Sweet grumpy-once-burned-twice-shy viscount meets fun-loving farmers daughter-turned-companion with a touch of loathe-to-love and a hint of spice 🔥

It took me a while to warm to the characters (their first impressions weren't great), and I didn't love how we got to the ending. This brought it down one star, but overall it was a fun romp. I did really like their friendship and banter once they warmed to each other (and me) as well as his declaration scene. I also liked how the class difference was never even a consideration for him and he was a good and honorable man under the grouchy exterior.

This was a really cute book. Guy is about to turn 30 and his mother insists on a birthday party. Meanwhile Lottie has been let go from her governess position and needs another job. She grew up on a farm and was given the opporunity to train as a governess/companion but hasn't given up all of her wild ways. She often flirts her way into borrowing horses from grooms (which caused her to get let go from her previous job), and one day she ends up running into Guy and he gets mad at her but they cannot forget each other.

Lottie ends up being hired by Guy's aunt (unbeknownst to her) as a companion. When the birthday party is planned, they end up driving to Guy's country house and "helping". The 3 women plan a more involved birthday party for Guy and invite many eligible women to come for a week and get to know him. Guy and Lottie bond on their love of horses and their interest in each other.

I thought all the characters were cute (except for the annoying debutantes of course) and was really rooting for Guy and Lottie. My only complaints were the story was really rushed at the end, and there were a few instances where Heath uses some more contemporary language that kind of takes you out of the historical aspects of the story (like how she starts talking about "ice cream" when Gunther's serves "ices"), I didn't love the rushed excited scene at the end with Guy and Lottie's friends but overall I really liked this book.

I received an advanced copy and am giving an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I hadn’t read the first book and now I wish I would’ve because I really love this authors writing and the characters she created. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything, I just want more of the story since I’m book crushing hard. I had a total book crush with the main characters Lottie and Guy and their banter reminded me of myself and my husband. Lottie is head strong and sassy and even though Guy hates those traits he also finds them completely irresistible. Guys mother has made a very bold statement that she wants Guy married by 30 so he can give her a grandchild but all the women who throw themselves at the viscount are not for him. Lottie is a simple companion but the heart wants what the heart wants, and every part of Guy knows Lottie is for him. Now to convince the little spitfire that they belong together….

A lighthearted book with a romance between a working class woman and a stuck up Duke. This book is great for people who love horses, as they are an integral part of the story and the main characters are horse people. I enjoyed the side characters, especially the "mean" lady who is actually hilarious. The dynamics between characters were interesting and peppy. This book is good for people who like Alexandra Vasti books. It would be a good beach read.

This was a witty and entertaining read! In the beginning the characters reminded me of Kate and Anthony from Bridgeton season 2 (minus the whole sister-betrothed plot line). I appreciated the humor, as well as the male main character’s development, pick this one up if you’re in the mood for a very entertaining regency era book!

Thank you St. Martin's Griffin for providing this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own!

Really bad! I found ALL of the characters, including the numerous side characters, extremely insufferable. Constantly mentioning how the heroine is a "ray of sunshine" and the hero is a "grumpy storm cloud" is lazy characterization and we deserve better. There are a thousand other historical romances you should spend your time with.

I love all of Virginia Health's books and this was no exception. I loved the main character and felt very connected with her in terms of her challenges with impulse control and love of the outdoors. I thought the romance was well-developed and seemed plausible. I laughed out loud at some of the trials and tribulations that occurred during the house party! My favorite character was Lottie's companion and enjoyed the inclusion of quirky and well rounded women characters of all ages. A highlight was how strongly the relationships between the secondary characters were developed and I felt as though each character was multidimensional rather than just the main two. I would recommend this to my friends to read to relax and escape!

This is the second book in a new Regency romance series...of which I am always a sucker for. This one follows governess Lottie who is hired as a companion for an elderly curmudgeonly woman, and Guy, a disgruntled viscount and the nephew of said elderly curmudgeonly woman. The two have a chance encounter in Hyde Park early one morning while riding horses (hello Kate and Anthony) and then meet again when Lottie joins her employer at her nephew's home in Kent for his birthday.

It's a very cute story and I loved the banter and development between Lottie and Guy.
However, there was a lot of toxic stereotyping in this book. I know it's a Regency Historical romance, but typically, ones written in modern times are a bit more progressive rather than regressive in it's stereotyping of men and women. This one made some very blanket statements about men and women and it took away some allure of the book.

