Torquil "Quill" Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, is very upset that his aunt left her property to four unmarried bluestocking spinsters. He is racing down to find out what is going on (and possibly block his aunt's will) when his carriage breaks down and he has to stop at an inn. There he sees a young woman, obviously a governess, trying to get on the mailcoach but she refuses to leave her bags and the coach driver says that they are too full to take them with. When Quill finds out she is Aphrodite "Ivy" Wareham, one of the heiresses, he reluctantly offers her a ride. On the way, they get to know each other better (even though he starts off as a pompous jerk). Once they get to the property, they not only meet the other heiresses, they discover that Quill's cousin is there as well to act as chaperone. Oh, and Ivy gets a note that the aunt thinks she was murdered and Ivy should work with Quill to figure out what's going on.
The romance for me was just a little too fast. Happy Ever After in just a couple of days? Meh. I like to see a relationship unfold. And the whole book went just a little too fast for me, glossing over several parts. But overall this is an enjoyable read that regular Collins readers will enjoy. I'm looking forward to the next one.

Three and a half stars
This book came out January 3

This was a very thrilling read for all those who love Ms Collins' books. The author has done it again with witty characters, mystery and of course romance. Torquil Beauchamp is one big, handsome man who thinks highly of himself. Being the bossy, pompous aristocrat that he is, he finds one woman on his journey who will turn his world upside down.
Quill (nickname) has found out about his late aunt's estate that has been bequeathed to bluestocking women. His destination is a village in Little Seaside to oust the people who might be frauds. He meets Lady Aphrodite Wareham at the inn in which he is staying, is having problems of her own. She gets help from Quill from toting luggage to offering her a ride in his carriage after he finds out who she is. Ivy to her friends, has been selected to live at the Lady Celeste's home to fulfill her destiny.
She is really excited to go, but one man doesn't seem to be of the same mind. Quill has set out to help the stranded lady and find out what she's about. No good can come from this encounter, but there is something intriguing about Ivy that sets Quill's blood to heat.
This is one quite involved romance with two opposites who attract, and their adventures to get to who killed Lady Celeste. It will take the two of them to solve this, but love will be the end result to finding happiness.
I appreciate Net Galley for this ARC title in which I gave an honest review.

Torquil (Quill) Beauchamp, the Marquess of Kerr is traveling from London to the southern coast to keep some women from taking everything from his late Aunt Celeste’s home, Beauchamp House. During his journey, his coach breaks down and he gets caught in a deluge of rain on his way to an Inn.

At the Inn, a pretty lady drops a trunk full of books at his feet. While she is obviously impoverished, he assumes she is a governess traveling to her job But when she is accosted by a ruffian, he steps in and defends her. He soon finds she is not a governess but a scholar.

Miss Aphrodite (Ivy) Wareham introduces herself and Quill soon learns she is one of the women heading to Beauchamp House. It appears that Aunt Celeste had always been interested in learning about many things and admired young women who were scholars in different areas. When Celeste died, she left her home to 4 young women scholars. The plan is a competition among the 4 women scholars who much complete a project within a year that is significant to the work of female scholars and artists. The winner will inherit Beauchamp House.

Quill is quite angry about this and lets Ivy know that he thinks it is wrong and he won’t allow it. He plans to do all he can to keep Ivy and the other young women out of the House.

Upon arrival at the House, Quill is surprised to find Ivy welcomed by Miss Sophia Hastings and her sister, Miss emma Hastings, along with Lady Daphne Forsythe. All of the women are scholars and believe they are heirs of Celeste. Quill’s cousin, Lady Serena Fanning, will stay at the House during that time. Arguably, Serena has spent more time sigh Celeste than Quill has and she feels she knows what her aunt would have wanted for the House. Thus, Quill finds he has no legal say in the matter.

When Ivy settles in for her first night in the House, she discovers a letter to her from the late Aunt Celeste saying she fears someone is trying to kill her and she trusts Ivy to find out who her murderer is. Soon, Ivy and Quill form a sort of truce so both of them can discover how his aunt died. As they work together, they become attracted to one another which soon turns to love. But danger lurks as they discover that actually two people have been murdered. Whom will be next?

