This was a quick and easy read I really like the main female character.I liked the aspects of history within this book with the modern twist on it all.It gave off great Bridgerton vibes which I enjoyed. Overall I found the romance side to lack a little but it was a good book.

Three and a half stars.

Anya Marleigh is a half-Indian talented musician and singer in the court of George III and Queen Charlotte. However, her illegitimacy and her darker colouring leave her teetering on the edges of society. Then one day one of her wealthy patronesses, Lady Budleigh, dies and, to spite her family, leaves all of her unentailed wealth to Anya, provided she is married before her twenty-fifth birthday, otherwise the money passes to her trustee, Lord Damian Ashton.

Lord Ashton is no stranger to being on the outskirts of society, he only inherited his title as a result of a series of unfortunate accidents and rumours have followed him that he may have contributed to some of them. His only passion is his campaigning against slavery in the British colonies, such as the Caribbean island where he spent his youth until he was sent to school in England.

Lady Budleigh's children do their best to overturn their mother's will, then resort to trying to marry Anya off, either to the single son, or any old relative they can rustle up. Meanwhile, Anya has two admirers at court, both of whom have already offered her marriage before her inheritance, so why is she dithering and dreaming about the infuriating Lord Ashton?

I was really enjoying this until near the end when it just seemed to drag on a bit. But otherwise a good novel and I look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

First up, do not be fooled by the absolutely gorgeous cover of 'Unladylike Rules of Attraction', because what is it that we are all taught as a child? Do not judge a book by its cover. This is not solely a cute romance book as the author, Amita Murray, has managed to write a story weaving both an interracial romance and crime thriller together. Even though this is the second book in the Marleigh sisters series, it can be read as a standalone.

It is a quick paced book set in a background that is very similar to that of Bridgerton, with simple writing and a story that is predictable but is delightful nonetheless. I only wish that the writing could have been a little more eloquent. If the flow of the narration was a little more smoother, I guess I would have loved it more. Still, I loved how it all came together at the end, and I can for sure say that I absolutely love Anya and Damian. The love that they find in each other made my heart swoon.

Definitely recommended to readers who love Bridgerton and fast paced books!

The second in the Marleigh Sisters series and I had read the previous book. This is a Regency romance set mainly in London cantered around Anya Marleigh a sitar player and singer in the court of Queen Charlotte. Anya is one of three sisters who were sent to London from India when their parents died but the three girls all but lost contact with one another, and their three half sisters. A well written romantic romp where you know from the start pretty much what the ending will be but how you get there was extremely pleasurable.

Briefly, Anya is called to the reading of the will of the Dowager Countess Budleigh expecting maybe a small gift only to find she has been left half her fortune on the proviso that she marries by her 25th birthday, just four months away. Lord Damian Ashton, a distant relative of the Budleigh’s is made executor and has to approve the marriage. However, the Budleigh family are not going to take this sitting down…

There are obviously going to be some comparisons to Bridgerton due to the time period and setting and that’s fine. I’m sure the author would appreciate a similar success. Reading this series has taken me back to the authors I read in my teens! There’s so much going on murder, theft, secrets and lies, lust and love, family and friends. A very enjoyable historical mystery romance with some great characters and an entertaining plot. Looking forward to book 3.

4.5⭐️

Firstly I'd like to thank @netgalley & @amitamurray for the arc, I'm so grateful! It was giving Bridgerton vibes 🫶🏻 Although this is the second book in the series I'm now on a mission to read book one after devouring this! I loved how diversity is portrayed throughout, I adored all of the characters and their own backstories. It kept me hooked with the romance & intrigue! I loved the mystery element too and the twists. Absolutely loved Anya & Damien as our main characters the enemies to lovers trope was everything! The banter between these two and their chemistry was undeniable 😍🔥 I hadn't read a historical romance before, but I'm sold! I loved every aspect of it, the settings, the ton, the scenes with the Queen, events and balls it was magical. Would most definitely recommend this cute read it shan't disappoint 🫶🏻 releases 23rd May!! 💖✨

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Content Warning: Attempted Sexual Assault, Racism/Xenaphobia, Minor Misogyny

Unladylike Rules of Attraction is the highly anticipated sequel to Amita Murray's debut Historical Romance series, The Marleigh Sisters. This second novel centres upon the dazzling sitar player and royal court singer, Miss Anya Marleigh.

