The Luring of a Lovely Lady

The Scandalous Spinsters #6

by Emma Locke

ASIN B08VV7WKDD moved to the more recent edition

FOR ADVENTURE…

Wide-eyed ingenue Miss Abigail Conley isn’t as naive about love as she pretends. Since meeting the beautiful but jaded Lady Cassandra Laurent at a midnight salon, she’s thought of little other than trying to turn the lady’s head. Opening her heart to another woman is a risk she’s willing to take, but Cass is still reeling from an unrequited love of her own. A spur-of-the moment opportunity takes them on a journey across England. Will love be their destination?

Genres: Romance

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 3, 2022

About the author

Emma Locke is a USA Today Bestselling Author of smart, sensual Regency romances. Her current books make up the Scandalous Spinsters series, a double trilogy featuring three courtesans and three country hoydens who marry into the notorious Alexander family. She is also an engineer living in the Pacific Northwest, where she loves hiking with her dog, hot yoga and riding out the annual 330 days of rain.

You can Like Emma on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuthorEmmaLocke, follow her on Twitter @EmmaLocke_ or check out her books and appearances at www.emmalocke.com.

Reviews

[lauraღ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s not you. Or maybe it is you. Maybe I’m afraid I could love you.

3.5 stars. I always love discovering new queer historical romances, and happily, this one was a winner! Mostly. The second half didn't quite live up to the promise of the first, but it was still a really fun, swoony romance with great characters and chemistry. The book starts when Abby's sister and Lady Cassandra's brother are getting married. Abby is young and inexperienced, from a poor blacksmith's family, while Cass is older and confident, the sister of an earl. Abby has been besotted with Cass for a few months, and manages to get Cass to agree to escort her on a trip back to London. I really liked the first part, where they're getting to know each other, flirting, discovering what's possible between them. It's so so charming. Abby is the kind of heroine who's determined to find happiness no matter what society thinks, and even though her naivete is a little frustrating (because she doesn't always think about things in a practical manner) it's still nice to see her determinedly pursue Cass. Cass is nursing a broken heart, and it's really sweet seeing her fall in love with new possibility.

My problem was that this all took place in SUCH a short space of time. Like, a little more than a week? And while some writers can make that kind of insta-love appealing, this was just a little too unbelievable. Especially as it's all so new to Abby, and Cass has that aforementioned broken heart. Again, maybe it could have been written in a believable way, but they just started using certain words waaaaaay too early, and it threw me off. The book isn't all that short, but I still wish it were at least 50 pages longer. Maybe if there'd been more scenes of them on the road, or if we'd seen what life would look like for them in London, it would have worked better.

Still, I can't deny that their chemistry in the beginning totally pulled me in. I liked the writing, the steam, the banter. This is part of a pretty long series, but I haven't read any of the other books, and I understood it all fine. There's enough of a recap to let you in on their previous encounter. Definitely recommended if you're looking for more historical f/f!