I admit that I had a hard time deciding how to rate this book. Some of the story was good, although a bit far-fetched at times, and I found I was left with some unanswered questions. However, I feel that the book is meant to be a bit light-hearted so I decided to be kind in my rating. Manda Collins is a new-to-me author and I am looking forward to trying more of her novels.

Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thanks St. Martin's Press and netgalley for this ARC.

This series is fresh, exciting, and something to look forward to reading next. The romance has just the right amount of sweet and sassy. Camaraderie, mystery, intrigue, and passion make this one of my favorite new series!

Welcome to Beauchamp House where for the next year four intelligent ladies will be given the dream opportunity of studying their chosen field… and perhaps fall in love as well.

I adored Ready Set Rogue and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of this series. Four intelligent, charming women have the use of a beautiful estate for a year to study what their heart desires… unheard of in this time period. And they will definitely take full advantage of this surprising gift from Lady Celeste.

However, Lady Celeste’s nephew, Quill doesn’t quite see it in the same light and strongly suspects that these so called ladies have tricked his beloved aunt into some grand scheme. One stubborn, arrogant yet handsome rogue is about to learn a few lessons from the best teacher of all – the woman he never expected to fall in love with, and one of those so called ladies.

Ivy suspects that Lady Celeste was murdered. Oh, she’s greatly indebted by the generous gift of a year to study her passion, but something is not quite right about all of this. She needs some help in solving this mystery and who better than the annoying nephew who she doesn’t want to be attracted to in the least – but we don’t always get what we think we want.

Secondary characters matter to me and Ready Set Rogue gave me a lot to look forward to in the rest of this series. All of our bluestocking ladies are interesting, even when the focus was on Ivy for this story. There are suspects galore and a few twists that will keep you guessing right up until the reveal.

I liked Ivy and Quill as a couple, yes there were tensions at first but soon their natural attraction to each other came forward. Their chemistry and actual like for each other, in addition to their love for each other stole my heart.

I am definitely looking forward to Duke With Benefits coming to us in June 2017.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this novel. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this story.*

Torquil Beauchamp the Marquis of Kerr is rushing to the home of his dead aunt, determined to throw out the upstart women who his aunt left the property to. They must have schemed in some way to persuade her to leave it to them rather than the family. After a delay and a chance meeting he finds there is a lot more behind his aunt's actions.
Miss Aphrodite Wareham (Ivy) is one of the four blue stockings who are to inherit the wonderful house and scholarly collections from a woman who wanted educated young ladies to be able to continue their studies.
When Ivy gets there she finds special instructions from the Lady she had never met.
A fascinating historical romance with an intriguing murder, mystery thrown in. You can't help but be drawn in to the lives of all the wonderful strong characters. Lots of humour, scandalous behaviour and a touch of danger make this a great read. I loved every page and can't wait to read the next in the series.

A simple premise becomes the base for the scandals (at least in society’s eyes of this series. Beauchamp House, formerly owned by Lady Celeste, has been set at the center of a story in which one of the four young women, all scholarly and impressive in their pursuits, has a chance to win the house and al it entails. Ivy is a Linguist, Daphne is a Mathematician, Sophia is an Artist and Gemma studies Fossils. The four are to reside in the house for a year, with their chaperone Serena.

Torquil is the nephew of Lady Celeste, and is convinced that the women (with the exception of his cousin Serena) somehow conspired to improve their lot and gain the estates of his late aunt. And he is determined to discover the truth behind the will, and oust the women.

There were many things to absolutely adore about this story: the 4 Bluestockings were wonderfully developed and cleverly portrayed. Each has a unique style of approaching life and their own studies, and they all do truly dream of having complete lives, not simply ostracized because of their differences from the more conventional women of their day.

The story takes flight with the mystery as Quill and Ivy, spurred on by a letter written by the late Celeste, and the two investigate. It’s an interesting moment when Quill realizes that Ivy is helpful, and has solid ideas backed by a determination to find the truth. Although not as completely of his time in terms of his attitudes toward women, he is genuinely surprised with the no-nonsense approach that Ivy has in hunting down clues and ferreting out the truth behind Celeste’s death.

