This is a sweet love story with two likable leads plus a delightful little girl - and cats. Who could ask for more from a romance novel?

Historical romance is my go-to for fun and transportation read, and Megan Frampton has penned a fun early-Victorian era story that is very modern in feel. Writing historical romances today often has authors in a quandary: adhering to the rigidity of social norms and behaviors, using language and dialog to ‘fatten’ the plot, or to use the historical references as guideposts and major touchstones in the story, giving readers a ‘sense’ of the differences but reacting in a wholly modern way. This story seems to play a bit fast and loose with convention that serves the interactions well, but leaves a sense of unreality in setting and conclusion when the last page is turned. That in no way makes this a bad read – this is a fun, dialogue driven read that while slow to grow soon picks up pace and gives readers plenty of laughs, moments to ‘oooh’, and some serious steam between the rather hapless Duke and his newly hired governess. Lily is a wonderful character, prone to shocking (for the time) plain speech and an iron-willed determination to do the best for her charge. Her interactions with the Duke, Marcus are cleverly phrased and wholly upending for Marcus: he’s entirely too caught up in the mad scramble to ‘make something’ of a life that was dedicated to drinking, carousing and gambling. These are two characters that are easy to like and invest in, with their frequent (and sadly sometimes all too frequent) insets of interior monologue that just felt immature contrasting sharply with their own senses of duty, propriety and their conversations. A slowly building romance between Marcus and Lily is often the sidenote to the growth and determination that Marcus shows for taking charge of his life, and his forgotten child, all with Lily’s help to become the best man he can be. Frampton does make the effort to ‘explain away’ the behavioral inconsistencies that are far from the acceptable norm, and does so with reasonable belief, and uses language appropriate to the time, even as the behavior is often far out of convention. I enjoyed this story, even with the rather puzzling ending: Frampton has a deft hand with dialogue and moving the story forward via conversations and description, keeping the reader engaged and entertained. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via Edelweiss for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.