and Killian and equally loved how they so carefully cherished the hurt that the other shared. The Secret Life of a Lady is an exquisite historical romance and one I whole-heartedly recommend!

A THIN PLOT AND A SUBPAR MYSTERY

Safe to say, this book did not thrill me. It was short enough for me to want to finish it and Hannah, the female lead, made it somewhat endurable.

What I liked

👍 Hannah: The female lead, Hannah, is a secret, badass spy. I liked how she was able to take care of herself and even save Killian, the male lead, a couple of times. I understand why he was fascinated with her.

What I didn't like

👎 Plot: I was very much not impressed by the plot of this book. It felt super thin and at times barely coherent. I didn't really ever understand why Hannah and Killian decided to fake court, as it seemed like none of them gained anything from it. It's stuff like that that's just too hard for me to overlook.

👎 Mystery: Added to the above issue, the "mystery" of this book was so obviously not a priority. It was hardly planned out at all, played little to no role in the plot and was easily seen through about halfway through the book. It felt more like an afterthought.

👎 Killian: There was one thing in particular, that bothered me about Killian. He had this tendency towards very flowery speech. I didn't find that sexy, romantic or even plausible. Just annoying.

While you were spying...

Darcy McGuire is a new to me author. This is a spicy, very contemporary historical.
Hannah is a lady, a wallflower, who does some evesdropping for the Queen.
Robert is a duke and a PI? and works for the crown. They end up working on the same case.

The Secret Life Of A Lady by Darcy Maguire. While lady’s companion Hannah tries to do some sleuthing at a dinner party she is caught by someone else who is also trying to do some sleuthing. After a brief tussle in the dark Hannah is intrigued by Lieutenant General Killian the fellow sluether. Hannah is a train femme fatale and works directly under Queen Victoria she is trained by her stepmom Philippa Winterborne and a perfect match for the lieutenant. The only problem is he’s from a higher cast than her so why is that he cannot stop thinking about the redheaded Hannah. They’re both trying to solve a murder/blackmail situation for the powers that be but will they be adversaries or partners. OK let me start by saying I thought in the beginning when they talked about Killiand past and all the things that haunted him that we were going to have a great character development but not the case there was also great opportunity for there to be more about Hannah‘s past and we were given great tidbits which I thought was setting the scene for more character development but sadly this is a Insta lust/love sexually detailed regency romance and when you have such a formulaic starting point and everyone knows they end up together I think the journey should be more interesting I found the mystery not so mysterious character development was lacking I will say this book was funny and when they were in the library at the beginning I thought the chemistry was spot on and head she continued the verbal sparring and tête-à-tête I think it would’ve made for a much better book but once the sex started then it basically just became a book about two people who slept together in and are trying to solve an easy mystery.
I don’t like the tail sex in the best of books I find innuendo much sexier. Not to mention once they have sex I feel like the temptation in yearning is over I mean I know these days it is OK to bump uglies with people you barely know and I may be old-school but I find no value in shameless tawdry sex just for sex sake. I mean it’s kind of like being hungry you can either pay someone $60 to cook you a dinner but if you make yourself Ramen noodles and some toast you’ll be just as full when it’s over. So why giveaway something so valuable when you can do it for yourself at a much lower cost. OK I have gone way off the rails this book is funny if you like detail sex you may like this book I found the mystery easy to solve although I did find the characters very likable if Drake should have a book I would be tempted to read it although I probably won’t because there’s lots of great Sweden clean romances that don’t involved detailed sex. I still think this author has it great talent, It just wasn’t my type of romance. I want to thank Boldwood books for my free art copy via NetGalley. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A wonderful book, written by a new author (or new to me, at least), who’s very talented in my opinion. I was really intrigued by the plot and the relationship between the characters and I couldn’t put it down until the end. I think it balanced the mystery and the spy stuff with the love story quite perfectly. Both characters are vivid and realistic and I loved the mix of humor and angst (not too much of either, but just the right dose).
I really hope we’ll see more of them in future books (I would have liked an epilogue!) because the side characters were very intriguing, especially Drake. A solid five star book!

I could not put “The Secret Life of a Lady” by Darcy McGuire down. It was full of action, chemistry, spice and romance. The FMC, Hannah Simmons, was a strong heroine. She knew what she wanted, aka the Duke and Lieutenant General Robert Killian, and she went for it all while solving the murder of a young maid mostly on her own. I say mostly because Robert is working for the Prime Minister to solve the same crime that the Queen has tasked Hannah to solve. They are both drawn to each other and decide to fake court for different reasons as they pursue the killer. Thus begins a house party where things get spicy and new relationships, both friendly and something more, begin to develop.

The book is well written, the secondary characters are great and there are several possibilities for sequels which makes me very excited. As much as I loved the plot and it captured me from the start I didn’t love the way Killian made Hannah feel like her status was beneath him at times when no one else made her feel that way. Also the final conflict between them was not my favourite scene. Other than that I give the book a solid 4.5 stars and really enjoyed it!

