Wilde Child

Lady Joan Wilde has a passion for acting, but she is tired of playing damsels in distress. Just once Joan wants to be the hero, and now she has figured out a way to perform the title role in Hamlet in front of a real live audience. The downside to bringing her scheme to fruition is that she needs a little help from the impeccably proper Thaddeus Erskine Shaw, Viscount Greywick. Joan knows that Thaddeus, who has already been turned down by two of Joan's sisters, is in the market for a wife. Now, in exchange for his assistance in realizing her Shakespearean ambition, Joan promises to help him find the perfect bride-to-be, a demure lady with an unsullied reputation. That is, the exact opposite of Joan. With the latest swoon-worthy addition to her best-selling the Wildes of Lindow Castle series, RITA award-winning James (My Last Duchess, 2020) not only delivers another utterly beguiling, effervescently witty, and scintillatingly sensual love story in splendid homage to the Bard but also a fascinating mini-masterclass on Hamlet.

A seemingly stodgy ducal heir meets his match--a particularly improper member of the scandalous Wilde family. Thaddeus, Viscount Greywick, must marry a proper woman in order to keep the gossips at bay as his ailing father casts doubt on his legitimacy. Naturally, he falls for the theater-obsessed, likely illegitimate Lady Joan as he helps her fulfill her dream of playing the title role in Hamlet. James continues her latest series with the same mix of humor and emotion that has characterized the previous books. The funnier scenes are balanced with genuinely heartwrenching moments, particularly as Thaddeus navigates his feelings about his dying father. While some of the situations are downright farcical, the well-drawn characters keep the novel grounded. VERDICT Longtime historical romance fans and newbies to the genre (particularly those whose interest was piqued by Bridgerton) will delight in this well-done addition to a solid series.--Jenny Kobiela-Mondor, Eckhart P.L., IN

Opposites attract when the unconventional daughter of a Georgian duke strikes an unlikely bargain with a straight-laced family friend. Lady Joan Wilde has been raised as the beloved daughter of the Duke of Lindow in spite of the fact that she is known to be illegitimate and no daughter of Lindow's. The whispers about her parentage, juxtaposed with a loving and loyal family, have made her a bit wild. Her shenanigans have been harshly judged by the rigidly proper heir to the Duke of Eversley--Thaddeus, Viscount Greywick. Joan has grown up acting in theater productions with a traveling troupe that visits Lindow Castle every year but dreams of acting on a real stage before a public audience. Against his better judgment, Thaddeus, who's visiting Lindow Castle with his mother, agrees to help her perform in disguise as Hamlet in a nearby town. This plot brings them closer together, but Thaddeus needs to marry an unimpeachable lady to repair the reputation of his family and his title since his father has been living scandalously with his mistress and their children for decades. Joan's illegitimacy and wild ways make her ineligible, especially if Thaddeus' father carries out his threat to publicly challenge his marriage to Thaddeus' mother so his son with his mistress can inherit the dukedom. James displays her signature humor, describing a society matron (named, delightfully, Lady Bumtrinket) as "the kind of well-upholstered English lady who glistens with rectitude." In another laugh-out-loud scene, the dramatically dying Duke of Eversley is borne into the Lindow dining room on an ermine-draped litter. The Duke of Lindow goes on with his meal, the ultimate snub. A story as wild as the heroine's family name and one that will reward romance fans who want a funny book about an unusual heroine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.