The Ideal Countess by Katherine Grant
Publisher & Release: Self-Published, 10 January, 2020
Time and setting: Regency England
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 232 Pages
Heat Level: 1 Flame
Rating: 5 Gold Crowns
Book Description:
In this Regency Romance, an eager debutante is caught between the notorious Duke of Cornwall and her childhood friend, the Earl of Windemere.
London, 1810
Alice never dreamed her Season would go this well. She has beautiful dresses, new friends, and she has caught the eye of the most dashing bachelor in London, the Duke of Cornwall.
But her friend, Hugh Osborne, the Earl of Windemere, is concerned the duke’s attentions towards Alice aren’t completely honorable. While she dreams of marrying the impossible duke, Hugh scrambles to find a way to protect her - and win her heart - before Alice’s reputation is dashed to pieces.
London, 1810
Alice never dreamed her Season would go this well. She has beautiful dresses, new friends, and she has caught the eye of the most dashing bachelor in London, the Duke of Cornwall.
But her friend, Hugh Osborne, the Earl of Windemere, is concerned the duke’s attentions towards Alice aren’t completely honorable. While she dreams of marrying the impossible duke, Hugh scrambles to find a way to protect her - and win her heart - before Alice’s reputation is dashed to pieces.
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Vikki’s Musings
Thanks goes to the author for inviting me to read and review The Ideal Countess, a Regency historical romance. My opinions are my own and are not influenced in any way. This is Ms. Grant’s debut novel, and I’m so glad I accepted her kind offer.
The Ideal Countess is a delight Regency with many of the aspects I love most in this particular sub-genre of romance. The characters have excellent depth, and I felt I really could understand them. Ms. Grant’s writing flows well and the pacing is great.
Alice is a charming heroine, and I became vested in her character right away. While at times, I did want to shake her for being unable to see the Duke of Cornwall as the cad he was, I could understand how it was hard to believe the warnings from someone who had a reason to warn her off.
Hugh Osborne is a beta hero, and one I quite adored from the beginning. He’s brilliant and has that odd quirkiness that what today we would call a computer geek. The man loves his mathematics and figuring out new ways to help the common man with his inventions.
What starts as a way to appease his mother, quickly turns into his heart’s desire, which completely baffles him at first. He’s known Alice since they were in leading strings, so he never imagined the attraction he feels toward her could be so strong.
I loved the romance between the hero and heroine. They’re actually quite perfect for each other. Although it takes Alice much longer to recognize her attraction for Hugh, it’s because the villain of this piece preys on her naïveté, complimenting her, encouraging her to believe he’s serious. However, let’s just say her eyes become open to him. I don’t want to give anything away, so I shall say no more.
If you enjoy a good Regency romance with characters that will pull on your heart strings and a plot that is different than so many historical romances, then you will enjoy The Ideal Countess as much as I did. I’m amazed by the talent in this debut novel and will be looking for more books by Katherine Grant. Happy reading!
Excerpt:
Miss Alice Winpole’s first ball was almost everything she had dreamed it would be.
There was the footman at the door, bellowing ancient family names so she could peer over at the viscounts and barons and even one duke as they entered. There was the string quartet in the corner that never played a note out of tune, unlike the overeager fiddlers her mother hired for their country parties; the instrumentalists featured an olive-toned violinist who Alice was sure had been imported straight from Milan. There were ladies swathed in precious silks and gentlemen in their richest suits. Couples young and old slipped through double doors for fresh air on the Romanesque patio. Alice’s mother had even whispered that there were orange-flavored ices in the refreshment room.
For a first ball, it was surpassing all of Alice’s expectations, which were quite considerable since she’d been hearing about the splendor of the Season for the entirety of her seventeen years. The ball was perfect, in every way except one.
Alice had not yet been asked to dance.
Her parents, the Baron and Baroness of Eastley, had coached her on this. For the exact same amount of time that Alice had been hearing about balls, she had also been happily ensconced in their country seat of Bleneccle Manor. While her father undertook the five-day journey to London a few times a year, it was far too long—and far too likely that a coach wheel would break and the ladies would be stranded in a one-room inn—for him to invite the family along. Her mother had warned Alice that since they were so remote in their corner of the north, it would take a few weeks to properly introduce Alice so that gentlemen could ask her to dance. Alice had been fully prepared to stand against the wall during her first ball for one or two dances.
But things were not going according to plan. Alice and her mother were supposed to have arrived a full week before this first ball of the season, thrown by the Marchioness of Leighstor, so that her mother could take Alice around on morning calls to meet the matrons of society. But first a wretched rainstorm had delayed the start of their journey by two days, and then on the highway through Nottinghamshire a carriage wheel did break. The carriage-maker in town was laid up with what Lady Eastley called an unmentionable disease, so they had to wait another two days for the fix. By the time Alice set eyes on London – loud, messy London – there had been barely enough time to present her to the queen much less anybody else.
And so, Lady Eastley and Lord Eastley had deposited Alice against the very wall where she still stood before melting into the crowd to find her some dance partners. Playing the part of Marriage Mama, Lady Eastley chatted with fellow matrons, angling for introductions to their sons or nephews or brothers in hopes she could then introduce said gentlemen to Alice. Lord Eastley, meanwhile, had decamped to the cluster of males in the card room, promising to send every eligible male her way.
Alice had more faith in her father. While Lady Eastley was pretty and polite, she didn’t have many connections, and she far preferred chatting over tea to rubbing elbows with London’s ton. In the ballroom, she was being relegated to the quietest of conversation circles. In contrast, Lord Eastley knew more people in London, and he was the type of friendly boisterous that made people want to like him. Many times at home, Alice had observed a tenant or laborer come to Papa with a complaint, only for the man to leave laughing with a compromise as a solution.
Yet despite her parents’ efforts, the caller had already announced the first minuet, a quadrille, and a polka, and Alice remained with no introductions. She glanced at her dance card as fellow debutantes walked arm-in-arm with gentlemen to start the polka. At the start of the evening, she’d written her name at the top in her brightest lettering, excited to see the card fill up. Now there were only eight more dances until supper, and every line was still blank. Indeed, the card itself was beginning to shrivel from all her fidgeting. Soon there wouldn’t be a way for gentlemen to claim a dance, even if they wanted to.
Author Bio:
I've been a storyteller for as long as I can remember. Before I knew how to read and write, I acted out stories (original and retellings of my favorite Disney movies) with Barbies. Around the third grade, I started writing my own stories in notebooks, and I finished my first novel in seventh grade on my dad's old laptop.
Since then, I've been a writer. I got a degree in creative writing from Northwestern University, moved to New York City, and "daylight" as a marketer.
WHY ROMANCE?
It came first from my love as a reader. I read on my subway commute every day, but it's only when I'm on a romance kick that I literally cannot stop reading. I once spent an entire Memorial Day weekend reading 2 books a day!
When I decided to try my hand at writing a romance, the words literally flowed. I have so much fun writing these stories that I never, ever want to stop.
Since then, I've been a writer. I got a degree in creative writing from Northwestern University, moved to New York City, and "daylight" as a marketer.
WHY ROMANCE?
It came first from my love as a reader. I read on my subway commute every day, but it's only when I'm on a romance kick that I literally cannot stop reading. I once spent an entire Memorial Day weekend reading 2 books a day!
When I decided to try my hand at writing a romance, the words literally flowed. I have so much fun writing these stories that I never, ever want to stop.
Social Media:
Website: https://katherinegrantromance.com/?utm_source=vikkivaught&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=review
Amazon Author Page: https://smile.amazon.com/Katherine-Grant/e/B082TQRTRM?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000
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