Kate Matcham needs a fortune or a husband. She wants neither. With a tainted inheritance in the balance, she receives one offer to become a scoundrel’s mistress and another offer of a marriage of convenience. Before resigning herself to a choice, she accepts the invitation to visit a childhood friend, considering it a last hurrah before embarking on a bleak future. The visit goes sideways when … sideways when she falls for the gentleman her friend intends to marry, a man well out of Kate’s league–and one who seems to be hiding something. Smuggling has overtaken the county, and it seems that everyone is complicit in the trade that killed her father.
One by one, her options dwindle as she struggles against her strengthening feelings for a duplicitous man, a determination not to hurt her friend, and keeping the promise she made long ago: to stand up to the people who killed her father.
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The first book in the Families of Dorset series and I know I want to read the next book.This is a new Author to me and I see this Author has one other book out I will be reading it. Kate Matcham and Lord Ashworth’s story has suspense,mystery, drama, danger,murder, twists, turns, villains, and romance. I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A simple regency romance? Not!
What started out, I thought, to be a simple regency romance, turned out to be very far from just that. It was a romance, a comedy of errors with lighthearted banter, a kidnapping, a betrayal, a murder mystery, and very enjoyable. I liked Kate as the protagonist. She has the ability to laugh at herself while being klutzy and yet has a strength of character that is refreshing. The other characters were interesting, some good, some frustrating, just as in real life. I appreciate the excellent writing skills that Martha Keyes possesses. She allows me to sit back and enjoy the story without needing to keep my critical eye open. I have read many of her other stories and love them all. If I see a book written by her I am confident that it will be a wonderful read, greatly entertaining and well worth my time.
I do not think I shall ever tire of reading Keyes’s stories. Every time I go into them expecting greatness and they turn out to be more than I could have hoped for. Truly, she has an incredible talent for weaving such a tale with depth of character and storyline that make it impossible to set the book down. This was a perfect start to a series. Incredible. Wonderful. Phenomenal.
I have loved all the books written by this author. She does a great job having romance, action and historical details all mixed together in her books- This one has all of that and more! After reading a book by this author I always end up on google looking up facts about stuff- this time it was smugglers! I love books that make me want do research after reading them.
This was my first book by Martha Keyes but it will not be my last. It was filled with adventure, romance, mystery, and was also squeaky clean. I am now also listening to the audiobook and the narration is amazing! As much as like the story when I read it on my Kindle, I believe this narrator has brought it to life for me in an entirely new way! I’m excited to hear that the future books in this series will also be available on Audible and am hoping that perhaps the narrator might again be Eleanor Caudill.
Precursor: three stars means I liked it.
I think it had great potential, had some good dialogue, and was witty. The hero is swoon worthy and I love a klutzy heroine -they’re so relatable!
What I didn’t love: this book needed a stronger editor. I’m not a huge fan of uncommonly used words repeated multiple times (eg. postulate) within a story. I find the repetition distracting. I also couldn’t stand one of the supporting characters. I’m sure he was written that way intentionally, however I got to the point where I wanted to skip parts he was in. I don’t mean this to sound negative (I’m thinking I’m failing).
I would definitely read this author again as the good weighs out what doesn’t quite work for me.
This was a clean sweet true to regency period story. Some authors take a lot of liberty with the time period and other stay pretty true to the manners, expectation’s and feel of the time. Keyes does a good job of sticking close to what it must have been like. Kate was a good solid character. She was very unteathered and felt almost homeless the whole book. You really felt for her but her calm attitude and strength lead to me really liking her. Ash or William was just what she needed to shake her out of her world of comfort and remind her not to take life so seriously. This was a nice story with a really well done bit of excitement at the end that actually worked well and was believable.
This was the first book I read by Martha and it’s what made me fall in love with her beautiful writing! This book was one that I couldn’t put down and couldn’t predict what was going to happen next. It had me laughing and biting my nails. I loved it!!
This satisfying story was thoroughly engrossing and suspenseful, with an exciting mix of tension and delight. I experienced a wide variety of emotions while reading Wyndcross. It is so much more than a simple Regency romance. Witty banter, clever plotting, and realistic character development had me both anxious and annoyed at times, as well as laughing out loud and sighing at the charming interactions. I am feeling down that it is over, and that, more than anything, is a clear indication of a great read. I so enjoyed becoming acquainted with the delightful characters in this book, and I hope that future stories will include them!
**I received a free copy of this book, and this review is my honest opinion.**
I liked the style of writing from this author. I think the characters were well written. The story showed well of the gossip and conniving, matchmaking side of the “ton” in regency England. I liked the H & h. Good dialogue and story. In the title the book is listed as #1 so I will definetly read #2.
I enjoyed this book. First I have read of this author, but very good reading. It is full of intrigue, mystery, daring, deceit and love. Kate is a very sweet young lady who has left her home because of a mean step-father. She is residing with a widowed aunt who is only 2 years older than her. She receives a letter from her mother mentioning an inheritance from the step-father which she intends to refuse as it is something she does not want. Her aunt mentions it to a young lady who is mean spirited and a renown gossip and then all hear about it.
Kate meets a longtime friend at a ball and is invited to spend the summer at her home. What she does not know is that she is invited there under false pretenses. She is meant to be the redemption of Henry’s gambling debts. She meets and falls in love with William, Lord Ashworth whom her friend is wanting to marry. Smuggling is part of the game here to try to restore gambling debts.