Look Before You Leap is my first read by Virginia Heath, and I loved it. This book is the second in the Miss Prentice's Protegees series, and it is the story of Lottie and Guy, a most unlikely match. Lottie and Guy literally run into each other while on an early morning ride in Hyde Park in London. Both love horses and riding, and Guy finds himself unable to forget the tall woman who dressed him down and yet found and returned his beloved horse to him after their near collision.

Lottie has recently lost her position as a Governess, and is hired for a challenging position as a ladies' companion to Lady Frinton. She soon finds herself meeting Guy again as her new employer is Guy's aunt, and they head to his estate in Kent as she begins her new position. Lottie and Guy initially clash at every meeting, but find themselves drawn to each other. The more time they spend together, Guy feels like he is able to trust her, and Lottie tries to ignore her deep attraction to Guy. Lottie is also preoccupied by her family's troubles after a major crop on their farm has failed due to blight.

Lady Frinton and Lady Wennington, Guy's mother, soon start plotting a secret house party for Guy's 30th birthday with all invitees being eligible young ladies and their chaperones. They enlist Lottie to help with their planning, but as she gets to know Guy, she has some doubts about whether or not she should tell him about the party. When Guy learns about the house party, he feels betrayed by Lottie and shuts her out entirely.

Soon Guy is surrounded by many overzealous debutantes who compete with each other constantly to gain his attention. These characters provided some comic relief in their aggressive approach to charming Guy in their hopes of a marriage proposal. Guy is completely overwhelmed, but begrudgingly participates in the house party activities to appease his mother.

Ultimately, Guy and Lottie can't resist their attraction to each other. Lottie admires Guy's work and support of his tenants, and Guy deeply respects Lottie's work with his horses, especially her efforts in training his precious and challenging Arabians. After several misunderstandings, and Guy's initial reluctance to trust Lottie, they ultimately fall for each other. Some of the debutantes accuse Lottie of misdeeds, and Lady Wennington fires her and sends her back to London without delay. I didn't enjoy this part of this story, but all ends well and Guy and Lottie find their happily ever after.

I really enjoyed this historical romance, and want to go back and read Virginia Heath's other books. The story was very entertaining, and full of characters who offered a lot of comic relief. Guy and Lottie are a wonderful match and I loved reading their story.

Thank you to Virginia Heath, St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an advance reader's copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Literally LOL'd every chapter. This is book 2 in the Miss Prentice's Protegees series, but could be a stand alone book as well. The dynamic between Guy and Lottie is so enjoyable and it was nice to have a tall female lead in a story! This was a super fast paced book and kept my attention the entire time. One of the ones I just couldn't put down despite the need for sleep!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

A delightfully fun book that has you racing horses and sneaking to the stables. Then chemistry between Lottie and Guy was great, the gumpy old lady that Lottie worked for wasn't near as grumpy as she pretended to be. This is the 2nd novel that I have read by Virginia Heath and I look forward to reading the next in this series of Miss Pretence’s Protégées!

[Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.]

Lord Guy Harrowby wants nothing to do with society - or love. But when his mother throws him a surprise 30th birthday party full of eager debutantes, the only woman who catches his eye is the one who isn't trying to impress him...

Lottie Travers has never been good at following society's rules, and it has cost her yet another job. Now working as a lady's companion, she's determined to tame her ways and help save her family's struggling farm.

Their first meeting? A disaster. Their second? Even worse! Yet no matter how hard they fight it, the pull between them is undeniable. Will their stubborn hearts keep them apart or will they risk breaking more rules for love?
—-
The prologue starts off slow, but if you stick with it, you'll find a fun historical romance that'll make you smile. After all, can you really go wrong with a grumpy viscount and a feisty lady's companion?

I *loved* Guy and Lottie's first meeting! He's brooding and she's bold. There's the perfect amount of tension between them. They are both stubborn and have such playful banter that I couldn't help but immediately find them charming. Guy clearly falls first and he grows so much (the grand gesture at the end? Chef's kiss!).

Guy's mother and aunt also bring a lot of humor to the story (so much meddling!), as do the rest of the background characters. They're all very entertaining and I hope there are future books that feature the other protégés!

Lottie has just been dismissed as a governess, not exactly her fault but she's not completely innocent. As hard as she tries to tamp down her wild ways, it's impossible to avoid them forever, especially when it comes to riding horses. Which is how she literally runs into a man who's also galloping at full speed in a London park. She soon discovers he's Lord Wennington--Guy to those in his circle-- when she's hired to be his aunt's companion and they end up at his estate where the aunt and Guy's mother are determined to throw a week-long party to set him up with eligible young ladies. The more Lottie and Guy are thrown together, the more obvious it becomes that they are kindred spirits, except there's no way for anything to be permanent since she's the hired help. It was a fun romp, though I wish there had been a chapter talking about their life after they got together. I wanted a little more of their happily-ever-after. A funny, fun, and thoroughly engaging story.

Extremely slow paced. Characters were likeable. Very tropey. It gave what it needed to, but the beats and characters weren't very original. Lifted plot points from Bridgerton and P&P. Very verbose, needs another pass at editing because the text was repetitive.

A ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ fun book full of delightful characters, great dialogue and a sweet HEA ending. Just the book I needed in these stressful times. This is the second novel featuring a governess/lady's companion trained at Miss Prentice's School For Young Ladies. Ladies accepted as scholarship students at the school, located in a ritzy area of London, are apparently all beautiful, strong, smart and come from loving families who can not afford to school them. In Look Before You Leap disgraced governess Lottie is hired as a lady's companion to crotchety, elderly Lady Frition who happens to be the aunt of a very eligible crotchety young Lord. While it may seem we've read this story before what stands out in this book is the fun dialogue between these characters. I have a feeling there are more books to come in this series.

The characters in this story are really something. Guy and Lottie fall for each other from the start and love only grows. His Mom and Aunt are as conniving as they come and make the book so interesting and funny.

fun and well-written romance with cool characters and good plotlines. would definitely recommend this one. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Virginia Heath is my go to author for historical romances. "Look Before You Leap" started slowly for me but once Lottie accidentally spilled tomato soup on Guy...I was in! Lottie is a charming ray of sunshine governess who is currently in between jobs, meanwhile, Guy is a stormy cloud who has closed himself off to love due to some public humiliation he experienced when a romantic gesture went wrong. Their paths cross one day when they're both out riding horses and the everything else that ensues has a lot to do with a meddling mother. Overall, if you're looking for a cute and charming historical romance then I recommend you read this one!

Thank you Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and Virginia Heath!

*+:｡.｡“𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓪 𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓬. 𝓤𝓷𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓶𝓮𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓼𝓸. 𝓘 𝓯𝓪𝓲𝓵 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽? 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓭—𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓹𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓱𝓪𝓭— 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓸𝓷𝓮’𝓼 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶 𝓫𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓷 𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷. 𝓓𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾?”｡.｡:+*

As y'all see I unfortunately didn't like it that much, I was hoping for something to give me Bridgerton vibes and this did not deliver. However it's okay if you don't have anything else to read

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕮𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝕯𝖔𝖔𝖗 𝕸𝖔𝖉𝖎𝖋𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

SKIP CHAPTER:27, 29

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚𝕻𝖗𝖊-𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

I think I have a curse that's called "requesting the second book in a series before reading the first "Anyway, huge thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press 🫶🏻

I love a good historical rom com, and Virginia Heath writes some of the best of them! I had such a fun time with Lottie and Guy, I hope they make appearances in upcoming books! And that little twist at the end!? Genius! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my digital ARC!!

I had fun reading this one and easily devoured it in a day. I really liked the developed between the two MCs how they went from hate to friends to love. A great historical romance with some laughs mixed in!

Cutest period romance!! The banter, the yearning, the Colin Firth vibes?! We love a well rounded character arc, and Virginia Heath did not disappoint. I’m obsessed.

Lord Wennington has suffered greatly at the hands of the ton - falling headfirst into love with a conniving girl who rejected him publicly - he has not recovered and now refuses to participate in society’s games. Enter Lottie Travers, a tomboy who unseats the Viscount in a dawn horse-riding incident where both exchange heated words and they are settled as enemies from that point forward. Of course, this only fuels our story, and we find our enemies thrust together when Lottie takes a job as Wennington’s aunt’s companion, and everything heats up from there.

A lovely sophomore installment of Miss Prentice’s Protegees, Lottie and the Lord are adorable and spirited, their romance a slow burn in regency clothing that we are all here for - especially the upstairs/downstairs aspect of it. Enduing meddling aunts and mothers is one of my favorite parts of an ensemble cast story, and this one goes beyond expectations. I really enjoyed this novel and think that this series is perfect for those wanting more Austen-esque titles or to live in a Bridgerton world just for a little while! I look forward to more.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

As always with Virginia Heath books, I was left grinning and with toes curling. Squee! Such a fun, funny book. Seeing Lottie and Guy grow emotionally, both separately and together, was a joy to behold. I can’t wait for Kitty and Portia’s stories! Thanks to SMP for the ARC.

This is a fun regency romance with very likable characters.
It is open door, I just skipped on to the next chapter and didn’t feel like I missed anything significant to the storyline.
I’m looking forward to the next in this series :)

When governess Lottie is let go again from her duties, she decides to take a job as a companion to a feisty old lady. When she attends a house party with her employer, she is shocked to realize her nephew, Guy, is the man she had an altercation with in Hyde Park. Not able to resist each other, Guy must convince Lottie he is serious about her as he simultaneously is trying to avoid marriage minded females his mother invited to the party. I received an ARC from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.

This was solidly good and very cute. The setup and the deception plot sometimes take up so much of the space that the characters themselves get lost, but this was a solidly good and charming romance with a fun premise.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7406693641

Inject this book into my veins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would give anything to read this for the first time again. Absolute sunshine in book form. This is what we mean when we say bring back men who yearn!!!!! This may very well be a perfect book. The meddling aunt and mother, the discussions of class and historical detail, the fun? Not to mention the delight and banter and did I mention fun?? 10/10 incredible book