Members’ Regency Fiction Releases for September 2023

Could love be the most alluring game of all?

Harriet Truchard’s parents are the black sheep of the Ton. Exiled for her father’s notorious duels and cheating, they are back in London, and they have plans for their brilliant daughter.

She can either use her talent with cards to win them a fortune, or she can marry a man of their choosing. Which is out of the question since their choice is nothing but a well-dressed thug.

Until a chance encounter with Viscount Beaufort gives her the chance to escape…

Left with a crippling debt by his late father, Leo Astley, Lord Beaufort opened London’s most elegant gambling house in a desperate effort to keep a roof over their heads. He’s willing to flirt with scandal to save his family, but after a run of strange losses leaves the bank stripped of funds and threatens everything, he needs expert help, and fast.

As they join forces to hunt down the cheats threatening all he holds dear and try to avoid the repercussions of Harriet’s past, Leo and Harriet start to learn that admitting to the spark between them might be the biggest risk of all. Because what’s at stake are their hearts….

Beautiful Jane Bennet, dutiful daughter, and devoted sister, has finally found a man she might wish to marry. Charles Bingley, handsome, amiable, and scattered, fell hard for Jane. Jane’s mother, a tough woman at best, has decreed that Jane must marry one of two men, neither of whom is Mr Bingley.
Jane must decide whether she will obey her mother’s command or face an unknown future. Bingley, unsteady and irresolute, and burdened with a controlling sister must take charge of his life and become the man Jane deserves. Will Bingley persevere, break from his sister’s control and find Jane?
This 90K word novel follows the story of Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley, with Elizabeth and Darcy in supporting roles. “A Most Iniquitous Affair”

Can the festive ball of the Season bring these couples together in time for the holidays? A collection of Regency romances with star-crossed lovers, fast-paced plots and timeless connections …
Cuddling under mistletoe, fine lace, snowy linen, and true love to be found in the flickering light of a hundred gas lamps. Pearler House is bedecked for the holidays and everyone is attending the event of a lifetime. Experience the joy of the season with six all-new tales of passion. Some are sweet, some are spicy, all will capture your heart.

Responding to an urgent plea from a troubled family friend, the Earl of Wrexford journeys to Oxford only to find the reclusive university librarian has been murdered and a rare manuscript has gone missing. The only clue is that someone overheard an argument in which Wrexford’s name was mentioned.

At the same time, Charlotte—working under her pen name, A. J. Quill—must determine whether a laboratory fire was arson and if it’s connected to the race between competing consortiums to build a new type of ship—one that can cross the ocean powered by steam rather than sails—with the potential to revolutionize military power and world commerce. That the race involves new innovations in finance and entrepreneurship only adds to the high stakes—especially as their good friend Kit Sheffield may be an investor in one of the competitors.

As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear—unless they can tie the loose threads together before it’s too late . . .

She plays a part in society. He’s convinced she’s been miscast.

Raised to be a future duchess, Celeste Worsley must marry the duke her grandfather chooses for her. That means staying away from Malcolm Hollandale, one of the infamous self-made Millionaires of Mayfair. The only problem? He’s irresistible, completely unacceptable to her family, and she’s been in love with him since the first time she saw him.

On his hands and knees and covered in his newest attempt to varnish the Drury Lane stage, chemist Malcolm Hollandale tries to ignore the enticing woman everyone calls The Duchess. Celeste is everything he can’t have, but when she needs his help to right a wrong, he can’t refuse her or her plush red lips. A stolen moment leads to a forbidden love that neither can walk away from, but fate has other ideas. Yet, Malcom can’t stop thinking that perhaps this bold, passionate woman might be the perfect formula for achieving all his dreams.

Eleanor Pearson is distressed by the forbidden attraction she feels for her cousin’s betrothed. But she vows to ignore her fascination with the attractive earl and do whatever she can to ensure her cousin’s marriage takes place.

The Earl of Hargrove has no intention of marrying anytime soon. He sets out on a mission of his own to end the surprise arrangement his father revealed to him only on his deathbed.

It doesn’t take him long to realize that Eleanor could be the key to convincing the younger woman to end the betrothal. But his attraction to her threatens his determination to remain a bachelor.

COURTING THE EARL is book 8 in the Landing a Lord series.

