In this regency-age romance, Margaret is a woman who does not fit into the mold of her age - she wants to be independent (i.e. remain unmarried) and a published author. After sending her manuscript around, she ends up at a party with Mr Darrow, a publisher who had rejected it, and so she asks him why - his insulting and sexist answer made her dislike him greatly. Unfortunately they are then thrown together for the weekend since she is the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding and he is one of the guests. An open window and some wind blow pages of her manuscript off into the hands of guests, including Mr Darrow who, upon actually reading it, realizes he loves it and must publish it. While chasing Margaret to get her to forgive him and allow him to publisher her novel, there are Shakespearean hijinks that lead to the two realizing that they are more than simply author and publisher.

I read romances to have an escape hatch from the real world and so I’m looking for a fun read, but when it’s a slow read I’m not thrilled. This unfortunately was too slow for me and even with that pace I didn’t feel that the romance evolved appropriately or the characters were developed enough. While it had some cute parts this one just didn’t make me want the characters to get together nor did I ever really get invested in the story. Unfortunately this one was a bit of a miss for me.

3.25 stars

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC to review

This Regency romance, an homage to Shakespeare, is told by the two protagonists- Maggie, an aspiring author who must marry well and Bridger a publisher who has rejected her work. Oh, and who has the money she needs. They meet, debate with one another, and then then he discovers that she can actually write. It isn't as spritely as the cover might lead you to be believe (in fact it is slow in spots) but the characters are good. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Trope-y but entertaining.

DNF at 45%.
The first chapter was very promising. After that I had a hard time following the story. The pace really dragged. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I received an ARC for this book but the views expressed in this review are mine alone.

I liked this book quite a bit. It's a fast, easy read, and a reminder that while wealth is and has usually been the fun way to live, poverty is difficult and makes for less life choices. Especially for women, and even women with money were dependent on society's good graces and in laws.

Fair warning for those who are triggered by scenes of violence against children- it is discussed within the book. It does not happen during the story, but the memories and impact are discussed.

I very much enjoyed the main characters, and an interested in finding more books by this author because it certainly feels like there is a story before this one featuring another couple's journey to happily ever after. This is a true enemies to lovers kind of story, and a take on much ado about nothing, as the title suggests, except this story focuses much more on the main characters while giving the Hero- role character more agency and the Claudio is more worthy of her.

My one gripe, and the main reason I docked a star, is that I ended the book not completely certain I understand how they overcame all the issues that kept them apart. It felt a bit rushed and as a way to put in some spice, rather than as a fully fleshed- out ending. I'm definitely checking out more by this author and would love it if she spends more time in this universe, but I hope she writes more about them building their happily ever after rather than telling us they did it.

DNF. The pacing in Much Ado About Margaret was painfully slow, and I couldn't get into it despite my best efforts.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This book was only just "ok" in my opinion. I had a hard time getting invested in the story, Perhaps I have been reading too many regency romances lately and I am starting to get bored. Perhaps it was the book itself. I'm not sure.
I will probably give this book another shot in the future at some point.

Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

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DNF at 24%. It has a solid premise, but was let down in pacing the story so slow. At this point, there’s barely a spark of romance (not even a hint!), and the male lead is pretty insufferable, even by the standards of the time period.

Much Ado About Margaret is a Regency soap opera with several popular tropes. Maggie has a love for the written word and aspires to be a published author. Her aunts strongly disagree. Her duty is to marry well for money and security. Love doesn't come into it. After all, her mother made that mistake and look what happened to her! Bridger, the publisher she zeroes in on, is having his own travails due to his dying father and his out of control older brother. He reacts to her manuscript very ungraciously. How all is resolved is very entertaining.

I was so intrigued by the premise of Much Ado About Margaret that I'm sad I didn't enjoy it more. The author has a beautiful way of painting a picture of a scene but part of the book felt like it was striving to be like a classic, while other parts felt like it was leaning to modern. There were so many character names to keep track of. I felt a little whiplash when out of nowhere Margaret and Bridger share a kiss. I think this book could be enjoyed by many, but it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Randon House Ballentine / Dell for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. Much Ado About Margaret is available on October 22, 2024.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Much Ado About Margaret by Madeleine Roux is a Regency Romance homage to Shakespeare, and particularly to Much Ado About Nothing. The main characters, Margaret Arden and Bridger Fletcher, resemble Beatrice and Benedick. The main trope is enemies to lovers.

