Thank you NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of Much Ado About Margaret. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Margaret wants to be a published author. Her father encouraged her love of writing. But when he passes away, it's important that she finds a publisher for her book. She doesn't want is to marry to financially support her mother and sisters. Bridger wants to be publisher and is searching for right novel to publish. She approaches him at a gathering hoping he would publish her book. He was cruel when he turned her away.. Then he happens upon some pages from Margaret's novel at his good friend's wedding and decides he needs to publish the book. He was shocked when he discovered who the author of the book was. He was going to have to work at getting her to forgive his earlier rejection. They got to know each other as they joined together to solve a mystery and romance follows.

Much Ado About Margaret by Madeleine Roux was very sweet and satisfying, by which I mean there's a happy ending (of course! it's a Romance!) and even the villains of the piece become sympathetic in the end, at least to some extent. Margaret Arden, Maggie, is a writer, and her latest work is based heavily on the naval stories of her beloved and recently-deceased father. Bridger Darrow, a second son to an abusive father, left a military career with PTSD to instead do work he loves, as a publisher and editor. For me, the romantic fantasy was the part about being able to make a modest living by writing novels!

Maggie is desperate to sell her novel so she, her grieving mother, and her two sisters can move out of the home of her controlling aunt. Her aunt is pressuring Maggie to marry well instead, probably because Maggie's mother married for love; also, Aunt Eliza appears to feel writing is somehow inappropriate. Bridger's father has dementia and his drunken, wastrel elder brother is not caring for the estate. Bridger had escaped into the army, and then to London when his friend and publishing mentor left him the business; he's now realizing they will lose everything if he doesn't step in and try to deal with his brother. Maggie tries to sell Bridger her novel; he pronounces it "overwrought," getting them of on the wrong foot. As you might expect in a romance novel, however, their opinions change.

It was clear to me that this was not the first in the series, as Maggie and Bridger are in attendance at the wedding of Lane, Maggie's cousin and Bridger's closest friend from the army. Various other characters had just enough intriguing twists to them that I assume they were in line for their own book at some point. I enjoyed the layers of Roux's characters, and the way actions that hurt others were not forgotten; apologies and reparative justice feature in the resolution of the plot. In particular, I loved the abundance of fleshed-out female characters, and the believable flaws in even secondary characters with small roles to play.

I will happily read more by Roux!

Thank you to Dell Romance and Netgalley for the arc.

While I love a good historical romance this one missed the mark for me. The story felt a bit dull at points and it didn't give enough of the Shakespearean charm that I was hoping for.

A lighthearted quick romance read. Set in the Regency era, with an interesting plot and adorable characters.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really wanted to love this book but at times it felt slow moving and I couldn’t get as into it. I may have to try to re read it for content.

This was not what I expected. Thought it would be light romance but just seem to plod along. I did not finish it. Will not post to social media.

A cute regency romance. Outspoken woman writer and the publisher who was an ass. This story and its twists kept my attention and the tension between the two MCs was captivating.

I was expecting the cartoon cover to reflect the contents of the book, but there is very little in the way of humor. In the book is angst, prejudice, family control, child abuse, false assumptions and sexual discrimination. Last but not least, is a romance. A young lady who longs to get her book published, but the man who owns the publishing company refuses to publish her book, because she is a woman. They clash but it isn't long before he is humbled to admit he was wrong. Mild descriptive sex.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book from NetGalley.

It has been awhile since I read a good regency romance and I guess I’m still waiting…
This book starts off string but quickly the wheels (plot) fall off. I finished this book and couldn’t sun up the plot because it is all over the place. It doesn’t help that the characters’ motivations were poorly drawn out and there is too much going on for any really character development.

Bridger does not have any redeeming qualities and even when he realizes that Maggie was taken to her aunt’s house, he just writes letters… does nothing but writes letters and hopes that she can break free.

The Ann and Lane drama was weird and the Ruby and Pimm drama was frustrating. Neither of these were advertised and took away time from the actual plot/storyline. Most characters annoyed me and I finished the book feeling bad for Maggie.

2.25 stars

Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was fun, but I didn't love the characters and felt that the pacing was, at times, at odds with the story.