The moment Augustus “Augie” Ainsley met Anna Hudson at four years old, he was lost to her sunset curls and flour-dusted nose. But why would Anna want a future footman when she could have the son of a viscount?
To win her affections, Augie needs to make her bakery dream a reality, but that will take a fortune he doesn’t possess. When life takes a turn, Augie follows his friend to the city, and the glittering distractions of London cause him to lose sight of what is most important. Then fate brings him crashing back into Anna’s life, and he’s devastated to learn that his ambitions may have cost him the woman he loves.
Anna is unwilling to abandon her life of contentment for an inconstant suitor. Desperate to convince her that he is the man she needs, Augie resolves to prove she can depend on him. He must find a way to balance his unending work with his undying love or risk losing Anna forever.
The Baker and the Bookmaker is a heartwarming coming-of-age novella by Ally Hudson. If you enjoy Regency romances about friends who become lovers, you will relish this tender and charming story of friendship, first love, and raspberry tarts.

The beautiful and perfect widow Lady Reddener lives an admirable life. With an estate in the country, a house in town, and a considerable fortune, the former Miss Cassandra Hales has no need for a husband to complicate her days. Why does she need a man? She has her mama and sisters, as well as her best friend and neighbour, Marcus Brand, Lord Broadmead. One and all proclaim Cassie the very picture of serenity.

However, Cecilia, Lady Hoxley, matches Cassie’s vibrant and argumentative sister Miss Alexandra “Lexie” Hales with Cecilia’s own brother, the gentle yet charming Mr. Reeve Charington. Thus, Cassie finds herself in the position of chaperon while they court. What is she to do when their constant interactions draw her towards Reeve’s allurement?

Meanwhile, Lexie wishes for a husband who will challenge her in debate, and Mr. Charington seeks harmony. A problem indeed!

When Marcus and Reeve go missing, Cassie’s calm world collapses, and she’s faced with her true passion for Reeve. But could it be too late?

If Reeve and Marcus are found, Cassie must discover whether Reeve shares her admiration. Can Cassie allow herself love when she has sworn herself to a life without a man? What will Cecilia say if another of her matches goes awry?

Book Two of the Cecilia’s Mismatches series is a stand-alone novel.

Digging for the truth requires a person to dirty their hands, but it might also set them free.

Graham Islington—Viscount Aldren—is no stranger to life’s foibles. After being given his title from the Regent for heroic services to the Crown during the war, he’s used his retirement from the military as an excuse to find scandal and sin in the beau monde. But when a rare bejeweled parasol handle once belonging to Louis XVI is discovered in his bed—along with the dead body of a courtesan—he regrets his careless lifestyle.

Lady Caroline Marlowe—sister to the duke of Lockwood—just turned nine and twenty. She suffers from boredom and is sick to death of London, as well as her brother’s rules, and needs excitement to relieve ennui. Everything changes when the man she’s harbored a secret tendre for shows up at her house in the middle of an autumn night trailing gossip, bloodied hands, and quite possibly murder. He demands her brother’s assistance, but with the duke busy with his new life, the responsibility lies with her.

As the two are thrown into a sticky web of revenge, forced proximity leads to forbidden desire between the viscount and Caroline. With reputations at stake, society matrons cutting them to ribbons with gossip, and trouble nipping at their heels, they will need to prove their mettle, especially when the madman grows desperate enough to put Graham’s life into jeopardy. If she wants a romance for the ages, Caroline will have to ignore familial expectations as well as her own doubts and risk everything for that chance… providing they both survive.

An army officer who has returned to his childhood home. An earl’s daughter forced to earn her own living. Two damaged souls who find friendship . . . and love . . .

Lieutenant-General Cyrus Cressley’s head wound leaves him blind in one eye and unsuited to lead men into battle. Selling his commission, Cy returns to Melrose to find his father long dead and his distant brother, who is in poor health, the new Duke of Margate. Cy is given use of the hunting lodge on the estate, where he seeks to find his purpose in life after being forced from the military.

Lady Finola Honeyfield’s come-out was ruined when a cruel trick was played upon her, leaving her to trust no one but her dogs. She retreats to the country and becomes one of England’s premier trainers of English springer spaniels, having found a way to earn her keep, even as she is lost in loneliness.

Thanks to her Honeyfield spaniels, Finola has a chance meeting with Cy. Soon, a friendship springs up between them, with Cy even helping Finola train her current litter of pups. But these two keep secrets from one another and when Cy suddenly finds himself the Duke of Margate, Finola washes her hands of him.

Can Cy convince Finola they are meant to be together and forge a path as the Duke and Duchess of Margate—or will her mistrust of gentlemen of the ton keep them apart forever?