Margaret has wanted all her life to write novels. After her father’s death, she becomes more frantically determined to be published. She needs money. As the eldest daughter and with two younger sisters and a mother to support, she is being coerced by her aunts to marry soon and well. She wants to do right by her sisters, but not at the cost of sacrificing herself. She has a manuscript that she knows will succeed, but when she sends it to a publisher, it is ignored. And when she thrusts a copy into the hands of the publisher at a party, he pushes it back and insults not only the book, but female authors in general. The publisher is Bridger Fletcher.

Shortly, they meet again at Margaret’s cousin’s wedding. The cousin is Bridger’s closest friend. Bridger is dealing with troubles of his own, a dying demon of a father and an alcoholic older brother bent on ruin. All three men have terrible tempers, which partly explains Bridger’s cruel response to Margaret. However, Margaret’s manuscript is accidently scattered by the wind, and Bridger finds a few pages. He discovers he was horribly wrong about the book, and wants to publish it after all. Can Margaret forgive him for his initial rudeness?

Likely, yes. Especially since they are both strongly physically attracted to one another and both share a love of literature. Unfortunately, they are surrounded by ill-intentioned family, friends, and ex-fiancees and a wedding drama that plays with plot themes from Shakespeare’s play.

It’s an interesting premise and fun to pick out where the plot might reference Shakespeare. However, I wasn’t caught up by any chemistry between the hero and heroine, primarily, I think, because of the dialogues, which didn’t ring true for me.

2.5 Stars
One Liner: Unfortunately, not impressed

1817
Margaret Arden would rather be known as a famous author than become a dutiful wife. However, her family needs money, and she needs to marry well to provide for her widowed mother and two younger sisters. Yet, Margaret cannot give up on her dream. She even dares to approach a publisher with her latest manuscript only to be insulted.
Captain Bridger Dryden is starting over as a publisher after his days in the war. With a wayward rogue for a younger brother, a father suffering from illness, and a crumbling estate, he has much on his mind. When he finds a stray paper with a fragment of a story, he is determined to publish it. Turns out, it was written by none other than the woman he insulted a prior.
With Margaret and Bridger attending the same wedding at Pressmore Estate, can they find a truce or will things get worse?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Margaret (Maggie) and Bridger.

My Thoughts:
Based on the premise and cover, I had some expectations about a young woman trying to establish herself as a writer and finding love along the way, with some drama, of course! However, the drama part took over and diluted the rest of it.
The beginning should get a solid 4 stars. It establishes the FMC’s situation and character. Though it doesn’t show the MMC in a good light, I was hoping for a good enemies-to-lovers romance and some banter.
However, too many elements enter the plot – the rascal brother (the MMC’s), an annoyed ex, a dear one sabotaging the new bride’s life, and more drama! While the end lessons are important, they come at the expense of the main characters.
I could never really feel the hero and heroine’s relationship. It seemed to progress, but I felt nothing. Bridger wasn’t the kind of grump I like, though he ticked all the boxes. I just couldn’t connect with the developments.
Despite this, I loved the scenes with Violet and Whinny. The book would have been even more boring with them and Ann.
As an Indian, I appreciate Ann’s backstory. However, I’d have liked it if she and Lane got their own book to explore the details. This wasn’t the book to make a subplot take over the main theme.
Unfortunately, we don’t get more than a surface-level detail of the hardships faced by women writers to publish their pieces. I don’t need a thesis, but I would have liked it more if the MCs had a short discussion about the process. Even when they actually discuss poetry, we are told they spoke about it.
There are a couple of love scenes (moderately graphic). Since I didn’t connect with their romance, these scenes didn’t really feel emotional.
One thing I did like was how the aunts were depicted. Yet, the person who was responsible for all this doesn’t even get a single word! Where is Margaret’s mother? What does she have to say to her daughters? Does she agree with her ‘savior’ sisters? Does she want her daughters to be happy? Is she conflicted and guilty? We know nothing. We only hear the aunts bashing the poor woman because she married for love and was left penniless after her husband’s death. Her active presence would have enhanced the story a lot. That was more important than the scandal and drama.
A good thing is that the book is fairly easy to read. I finished the majority of it in one sitting. Also, there are tiny quotes from Shakespeare’s works at the beginning of each chapter and many mentions of his plays. Enjoyed those!