She meets her match in Lord Damian Ashton at a family game of Pall Mall at the Budleigh Estate. Anya and Damian find themselves linked together when Damian is named as the executor of an inheritance left to Anya.

***
As someone who read the first novel of the series exactly a year ago, I knew exactly what I was coming into with an Amita Murray novel. Ms Murray loves her murder mystery plots. From what I gleaned from Unladylike Lessons in Love, the romance comes secondary. I was well prepared for that and I think maybe some new readers were not. As a blanket disclaimer to new readers and the publishing marketing team, I would like everyone to know that this series is not quite like Bridgerton. In fact, it feels like an antidote to Bridgerton.

While Bridgerton has been heralded as the baseline of diversity in the HR genre, Amita Murray actually takes the care and consideration to write actual people of colour into her books grounded in realism. I especially love and relate to the fact that all the Marleigh sisters are Indian just like me. While some aspects of the books are unflinchingly harsh (see trigger warnings above), that was the reality for people of colour in Georgian/Regency/Victorian England back in the day.

With Unladylike Rules of Attraction, it feels like Amita Murray has finally found a good balance between her thrilling plots and the romance. I definitely enjoyed the chemistry and sex scenes between Anya and Damian in this book more than the previous installment. That being said, I do wish the scenes themselves had lasted longer than most men do 😂. The ideas and acts for the various scenes were inspired but felt as though they were not tapped into their full sexy potential.

On the flip side, I really did like the romantic progression of the two. I think some of the most beautiful lines came from both Anya and Damian when they were being introspective about their lives and each other. Amita perfectly laid out their flaws and where those traits came into conflict. I do love a great grovelling montage from anyone in HR and this book definitely delivered in that respect. I also loved how seamlessly the romantic arc of this book intertwined with the main plot. I really appreciated that it was given focus once most of the loose ends of the book was tied up!

Speaking of the main plot, I loved this particular one very much. Just like Unladylike Lessons, Amita knows how to write a great mystery plot with an inciting event to rival any HR Act 3, high stakes, and a high speed plan that will take place over a week.

The plot was not only well written but the writing of this book was extremely compact - the book was very well structured. It also took me for a joyride. With twists and turns I did not expect them to go the way they did. Yet in true Amita Murray fashion, she did lay some hints early enough for sharp eyed readers to catch. I think this is one of the few books I've read where the inciting incident AND the HR Act 3 both were stressful. They both had me gasping loudly in the best way. While the resolution of the plot may seem controversial to some, I think it was very rooted in realism which honoured the characters and world building.

Of course, it wouldn't be an excellent book without a wonderful set of secondary characters! I admire how she knows how to write a supporting cast that props up their leads well. I adored how Trixie and Jeremy supported their respective leads and how some characters connected back to the first book! I loved how the really lovely callbacks stood well on their own if you hadn't read the first book.

As always, not only are the supportive characters written great, her villains are written all too well in the most horrifying ways. I think what makes them so terrible is that they feel real. We have all met people like this in person. Our very existence of being different threatens them so they do everything in their power to make you feel small. I will always appreciate how Amita holds up a mirror not just to society back then but how people like these villains still exist in this day and age.

The parallels at times really catch me off guard and have me very emotional. It is a very real part of our lives as readers of colour and I like how Amita has all her readers confront with the fact. Some of us don’t get to close the book and move on with our lives from the conflicts present in the book.

Last and certainly not least, I sang all the praises for the last book as well: I absolutely adore that their fractured sisterhood is the thread of this series. It’s such a compelling part of the books. In this novel, the sister scenes really shone on their own alongside the already intriguing story. The mystery of their origins keeps unravelling in the best way and I cannot to read more!

My only complaint for this book would be the fact that I wanted it to be longer overall! Just so the romance could have been explored even more in depth. A few extra scenes here and there to fully illustrate their connection. I could sense and feel it by Act 2, more specific scenes of connections would have made this book stellar! And of course, I would never complain about more descriptive sex scenes 😂.

Overall, this is the best book of the series to date (and I love Lila dearly!). It is for anyone looking for a more realistic look into the historical side of historical romance novels! If you’re into that, murder mysteries and compelling characters and themes, this book is for us. Happy Reading everyone and I can’t wait for this book to be in everyone’s hands!