Miss Hannah Simmons is a most unusual young woman who has trained to “take care of problems” as a secret operative for the Queen. She is under the tutelage of the widowed Duchess of Dorset, who is also her sort of guardian – as she is the widow of Hannah’s father. To most of society Hannah appears to be a paid companion to the duchess, but in reality, she is using her role to perform missions for the crown. Her current mission is to find and “take care of” the person responsible for the heinous death of a maid. It is during her investigation that she crossed paths with Robert Killian, a retired Lieutenant General and the Duke of Covington, who also happens to be investigating the same murder, but for the Prime Minister. Though they are both after the same person, they have completely different goals for the apprehension and punishment of the murderer. When they both end up at the same house party, they form an alliance of sorts, with leads to places that neither expected. But Hannah knows that the duke could never want anything more from her than an affair, after all he is a duke, and she is a nobody with a questionable past and a lot of secrets. But even knowing that doesn’t stop her from falling in love, but it will keep her from letting him know!

Robert Killian, Retired Lieutenant General and the Duke of Covington, is a decorated war hero and a spy / fixer for the Prime Minister, who carries deep, festering scars from his time as a POW in Afghanistan. Since his return to England, he has done his best to put the war behind him and focus on his estates and his role in Parliament. But occasionally the Prime Minister asks for his help and it is one of these occasions that leads him to the home of a suspect and Hannah Simmons, the protégé of the Duchess of Dorset. Hannah is unlike any woman he has ever met, she annoys him almost as much as she intrigues him and despite knowing she is all wrong for him and could never be his duchess, he can’t seem to stop thinking about her. Together they make a great team and soon realizes that she is exactly the woman he needs in his life, but convincing Hannah will not be easy and before he can even think about that, they need to stop the killer before he strikes again.

Based on the blurb, I had high hopes for this book, and to be fair, the mystery was well done, the author’s writing style is good, the pace was fine, the characters are likeable, the banter between Hannah and the Duke is witty and their chemistry was spot on, but sadly I just couldn’t get in to this book and had to force myself to finish it. Why, you ask? Well, for me it started almost immediately – the fact that the Queen of England would have her personal operative investigating the murder of a servant – who was not even the Queen’s servant – seemed preposterous, not to mention the small fact that Queen wanted the murderer “taken care of” rather than arrested and given a fair trial. Then there were the mistakes – I am a nitpicker when it comes to titles and formal address and I have read many books with mistakes – it has gotten so bad recently that I don’t even mention it anymore, because no one seems to care – but this book is the exception – this is the first book that I have read that EVERY SINGLE title for the characters was used incorrectly – and not even a little bit wrong – EPICALLY wrong. It is clear that the author doesn’t know how to address a titled person or their children. And there were other mistakes – the primary being the assumption that any member of a titled family would be tried in the House of Lords. I was disappointed, this book had the potential to be fantastic, but for me it was just OK because I couldn’t get passed the absurdities and mistakes. So, if these things don’t bother you, I am sure you will enjoy this story.

2.5 stars

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *

How is this Darcy McGuire's first book? This was great! "Secret Life of a Lady" is a super sexy page-turner/spy-thriller that was excellently plotted.

Killian (a duke and secret agent for the Prime Minister), is on the trail of a killer who is shipping young women across the channel in coffins. Hannah Simmons is the bastard daughter of an Earl and now ward to her father's widow Lady Phillipa. Both ladies are also secret agents for Queen Victoria and on the trail of the same killer. Initially Killian and Hannah butt heads but their attraction is hard to deny. Can they overcome their warrior instincts and let down their emotional walls enough to let love in?

The ladies get to kick a lot of villainous tail in this book and the open-door sex scenes vibrate off the page. It seems like this will be a series featuring secret agents for Queen Victoria finding love. I hope one of them nails down that General Drake and melts his hardened heart. I also need to know why Ivy reacted the way she did at the end. Can't wait to read more of this spicy series in the future.

"The Secret Life of a Lady" by Darcy McGuire is an enthralling and spicy historical romance that introduces the Deadly Damsels series. Lady Hannah Simmons, a seemingly unassuming wallflower, is secretly a femme fatale working for Queen Victoria, tasked with capturing a deadly killer. Enter Duke Robert Killian, a private investigator and ex-war hero, who finds himself both frustrated and attracted to the enigmatic Hannah as they compete on the same mission.

The dynamic between Hannah and Killian is electric, filled with tension, wit, and undeniable chemistry. McGuire masterfully weaves a tale of intrigue, danger, and romance, making it impossible to put down. This was my first book by Darcy McGuire, and I'm absolutely hooked. I love this book for its captivating plot, strong characters, and the perfect blend of suspense and romance. It's a must-read for fans of historical romance with a thrilling twist.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Darcy McGuire for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Secret Life of a Lady coming out June 14, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I was really intrigued by the summary of this book! I love Victorian stories. I thought the set up of Hannah being a spy for Queen Victoria was really interesting. I wasn’t quite sure if she was supposed to be an actual wallflower or if that was her cover story. I was thinking there was going to be more spy missions and maybe Killian would be more involved with them. There wasn’t a ton of action until the end. I think the spice took over a good majority of the second half. I’m not a huge fan of characters getting into an argument after sharing a bed together. I feel like it’s done a lot to cause conflict. I would’ve liked to see something different. I would’ve liked more espionage and covert missions. I think a little more backstory about how Hannah got into it would’ve been nice. But overall, I really enjoyed this book. Hannah and Killian were fun. I also love their names.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Victorian historical romance!