An immersive historical romance, with incredibly fun characters who are really diverse and interesting to see in this setting. This is my first book by Sophie Irwin and I love her writing style, I felt like this was honestly something I haven't read before in historical fiction and I loved entering this new world of interesting characters. I highly recommend this and I will definitely be checking out more by this author.

Like many many others I adored Sophie Irwin's sparkling debut so was eagerly anticipating her second regency romp. A Lady's Guide to Scandal is no sequel, it's very much its own book with a very different heroine and conflict but told with the same assured style and well plotted sureness.

Eliza is recenty widowed after a ten year affection and child free marriage. Her future looks as dull as her past, a return to her childhood home and her overbearing parents, until an unexpected legacy from her late husband opens up some possibilities. Instead of the £500 pa she was expecting she has been left a fortune, as long as she brings no scandal on the family name. The bequest should be safe, mousy obedient Eliza has never done a single even slghtly scandalous thing in her life, filling her niece in law's family with rage as the land in question had been promised to them, and parents with triumph - and her parents are keen to guide her handling of her fortune, down to which brother she should make her heir. To make matters even worse for Eliza the new Earl is the man she wanted to marry but turned down out of a sense of family duty and he treats her with chilly civility at best.

Watching Eliza finds her voice, her independence and her freedom in this thoughtful yet fun book is a delight. A Lady's Guide to Scandal touches on racism, sexuality and the patriarchy with a deft empthy and a central romance for a flawed but real hero and heroine that is satisfying and touching. Highly highly recommended.

I was so excited to read this. I LOVED the first book by Sophie Irwin, A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, very Regency Romance with extra tongue in cheek, and looked forward to the sequel. I was also nervous that the second book by a debut author can sometimes be a let down, but this was excellent. Not one but THREE wonderfully written romances, kept me rooting for the lovers all the way through.
The best romances are ones that have me yelling at the lovers in my head, telling them to get over themselves, and this didn't disappoint at all. All I desired happened by the end, and I put the book down after an all-in-one-go all night reading session both highly satisfied by the ending and hugely disappointed that I had finished it and now had to wait to see what Sophie would come up with next. Thanks so much for letting me read this.
Recommended 5* plus extra ones for the extra romances...

I loved this book even more than I loved Sophie Irwin’s debut. The tricky thing about reading a book that is THIS good is that you can’t put it down, you end up staying up too late reading it and you feel sad whilst you’re devouring said book because you know it will be over soon and there’s a long wait until the next one!
That being said, I still enjoyed every minute. Eliza was an INCREDIBLE character- I loved seeing her develop the “spirit” she was accused of lacking and seeing her and Margaret transform their lives was inspirational and fun to read about. I loved that what might have felt like the “ending” was actually only half way through the book and thus followed various twists and turns which I hadn’t seen coming. Genuinely a fabulous read and I would highly highly recommend. I’m already waiting the next novel with baited breath.

An excellent, delightful, refreshing Regency Romance.

I love the Regency Romance genre, and Sophie Irwin has managed to fulfill all the genre expectations in a refreshing, engaging way that makes it all feel new but still gives that sense of comfort & satisfaction.

Eliza's story is as much about love for yourself, the relationship you have with yourself, knowing who you are, and deciding how you want to live your life as it is a romance. I definitely recommend reading this.

I didn’t like this one as much as the previous book due to the slower pace at the start. However, these books are light and entertaining and a great palate cleanser between weightier tomes. The MC in this one was a little hard to root for since she seemed to deliberately make poor decisions. I do get that many people want Austen without the politics and examination of human nature, or Bridgerton with less squickyness and for those people these books probably do answer. Overall this was fine but probably suffered from me having read three of Austen’s novels not long before!

Good historical romance with unexpected twist, well described characters & great world building. It was good , even though I loved the first book more.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoyed watching Bridgerton and are looking for a regency era read with diverse characters included, I recommend you pick this up. This doesn’t include spice but it’s a light-hearted read with humour, wit, scandal, betrayals and a good dash of feminism.

All the characters were flawed and I loved Eliza’s character development throughout the book and watching her confidence grow. I really enjoyed the representation in this book as well, with mixed race main characters as well as LGBTQ+ rep.

I’m not normally a fan of love triangles but I did enjoy how this was written, and I was rooting for one person in particular.

I couldn’t put this down and highly recommend for anyone looking to add to their regency collection!