Still, I enjoyed Lottie and Guy and especially enjoyed the Big Grand Romantic Gesture of the book :)

I liked the first book in the series more, but this was still a fun follow-up, and I am looking forward to the next two books in the series featuring Kitty and Portia, the last two Miss Prentice girls!

'Look Before You Leap' is an engaging and witty Regency from Virginia Heath. Guy is a Viscount satisfied to stay in the country, far away from his London social failure many years previous. Lottie, raised by her widower father with three brothers, has been trained by Miss Prentice as a governess but has repeatedly been let go because of her reckless behavior in riding her employers horses astride and without permission. The first meeting of Guy and Lottie is horse related, and that theme permeates the relationship as a last ditch hire as Guy's Great Aunt's companion puts them in close proximity. The surrounding characters are enjoyable, and the push by Guy's mother to get him married by his 30th birthday provides the background for the story. I could have done without the explicit sex, I felt it was completely unnecessary to an otherwise satisfying story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Enjoyable book with a lot of laughs. I enjoyed the romance. If you are in the mood for a lighter comedy then this is a good one.

I hadn't read any Virginia Heath before, but I hope to read more of her work. Of course I got an arc of the second book in the series, but I truly felt that I didn’t miss out on much and I was able to follow along. This historical romance was just was I needed: something light, fun, low stakes, and a lot of wit. I overall really loved Guy and Lottie, it was fun to see their romance blossom. I also loved the side characters of Guy’s mother and aunt.

Romance tropes:
-grumpy/sunshine
-second chance romance

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

I was extremely fortunate to receive an ARC of Look Before You Leap written by Virginia Heath, from Netgalley and voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of the story. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This is the second book in Miss Prentice's Protégées series, and can be read as a stand alone. We meet Charlotte Travers, Lottie to her close friends, a remarkable horse-woman who has recently lost her governess job, due to her unladylike comportment. She finally lands a job as a companion to a rambunctious older lady, who just happens to be the aunt of Guy Harrowby, Viscount Wennington, someone Lottie inadvertently ran down and collided with while riding a horse as if the hounds of hell were behind her. Guy has a fear of crowds, especially after a failed public proposal in which he was humiliated. Unfortunately for him, his mother and aunt have devised a plan to throw him a surprise birthday party (which he abhors) and enlists the help of Lottie. Lottie and Guy have had many unforeseen and unfortunate disasters occur almost every occasion they have met/collided. I love this story, the banter, the developing characters and especially the rapport between all the family, including Lettie's is so well described and natural. A must read!

I think this book is fine but just ultimately not for me (and that’s ok)! The internal monologues are a liiiitle long for me and I find the the things the characters say to be slightly out of sync with the period, but overall this is a fun, cheerful book, and some out there will love it.

I received an ARC for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the E-arc!

This was such a fun read! Grumpy x sunshine and so so romantic. I'm not usually a historical romance reader, but Virginia Heath has hooked me on her stories! They are easy to read and don't feel as "dated" as some histrom does.

This book was so lovely and fun! I’m a huge fan of regency style romcoms and this hit all the right notes for me. I loved both our MC’s, and I felt like the setting the book started with was unique with her training to become a worker for the ton basically. I don’t think I’ve read anything like that before. The writing was easy to follow, the banter was great, and there were some truly funny moments! I enjoyed it.

This was my first Heath, so I can’t compare it to her other works, only to historical romance in general. That said, I don’t think Look Before You Leap is a strong example of what the genre can do. While the central story is sweet and the characters are enjoyable, the book leans too heavily on “telling” rather than “showing,” even from the very start.

The opening scene introduces Lottie, caught by her headmistress for sneaking out for an early morning ride—a reckless impulse supposedly fueled by a fierce desire to feel free. However, we never *see* this in action, which means we only have her word to go on—a word that isn’t very reliable, given that she spends the entire scene lying to a kind headmistress with her fingers crossed behind her back. As a result, it’s hard not to side with those chastising her behavior. Imagine if, instead, the book opened with Lottie riding breakneck through London at dawn, wind whipping through her hair, the horse’s hooves pounding against the streets as the city sleepily starts its day. It would have been a much more effective bit of characterization and setting, *showing* us why she cherishes that feeling of freedom so much.

Our hero, Guy, on the other hand, *does* get this kind of scene—one that is enjoyable and well-written—but feels redundant given his existing privileges. As a titled man in Regency England, he already has immense power and freedom (despite his mother’s meddling and his personal hang-ups about the ton’s opinion of him). Plus, we already "see" his independent streak in how he runs his estate, essentially living as a farmer and rubbing elbows with the locals.