Thank you netgalley for the arc. This was okay. I wished it had been more Much Ado than it was. It's my favorite Shakespeare play and while this had elements there was so much else thrown in I'm surprised the page count is only 272 because it felt so much longer. I don't think this needed to be spicy either, it felt like those scenes were just thrown in for the sake of selling as a spicy read but the narrative didn't really call for it. It didn't hold my attention as much as it should of as I usually love historical romance retellings but I can't even really pinpoint what went wrong for me other than vibes. Maybe Roux is not the author for me, I've read one of her young adult books as well and just wasn't into that either, so it might just be a case of mismatched reader and author.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/ Dell for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute historical romance with an enemies to lovers trope. I enjoyed the bookish references, FMC is a writer, MMC a publisher.

Recommended if you enjoy:
- HIstorical Romance
- Enemies to friends to lovers
- Shakespeare retelling

DNF

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. Writing felt stiff and repetitive. I didn't have confidence that the premise will be handled well and I wasn't finding myself interested in the story.

This book moved very slowly. It finally picked up around the 45-50% mark; I’m not sure if I would have finished it otherwise. It was hard for me to care about the characters. I mostly kept reading to confirm what I thought had happened with the central mystery.

This was a fun take on historical romance, although I feel the plot was a little chaotic and not at all what the summary implied. But if you enjoy regency era novels, witty banter & slow burn romances with a hint of mystery then I’d recommend reading this one.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dell Publishing for the E-ARC!
I love a historical romance- and I appreciated the FMC with bookish vibes and self reliant aspirations. The FMC and MMC felt well developed-ish, but I had a couple issues that kept it from being a memorable read for me.

The "villian" felt like an old moustache twirling villain, and the resolution/comeuppance for his character felt VERY fast and underdeveloped.

The going from attraction to LOVE felt very quick- just because you have books and some other things in common? I dunno. I could have used more conversations, more banter? Maybe you just caught me on a grumpy day.

Anywho, it was a nice light read. I wouldn't pick it up again but I would read another by this author.

✨ I received this book as an ARC for my honest review✨

Rate: ⭐️⭐️

Much Ado About Margaret is a Regency romance about Margaret, an aspiring writer in a time when women weren’t supposed to be writing at all. She’s living with her family, thanks to her aunt’s kindness, but her aunt has big plans to marry her off.

The story takes off when Margaret’s manuscript is accidentally blown out of a window at her cousin’s wedding, where Bridger, a publisher is instantly captivated by it but is unaware who it belongs to. Given the fact that Bridger humiliated Margaret when she submitted her book for review, she is not a big fan of him.

There’s definite chemistry between Margaret and Bridger, but the book has some issues. The pacing is all over the place—it starts slow, then rushes through the end. Plus, there are so many side characters and plotlines that it felt like I was reading different stories at once. I got lost in all the extra drama and found myself forgetting what the main romance was supposed to be.

I liked the idea of the book, but the execution felt a bit messy. The writing is pretty in parts, but it sometimes shifts between a classic and modern tone. The romance between Margaret and Bridger felt rushed, and I liked Margaret as a character, but Bridger didn’t really stand out as a romantic lead. Honestly, I was more interested in Regina, Bridger's ex, who was way more memorable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for a copy of this book!

As someone who thoroughly devoured the Bridgerton books in a few weeks, I really enjoyed this read. I loved the FMC and found her interesting, and her connection to the MMC was intriguing enough.

I do wish the book went a little slower - it's almost too quick of a read!
Highly recommend!

🧁Review: Much Ado About Margaret

☕Rated: 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

💗 Characters: Margaret and Bridger are beyond hilarious! I will say Shakespeare would be proud! Margaret is very headstrong and very sweet! She is determined to get her work published! Bridger was a complex character with a gooey center that you had to just bite into! I kept reading until I found out LOL

📖Details: This book had a lot of emotional aspects! You have a young woman with a dream! The man that did not want to help publish her book now finds potential in it! A lot of family truths and drama come to light! I have to say I was not a fan of the aunts LOL!! But sometimes characters with the most disdain come with the most addiction to get to know about! Romantic butterflies fly between our two main characters! The romance was perfect! I absolutely loved it!


🍾Extra Details: A true delightful read! A woman who wants to follow her dreams but family members are trying to convince her to do otherwise! A man who turned down her book who now wants to help! I truly adored Margaret's rebellious ways! Rebellion is not just hard grit it can be from the heart and filled with potential to see a goal through!

Bravo! 🕯️

This period romance by Roux has something for everyone who watched any Austen adaptation, or Bridgerton, or enjoys putting pen to paper--its aspiring author protagonist and her smoldering publisher are an entertaining couple. A ne'er-do-well brother and an initial scandal add interest, and a surprisingly strong ex-fiancee character make this a satisfying read.