To summarize, Much Ado About Margaret has a great premise but ends up underwhelming with a bigger subplot than the main plot. It’s a small book, so that’s something.
NGL, I’m surprised that a book by a bestselling author reads like a rough first draft (I know this is uncorrected proof but both are different). Maybe coz this seems to be her first lighthearted romance (GR shows dark historical fiction on her list of works) and the shift in genres wasn’t smooth?
Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group (Ballantine| Dell), for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing meets regency London.

Maggie sends her manuscript to a publisher who rejects and scorns her writing. Then they meet again, banter, solve a scandalous mystery, and fall in love suddenly. But wait there’s another twist or two before their HEA.

- Instant enemies to lovers .
- Who dunnit mystery
- Regency scandal
- Forbidden love

Plot pacing and romance building needed more attention. Felt unreal their switch from enemies to lovers.

Margaret's aunts despair of her finding a suitable husband - she is headstrong, outspoken, and writes! But as the oldest in a genteelly impoverished family of three girls, it is up to her to marry well and provide for her sisters and widowed mother. Unfortunately, she wants to provide for her family by being a successful writer, which the publishers of Britain seem unwilling to help her become. After a humiliating rejection from the most recent publisher is delivered in person, Margaret and her sisters escape to the county wedding of their cousin, whose best friend Bridger just so happens to be the disparaging publisher, who is also looking to save his family from ruin by either marrying well or publishing a great novel. When one of Margaret's aunts "accidentally" opens a window and lets her manuscript blow away across the grounds, Bridger finds some pages that capture his interest and curiosity about the writer and what happens next in the extraordinary novel.

While the story was decent enough, much of it felt rushed and lacking in character development to support some of the actions of the characters. The secondary characters are a bit flat, though they have the potential for more interest than they deliver. The romance between Maggie and Bridger was oddly paced at times, going from slow burn and incremental trust building to rushed intimacy that didn't quite make sense for the characters up to that point. The mystery that brings them together was also rushed and the denouement both predictable and melodramatic. The references to Shakespeare and the writers who would have been known during that time period were nice touches, and the ending was more realistic for the time period than is typical of historical romances without sacrificing the HEA.

Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine Dell and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Much Ado About Margaret early in exchange for a review.

I uploaded my review to Goodreads. I will upload it to Amazon on release day.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Madeleine Roux for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Much Ado About Margaret coming out October 22, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I’ve read a few different books by this author. I love that she crosses genres and writes about different things. I’m obsessed with Much Ado About Nothing and I love the regency era, so this was a perfect mix for me. This was a really fun book. There were definitely hijinks ensuing! I loved that Margaret wanted to write for a living. It felt a little like Jane Austen. I loved it! I would definitely read more books by this author!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Shakespearean regency novels!

This was a lighthearted Regency romance with enemies to lovers, forced proximity, angst, a mystery, and Shakespeare references. Told in a dual POV, we see Bridger rather unceremoniously reject a manuscript submitted by hopeful Margaret "Maggie" and the two meeting again at her cousin's wedding at a country estate. Maggie needs a successful match to secure her family's future but dreams of becoming a published novelist. Bridger finds pages of a novel at the estate and wants to publish the book, only to find out it was Maggie's manuscript, which he had already rejected. But sparks fly between him and Maggie; however, there is a potential scandal brewing for another couple, and Maggie and Bridger must work together to head that off.

The dialogue was well done and period-appropriate, and the writing was lovely. Maggie and Bridger were both strong MCs, although I had to warm up to his character. Maggie was delightful and easy to root for, though I wished the plotline around women trying to get published in that era had been more of a focus than the mystery/scandal. Plotwise, a lot was going on in this book, so I felt the romance was a bit rushed when it happened. However, I think fans of spicy historical romance will find much to enjoy here.