Celebrate Regency romance all year long with this collection of short stories set during holidays and festivals throughout the four seasons! Fans of sweet romance will enjoy stories set from May Day all the way to Twelfth Night, featuring some of your favorite tropes—enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, forbidden love, friends-to-lovers, and more!

No good deed goes unkissed…

Spencer Chow’s life at Northfield Hall is simple. He lives with his family, works at the Northfield Hall carpentry shop, and eats delicious meals at the dining hall. Until one day, he stumbles across a sobbing newcomer Harriet Hill – and changes the course of his life with one good deed.

Harriet Hill is determined to make her new life at Northfield Hall work. When Spencer Chow helps her find a new position – instead of turning her out on the street – Harriet decides to return the favor. Even if the only thing she has to offer the inscrutable Mr. Chow are kissing lessons.

With secrets from her past threatening to emerge, Harriet and Spencer are both surprised by how a simple attraction can grow into complicated feelings.

Enjoy this one-hour read from award-winning author Katherine Grant!

Bookish Lord Whitcombe makes a bold request of ‘The Insatiable Lady’
Lord Daedalus Whitcombe, owner of the most wicked bookshop in London, has been named a scandal and a disgrace by most of good society. A title he revels in as it sells more books and annoys the very devil out of his haughty brother, the duke. His brother’s efforts to close the bookshop become secondary to Lord Whitcombe’s fascination with the shop’s new, in-demand book, A Feast of Fantasies, by The Insatiable Lady. His quest to discover the author’s identity becomes an obsession, for he has a singular request to make of the lady.

Miss Perriton never expected a bookseller to look like Lord Whitcombe
Miss Cordelia Perriton, the very pattern-card of a genteel young lady, has a reputation for her charitable works. Her endeavors on behalf of the fallen women of Seven Dials are lauded, though a bit daring for an unmarried woman of good family. If only society knew she’s The Insatiable Lady, and those fallen women are providing the erotic tales in her sensational book. She means to use the sales to gain financial independence and to establish a home for women who wish to retire from the streets of Seven Dials.

When Lord Whitcombe demands Cordelia submit her next book in person, her irritation moves to fury. The man she’d pictured as an elderly bookish type is instead a sensuously handsome lord. The connection between them is immediate and incendiary when he shocks and intrigues her with a bold request. Her response stuns him to his core.

But when Cordelia’s Seven Dials friends begin to disappear, the couple’s erotic adventure turns deadly. Are they ready to abandon their dreams to save wheat they have or will their nightmares part them forever?

Buy Tutoring the Bookseller today to open a world of desire and suspense!

In need of redemption… Thomas Prestwick, Viscount of Ashbury, has left the thought of love and romance behind. Never again will he allow himself that vulnerability and has, instead, kept himself busy with various vices every fine gentleman of the beau monde indulges in. If only he’d stayed away from the tables at the famed Lyon’s Den gaming hell that night, he might not have been caught up in fate’s unfortunate web, which brought him face-to-face with the past.

In want of vengeance…Miss Olivia Rose Jameson wants nothing to do with men—whether related to her or not. With her parents dead and her worthless brother losing everything of value at the gambling tables, she’s incensed when her hand is bartered for his freedom. That complication will not help her cause of having revenge on the man who killed her best friend, until chance matches her with the object of her ire.

Forgiveness has a way of changing everything… With no choice but to wed at the order of the mysterious Mrs. Dove-Lyon, the pair ushers in the Christmastide season as a married couple. No matter that Ashbury’s heart is locked away and Olivia wishes to carve it from his chest, more than compassion and secrets are shared between the enemies-to-lovers one snowy evening in the viscount’s library. As desire gives way to romance, fate once more intervenes. For one terrible night, everything hangs in the balance, and nothing short of a miracle—or love—can save them.

Because doesn’t the house—and Mrs. Dove-Lyon—always win?

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Dorothea Grantham has always been fascinated by chemistry and spends most days conducting experiments in her laboratory at Grantham Place, staining silk with gold, silver, and other metals using chemical processes.

Thea embroiders the beautiful gold and silver silk shawls she creates and enjoys wearing them, but her grandmother, Lady Longmore, advises her not to reveal to anyone outside the family circle that she has created the fashion items herself, concerned her granddaughter might be seen as an oddity.

When Thea enters Society, her shawls attract a great deal of attention and become the talk of the town. James, Lord Castleroy, takes a particular interest in her work, having inherited a share in his grandfather’s silk mill in Macclesfield.

Eager to invest in the ailing silk industry, the baron studies Miss Grantham’s silks with an admiring—and increasingly suspicious—eye, believing the fabrics to be smuggled imported silk. As he spends more time with the enterprising young lady, however, his interest in her quickly extends beyond his business affairs to engulf his guarded heart.