This habit of telling rather than showing wasn’t a one-time misstep; it’s present throughout the novel, even in descriptions. As a devoted romance reader, I know how much this genre loves adjectives (and I'm here for it), but lines like “She wasn’t just a dazzling ray of sunshine and a fizzing ball of energy. She was a breath of fresh air, too” fall flat without action to back them up.

That said, there are moments of gold here—Lottie’s carriage ride with Lady Frinton being one of them. The dialogue sparkled and the pacing was truly delightful. The gosling scene in the pond was equally charming, beautifully showing why these two characters are kind and decent people who deserve one another. I found myself wishing the rest of the novel could maintain the energy of these scenes but, sadly, it did not and I spent the final 25% skimming the text and wondering where the editor was.

Many thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a funny, frothy romp. I didn’t love everything about the plot, but it was a fun read nonetheless. Lottie was an absolute hoot, and I hope Guy can loosen up enough in their fictional future to deserve her. Thanks to @netgalley and @smpromance for the ARC.

This story is a delightful concoction of charming elements: horseback rides through the countryside, a plucky, unconventional companion, a feisty older lady who’s as cantankerous as she is lovable, and a matchmaking mother who stirs up just the right amount of chaos. It’s a playful, grumpy-sunshine romance that will make you smile at every turn. While these ingredients certainly bring joy, I did feel the focus on lust occasionally overshadowed the blossoming love story. With all the daydreaming and physical obsession, it became a little difficult to believe that love, in its truest sense, was the driving force behind their connection—an essential ingredient for me in any romance. That being said, the chemistry between the leads was undeniably fun, and the aunt and mother brought plenty of charm and humor to the table. The sections involving horses were a particular highlight, filled with vivid imagery and passion. On the flip side, some of the vernacular felt a bit off—repeated references to the main character’s family as "the menfolk" became rather jarring and didn't quite resonate with the rest of the narrative tone.
Having adored Heath's Merriwell Sisters series and the first book in this series, I was hardly surprised to find myself enchanted by this one as well. It’s a wonderful addition to the collection, brimming with amusing antics and delightful moments. Though I would have loved to see more of Georgina and Henry, their wedding was hastily wrapped up in just a page, leaving me longing for more of their journey. Overall, it’s a fantastic read and a great contribution to the series.

After losing her governess position, the impulsive and effervescent FMC Lottie is hired as a lady’s companion by Lady Fenton – a curmudgeonly but sassy older lady (think Lady Danbury of Bridgerton or the Dowager of Downton Abbey). Lottie accompanies her new employer to a country estate where Lady Fenton will help her sister with the planning for her nephew’s upcoming birthday party. The nephew, Guy, is a grumpy viscount who has sworn off love and is only begrudgingly on board with (what he thinks will be) a small birthday celebration. Guy and Lottie’s enemies-to-lovers, grumpy-sunshine story arc is set in motion through a series of collisions – the first as strangers colliding on horseback, and the second shortly after Lottie’s arrival at Guy’s estate where they recall their previous meeting and mutual dislike. The story that follows is full of humorous (and sometimes embarrassing) scenarios, banter, and amusing supporting characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to fans of regency romance and strong, feminist-leaning female main characters. The book is the second in the author’s “Miss Prentice’s Protégées” series but can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.

As with other books by this author, Look Before You Leap was full of great banter and entertaining supporting characters. One of the highlights of this book for me was how the MMC and FMC got to know each other’s families on their own during the development of their relationship, and how that increased their understanding of one another. My very favorite page of the book was the description of the FMC & MMC’s first kiss from the FMC’s perspective and how it was different than any she had previously experienced.

I only have two minor criticisms of the book. The first is that I wish there had been more Longbottom in the book – he was great in each of the instances he appeared. I was somewhat disappointed by the actions of some of the characters involved in the third act conflict, however I also understand that the conflict was used to set up the grand gesture and HEA.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Virginia Heath for the digital ARC – this was my first ARC review! I hope to see Lottie’s friends get their own books so that I can read more of this series.

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, brooding hero/sworn off relationships, different social classes
Rating: 4.5/5 (rounded up)
Spice: 2/5

ARC from NetGalley. I LOVED this book! It is a fun regency rom-com that any romance fan would be glad to read. I really enjoyed the back and forth between the main characters. There is a Darcy/Lizzy vibe between them. It’s just so good and really funny at times.