Review by Booklist Review
Orphaned as a child, Hazel Lively was saved by books and her love of learning. She has finally begun to live her dream in a seaside town by opening a school for girls. She just needs enough well-paying young ladies to register to enable her to educate other deserving girls. After refusing to accept trouble-making Kitty, the orphaned teen niece of Blade, the earl of Bladenton, Hazel risks her life to save Kitty from drowning. Blade then accepts Hazel's condition that he visit his niece at least once every fortnight, even though he is in the middle of a busy London social season in which he is practically engaged to Lady Penelope. She would be his perfect countess; having once loved and lost, he wants a bride he does not and will not love. Thrown together during the biweekly visits, the strong-willed headmistress and the earl who wants nothing to do with love experience a searing attraction. This enjoyable tale of two people living full lives and finding unexpected love is a great kick-off for Bennett's new Rogues to Lovers series.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bennett (the Debutant Diaries series) launches her Rogues to Lovers series with an irresistibly angsty Regency romance between an earl and a schoolteacher. Twenty-eight-year-old Hazel Lively, headmistress of Bellehaven Academy of Deportment, is determined to make a success of the fledgling school for girls. When Blade, Earl of Bladenton, attempts to dump his 15-year-old niece and ward, Kitty Beckett, on the school's doorstep, Hazel agrees to take her in on the condition that Blade visits Kitty every two weeks, sensing that their relationship is in need of repair. Kitty has been expelled from her two previous schools, and Blade is anxious to have her out of his hair so he can continue his courtship of one Lady Penelope in London, but he reluctantly agrees to Hazel's terms. And soon he finds that it is Hazel, not Penelope, who consumes his mind. But for their happy ending to work, romantic Hazel must convince the businesslike Blade to open his heart--efforts that are complicated by the persistent Lady Penelope. Bennett's enticing characters come complete with believable flaws and nuanced emotional baggage, and the slow-burning romance between them creates an undeniable sense of attraction, even in the face of steep obstacles. The well-drawn emotional ups and downs will keep historical romance fans hooked. (Dec.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A new historical series from Bennett ("Debutante Diaries"). As headmistress of Bellehaven Academy, Hazel Lively's strategy is to attract wealthy students with propriety and reputation, using the income to educate less privileged girls alongside them. When the desperate Earl of Bladenton brings his newly orphaned niece to Bellehaven, Hazel sees an opportunity but will only accept the earl's niece on one condition: he must visit her every other week. As Earl Blade and Hazel come to know each other, they move from flirtation to an understanding of what lies beneath the surface of the proper headmistress and the dutiful nobleman, but Hazel's need to protect her students and Blade's need to protect his heart could keep them from finding happiness. VERDICT Some may find the conflict too-easily overcome, but fans of light historical romance with a progressive air will find much to recommend in this series opener.--Meagan Day, High Plains Lib. Dist., CO
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
