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Book CoverStevie‘s review of The Viscount Needs A Wife (Rogue Series, Book 17) by Jo Beverley
Historical Romance published by Signet 05 Apr 16

I picked up this novel, not realising it was linked by chronology and background setting to sixteen of the author’s previous books. However, I’ve enjoyed a couple of short stories of hers and am using shorts as a springboard into reading a wider range of authors, which is what prompted me to give this one a chance in the first place. Plus the blurb intrigued me and gave the impression that I was going to really like the heroine.

Kitty married young, following a whirlwind romance with a wounded war hero. The marriage lasted seven tempestuous years, during which she enjoyed entertaining his former comrades – though always within the bounds of propriety – since her husband was frequently too weak to leave their London home. Two years after her husband’s death, however, Kitty is stuck in his family home in the country with a mother-in-law who refuses to give up mourning her son or to allow Kitty any freedom towards doing the same. The situation becomes yet more dire with the news that Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince of Wales, has died, along with her newborn son, throwing the whole country into a state of mourning.

A letter from a childhood friend offers Kitty a way out. Her friend’s husband is a clergyman, whose parish has a new lord of the manor – an unexpected inheritor of the title and a man much in need of a wife. Given his circumstances, some of which are immediately made known to Kitty – the dreadful mother and daughter of the previous Viscount – and some of which remain mysterious, he’s prepared to marry any reasonably sensible woman who might be suggested to him. And so Kitty sets off to meet her prospective husband, under the guise of a visit to an old and much-missed friend.

Beau Braden is very much the man about town, at the forefront of fashion, and devoted to his secret work for the Home Office – at a time when being a spy was neither glamourous nor entirely respectable. His first, accidental, meeting with Kitty doesn’t go well, but she convinces him that she’s far more sensible than an escapade in pursuit of an escaped dog might make her appear. And so they marry – and start to fall in love.

The story has a whole slew of mysteries running through it, in both the form of political intrigue of national importance and family mysteries relating to the previous Viscount and his estranged wife. Kitty proves herself more than a fearsome match for Beau and manages to make herself invaluable to him, both at his country seat with the resident ladies who resent his every move and in London where it appears she has more connections than he does.

This book stands alone very well and is a highly satisfactory story in its own right. However, I shall at some point go back and read all the earlier stories, because I love the world this author has created for her characters to inhabit.

Stevies CatGrade: B

Read Veena’s review here.

Summary:

Since being widowed two years ago, Kitty Cateril has been trapped in her late husband’s home, where she is expected to mourn forever. Desperate to escape, Kitty will consider any option—even a hasty marriage to a stranger with no intention of abandoning his bachelor ways.

London life suits Beau Braydon, especially his work keeping Britain safe. So when he inherits the title of Viscount Dauntry, he has no intention of resettling on a rural estate. He can’t resist the opportunity to marry a sensible widow who can manage Beauchamp Abbey for him—until he realizes Kitty is more than he bargained for…

Before Kitty and Dauntry can adjust to each other, a threat to the royal family takes them to London. Soon someone is determined to prevent Dauntry from exposing the villain, and secrets in Kitty’s past threaten their growing love…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:
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