But Lord Castleroy isn’t the only person in London interested in Thea’s exquisite creations. And when a silken web of intrigue entangles her in real danger, Thea must trust the devotion of a man she never expected—or intended—to fall in love with.

Read Free in Kindle Unlimited!

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Take care not to spill the tea (literally) while we share the latest on-dit (aka dish the dirt) about the Ton, who is courting, and who has been compromised in this collection of Austen-inspired romance stories.

Join us for a turn around the room in stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by the New Romance Café featuring cameos from some of Jane’s most memorable characters (and some we’d like to forget). ALL proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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Henry Dawson, sorcerer and apothecary assistant, works to support his mother and younger siblings after his father’s investments and consequent death leave them penniless. Invited to woo a reclusive heiress with magical empathy, he reluctantly accepts, despite a preference for earning his own way.

Emma Ainsworth fears smallpox scars and her hypersensitivity to others’ thoughts make her ineligible for marriage. Sheltered by her aunt and uncle, she has withdrawn from most social life and wears a veil whenever she must go out.

When a serious injury confines Henry to Emma’s estate for the summer, a verbal duel ensues—Emma wants to test her empathy in a sexual relationship, not marry him. What neither admits is their fear that passion might burn them both.

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The loss of Col’s damning journal pages is about to turn deadly;
The forfeit of Charlotte’s closely guarded secrets might destroy her;
Will their mutual quest for justice bring them together, or tear them apart?

By night, she’s a masked chess mistress who challenges and trounces all takers; by day, she’s the ethereal white-blonde beauty who volunteers at the children’s refuge in Seven Dials — Charlotte Smythe lives a luxurious double life of ease as the mysterious chess genius at Goodrum’s House of Pleasure..

After spending years as a gifted investigator extricating others from their peccadillos, dedicated Bow Street runner Archer Colwyn has landed in a suds of his own making. The light-hearted journal of sensual exploits he and his school chums kept while students at Cambridge has gone missing, and the secrets within his particular pages, if revealed, could set off deadly consequences.

The dangerous Captain El Goodrum, proprietress of the most infamous house of pleasure in London, holds the key to their retrieval. In exchange for her cooperation, she demands he run a gauntlet of secrets to deliver a master criminal to justice. His only path to the damning pages is the inscrutable chess mistress who not only resents his attempts to romance away his journal pages, but seems to relish his dread and panic at the prospect of the pages becoming public knowledge.

Charlotte craves the kind of refuge she provides to the orphans she rescues from London’s stews. The respite she seeks away from the world in her St. John’s Wood villa with her two house companions is all that keeps her sane, but sometimes, late at night, she needs something more, something even she cannot name.

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The irresistible Kendrick clan returns in the latest Scottish-set historical romance from the USA Today bestselling author—a witty, sensuous and adventure-filled romp that will delight Regency fans and readers of Sabrina Jeffries and Victoria Alexander. Charlotte “Charlie” Stewart would rather don a kilt and ride her horse than simper in a ballroom. But with her younger sister about to be wed, she can’t escape the pressure to be next. A husband has been chosen, and Charlie’s fate seems set. Until an afternoon gallop sends her horse colliding with Kade Kendrick, the broad-shouldered Highlander who was once her childhood pal . . .

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Can two people who have learned how to fight for all they want and win push pride aside to save their love and their marriage?

Miss Priscilla Taunton has little to commend her. No looks, no titled family, no savoir faire. But her fortune can buy her a husband if she’s brave enough to use it.
Cilla has struggled to make a new life for herself. Years of ridicule and suppression at the hands of her parents mean she has had to live down the scurrilous reputation her elders cast upon her. But after creating herself anew, Cilla needs a husband of good cheer and spotless reputation. To make that a reality, she’ll use her money, all of it, if necessary, to hire Mrs. Dove-Lyon—and ask for herself only one special reward.

Captain Valerian Anderleigh has always won every battle. Hailed by his superiors as honorable, revered by his men as heroic, he is a legend.
When Val returns home from the wars to assume his family’s title, he meets challenges for which no battlefield prepared him. His estate is flooded. His stepmother and her two daughters spend every penny. His younger brother runs wild.
Val will do anything to resurrect his family’s pride. Even enter the Lyon’s Den and assume a terrible burden. Surprisingly, marrying a lovely, lonely woman becomes not a challenge but a greater joy than he anticipated.

Losing the love of his life in defeat is not an option.