What didn’t come as naturally for me was the romance between the two. It was an instant and headlong rush to the bedroom, and the interplay between them was far more cerebral and less emotional than I would have hoped for it to be. They didn’t know one another, and both stumbled over the emotional sharing. Biographies were easy, but he deeper emotional content was missing, nearly to the end. It didn’t, however, diminish the clever plot, the wonderful secondary characters and the wonderful twists and turns as the culprit was found.

A lovely introduction to the four (or perhaps five) women who will comprise the series: and I’m curious to see how each woman’s story will unfold.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was not familiar with author Manda Collins when I received the opportunity to read Ready Set Rogue, which is the first book in her new series entitled Studies in Scandal. That being said, I love historical romances set during the Regency, so I was very excited to discover a new author.

Ivy Wareham is a thorough bluestocking. She has been invited to Beauchamp House at the request of the late Lady Celeste Beauchamp to spend a year conducting research in Greek poetry. Ivy is not the only young lady invited to Beauchamp House; there are four ladies in total, and each has her own preferred field of study. While none of the four women were expecting this bequest, it comes as a pleasant surprise, and everyone is looking forward an idyllic year.

There is just one problem: Lady Celeste’s nephew- Quill Beauchamp The Marquess of Kerr- has also found out about his aunt’s odd bequest and has travelled to Beauchamp House to put a stop to the madness. He is convinced that the four young bluestockings have conspired to trick his beloved aunt into leaving them the house. Quill does realize the error of his ways, but not after Ivy confides in him and tells him that Lady Celeste may have been murdered.

Naturally, as the duo begin to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Lady Celeste’s death, they begin to grow closer. However, they are perhaps a little too astute, and there may be someone lurking in the shadows who is determined to stop them before they uncover the truth.

Ready Set Rogue is a lovely book. I loved the chemistry between Quill and Ivy. It’s very natural, and it doesn’t seem forced. Despite the seriousness of a murder investigation, I loved that the book had an overall light tone, and that Collins does not shy away from poking fun at some of the stereotypical tropes of the genre that occur over the course of the novel. Speaking of the mystery portion, I thought it was very well done and I was quite surprised when the villain of the piece was finally unmasked.

I would absolutely recommend Ready Set Rogue. I especially enjoyed the secondary characters. Collins does a wonderful job of introducing the heroines of the future entries in the Studies in Scandal series. The rapport between the women was part of what made this book so fun. Lady Daphne was especially charming; she stole more than one scene with her candor, and I am just so delighted that she is scheduled to appear as the heroine of the second book- Duke with Benefits! I’m happy that I have discovered a new author, and I’m looking forward to reading more from Manda Collins!

I cannot tell you how excited I was when I heard Manda had a new series coming up. It was worth the wait. This series is going to be a keeper to read again and again. Four young ladies each with their own specialty, mathematics, art, archaeologically and ancient languages. The first one is about Ivy, considered a Blue Stocking due to her obsession and knowledge of Ancient Languages. She has become one of four beneficiaries to the estate of a Female Scholar who passed away. So she packs up her belongings and heads to Beauchamp House.

Lord Torquil Beauchamp, the Marquess of Kerr is on his way to his late aunt's estate to stop a bunch of thief's from stealing a place where all of his happy memories occurred when he was young. Quill as he is called, is a handsome rich nobleman who has never had trouble charming the ladies, but these ladies are not like most and he finds himself in a situation that rapidly descends into something he has never experienced before.

This story is classic Manda Collins, her writing is witty, smart and is full of surprises. It usually doesn't take me four chapters to the end of the book to figure out who is the villain, but this one did. Ivy is a strong, determined, dare I say stubborn young lady who finds herself falling for Quill and has no problem taking him to bed, even though she is a virgin. She is after all a scholar and the more you know. Quill has fallen for Ivy and knows that he is going to marry her, he just has to convince her. This is a truly wonderful romance that pairs two individuals who have found their soul mates. They just have to stay alive to live happily ever after.

I recommend this book to all Historical Romance Readers.
Received Complimentary copy from Publisher for honest review.