Part of The Regency Vows
First published 2022
Lady Emily Turner has been making her debut for six seasons. That is not a triumph. Her father's gambling debts have narrowed her options to one suitor: the greasy owner of the gambling house her father frequents. Then Lord Julian Belfry walks into a house party. Julian is a marquess's second son who threw respectability overboard to act on stage and run a theater. Society tolerates him but does not approve. He sees an opportunity. Emily has the connections to draw a better class of patron to his theater. He can pull her away from her father's creditors. They marry. The arrangement looks clean on paper. Julian expects Emily to work the drawing rooms and leave the theater to him. Emily has other ideas. She wants a real role in running the venue, not just a social one. They argue about what this marriage actually is. Then a runaway actress shows up, a kitten causes genuine damage, and their mutual friends refuse to stay out of it. Emily and Julian keep colliding, and the feelings that result are not convenient at all.
Genres: fiction, romance, historical-romance, comedy, contemporary-romance
Vibes: charming, humorous, lighthearted, romantic, witty
Tropes: banter, enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity, marriage-of-convenience
Setting: London, England
Period: Regency Era
327 pages · Paperback · Atria Books