Thank you to Random House Books Ballentine for the gifted book!
3.5 rounded up

This book was delightful!! The instant attraction! The hurt feelings! The camaraderie! The angst! The love!

Margaret and Bridger were well matched and I enjoyed their story so much!

At times it felt like there was maybe a little too much going on, one too many stories being told but it came together nicely in the end. There were also a lot of interesting and memorable characters. I’d be interested in reading more about Regina and Pimm frankly.

I really liked how each chapter began with a Shakesoeare quote. I am a huge fan but some of them i did not know. Great romance. Good reminder of the freedoms women now have compared to back then.

Since the death of her father, Miss Margaret Arden and her sisters live with their mother in a cottage owned by their Aunt Eliza and are dependent on her good will. But Margaret has a plan to save her family, that doesn’t involve marrying a rich man. You see, Margaret is an author (an unpublished author, but an author nonetheless) who has just finished her third novel and is trying to find a publisher to publish it and set her on the path of financial freedom. As luck would have it, the publisher she sent her manuscript to (and who never even bothered to acknowledge it) is going to be at her aunt’s salon and she plans to use the opportunity to pitch her book. She is shocked to learn that Mr. Bridger Darrow of publisher Dockarty & Co is an uncommonly handsome man, but once he starts talking any attraction, she felt dies a quick death when he berates her writing and wishes her good luck with her life. But fate has a wicked sense of humor and the two are reunited a couple of months later at her cousin’s wedding. She isn’t thrilled to see him again, but maybe he isn’t as bad as she thought, especially when a tragic mishap turns fortuitous, and he wants to publish her book. Then when her cousin’s new wife is implicated in a horrific scandal, he is the first to help her clear Ann’s name. Will this lead Margaret to her very own HEA or will fate pull the rug out from under her and she will lose everything?

Bridger Darrow is the younger son of landed gentry, with no possibility of inheriting, Bridger joined the military. Now after years of war, he has had enough and it ready to settle back into civilian life. He has inherited a publishing company and is trying to make it profitable and what he needs is a really good book. In all fairness, he tried to read Miss Arden’s book, but was bored to tears after only a few pages and never finished it. Still trying to find his golden goose, he is in London when he is called to his father’s estate. His father is dying, and the estate is in shambles thanks to his older brother, Paul’s reckless spending and now he has disappeared. Leaving Bridger to clean up the mess. When he learns that Paul has left to go the wedding of Bridger’s best friend, Lane. He sets out to find his brother and drag him home, but instead finds Miss Arden as well as a scorned former love interest. And that’s when things get interesting, and he realizes that he seriously underestimated Margaret. But as with everything in his life, nothing is going to be easy. Can he save his brother, prevent a scandal, save his business and win the girl?

I so wanted to love this book and thought it would suck me in and hold me fast until the end. It didn’t. I liked Margaret and her sisters, but Bridger was not really a hero I could root for. Add to that the fact that Margaret and Bridger don’t really spend time together until the book is almost half done, which made it hard for me to become invested in their HEA. I didn’t hate the book, and I enjoyed parts of it, but I found it very “put-downable” and it is not a book I would read again.

3 stars

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

There is more than one plot line in this story. The main plot involves Margaret and Bridger. Margaret is a budding author in an era that wants a different life path for her. Bridger is an ex soldier turned publisher. There are other things happening in the story that readers will find interesting. The conversations between the characters are witty and interesting. Readers will love the characters and enjoy the outcome of the story.

This reminded me of Bridgerton combined with Pride and Prejudice. Enemies with their prides prickled and making assumptions about the other. I didn’t like it as much as I was hoping. Mainly I didn’t like it because I absolutely hated Margaret’s aunts. There are also some points where the characters and their actions, or reactions, seem over the top or go by a little too quickly, which feels a bit like whiplash.

I did enjoy that each chapter started with William Shakespeare quotes. I felt it was connected the author to Margaret more. The fact that, while Margaret is a coward to her aunts, she still continued to investigate the mystery. There is no Margaret Arden without books, which made her relatable to me.

Overall, I rate this novel 3.5 out of 5 stars. Rounded up to 4 because NetGalley doesn't do half points.