Lord Will and Her Grace

by Sophia Nash

Hiding out from a relentless matchmaker, notorious womanizer Lord Will goes undercover as a harmless dandy and finds a solution to his problems in the form of social outcast Miss Sophie Somerset, who is desperately trying to get back in the good graces of the ton.

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Regency, Regency Romance

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 5, 2005

About the author

Sophia Nash’s novels have won almost two dozen national awards including the prestigious RITA Award and two spots on the American Library Association's “Top Ten Romances of the Year.” Sophia was born in Switzerland, raised in France and the United States, but says her heart resides in Regency England. Her ancestor, an infamous French admiral who traded epic cannon fire with the British Royal Navy, is surely turning in his grave. Before pursuing her long held dream of writing Historicals, Sophia was an award winning television producer for CBS, a congressional speechwriter, and a nonprofit CEO.

Reviews

[P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book even though it suffers from an excess of misc action and not enough character development. Many of the misc events don't add much except confusion. The hero's sad backstory is excruciatingly related by his 'dashing' older brother - which turns out to not be enough to have blighted his very existence but, at 35, still does!! About the heroine's background we learn very little. She has made many stupid blunders and gotten a tattered rep but not much is explained about this either and at 29 she's way too old to have no common sense or dignity, but lacks both. In the end she's just not very interesting. They do completely enthrall each other, tho. So there's that.

BTW these are the last lines of the book. What does it mean?

"I am certain, my love, patience and formality will never be known as the chief assets or —she leisurely tugged loose his neckcloth—"Lord Will and Her Grace."

[EuroHackie]

This book is very odd. The characters are shallow, surface entities; add to that our "hero," Lord Will, is quite cruel and the heroine Sophie is completely spineless. I made it 80 pages in and they'd professed their love, slept together, and broken their engagement, but I completely missed the actual romance. All action, no emotion.

I also can't figure out if this is supposed to be a send-up of trad Regencies, or if this is the equivalent of fanon. I don't care enough to read on and find out, and I think I'll give this author a miss.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover of the edition I read was a period plate drawing. I have found that the kind of regency fiction I enjoy has this kind of cover art more often.
Alas, this book was more romance than regency. The plot was also a bit trite; the heroine feels deceived by the hero and drama ensues.

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read that seemed to be forced. There was a sadness to the relationship of this rake with behaviour caused by a pitiful past experience and Sophie who listened to wayward maid.

[RomLibrary]

Determined to avoid a leg-shackle set by an infamous family to snare him, Lord Will goes into hiding in a quaint English village. But a new venture he devised is also at stake and he cannot avoid the multitude of problems he left in his wake. However, when he meets Miss Sophie Somerset, the heir apparent to a duchy, but with a reputation in tatters, perhaps, just perhaps they can help one another…


After a disastrous Season, Sophie’s chances of finding an acceptable aristocratic husband to meet the terms of an immense inheritance are bleak at best. When Will proposes to teach her the art of flirtation to charm her way back into society’s good graces, she can’t help but question the motives of this devilishly handsome rake. Each must risk all and dare to trust love when their hearts become entangled