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m always here for a regency romance and definitely one with an infuriating, charming romantic interest and an independent, witty female main character. It was good fun watching Lord Ashton and Anya clashing in battles of words and wits. The way in which Lord Ashton found himself somewhat bewitched by Anya and her irreverence was delightful. There was far more danger and murder than I was expecting there to be in this book - I haven’t read the first book about Anya’s sister, so I’m not sure if there were similar themes in that book. The mystery of it all, and not knowing what was going to happen next, or how Anya and Lord Ashton were going to get themselves out of the messes that they found themselves, made it a good read. However, I would have much preferred the whole book without any spicy scenes, which isn’t normally something I’d say. I found the first spicy scene incredibly jarring in the narrative. It came out of nowhere, arriving far too early in their relationship arc, and the scene progressed incredibly quickly. I was confused and didn’t enjoy it, or how any of the other intimate scenes were written. I think this was a combination of them always feeling quite sudden and out of place, being written a little confusingly so that I really had to pay attention to understand what was happening, and also the language. I could go the rest of my life without reading that a man was ‘lapping at’ any part of a woman. I just end up thinking about dogs, which… no.

Setting aside my feelings about the spice, this book has an interesting plot, some great characters, and also some unexpected darker themes which kept me on my toes.

This is the second book in the The Marleigh Sisters series, but it is a standalone.

Anya is a singer and sitar player in the Queen's court in early 19th century England. Her father was an English Earl while her mother was from India, Anya and her sisters were born in India but when her parents were killed, they were taken in by their father's wife in England. From there the sisters were sent to different seminaries until they were old enough to make their own way in the world.

Being employed by Queen Charlotte, Anya was known to many of the English nobility and became particularly close to a dowager who left her half her fortune upon her death. The other half was left to her grandchildren but no money was left to her own children, the Budleigh's - who she apparently didn't like very much.

Lord Damian Ashton was born in and raised in Jamaica but was a distant relative of the dowager and her family and inherited the Ashton estate that bordered the Budleigh estate. He had also become close to the dowager who was his great-aunt.

Of course there are stipulations to the inheritance, Anya must marry before her 25th birthday in four months before she can inherit the money and Lord Ashton would be her trustee. He would have to approve anyone she chose to marry.

This book was not what I thought it was going to be! I expected a fairly tame Regency England romance between a lowly court singer and someone from the elite - which it was, but it was so much more. There was murder, mystery, drama and action as well as romance. Lord Ashton is being framed for a murder he did not commit and they must work to find out who the murderer was before the Runners find any way to pin it on him and have him hanged. Then there is Anya's plight to find a husband in time as well as trying to reconnect with one of her sister's at the same time she is trying to save Lord Ashton.

I didn't find that the characters were completely developed though. We learn a little about Damian and Anya's past but not a huge amount to really explain, particularly Damian's actions. There might be more information about Anya's background in the first book and the next book but at this stage we still don't know a huge amount. I would like to know what happened to her mother, why she disappeared for a year before coming back pregnant with triplets, and what happened to the triplets? Where are they now? Maybe this will be explained in another book later in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I loved the first book in this series and was excited to read the second, as I wanted to know what happened to the other sisters from book 1.
This book centres around the middle sister, Anya. She is a sitar player in Queen Anne's court and finds herself inheriting a large sum of money, with conditions attached, such as marriage, and a rather prickly executor, Damien.
What follows is some amateur sleuthing, as the family she inherits from tries to discredit both her and her executor, and Anya and Damien find themselves in increasingly hot water.
There is mild spice, and though I knew, romance-wise, exactly where it would go, it was fun reading the lead-ups to it and the little mysteries to solve!
I enjoyed reading Anya's story and can't wait for Maya's!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC.

UNLADYLIKE RULES OF ATTRACTION is an enemies to lovers regency romance where anya marleigh, a singer and sitar player in the queen's court, is unexpectedly left an inheritance—with the condition that she must marry before her 25th birthday, and that her trustee, lord damian ashton, approve of her suitor. the problem? she hates him. this was such a fun and intriguing historical romance and i had the best time while reading it. it took me a bit to get into it, but once i did, i really couldn't stop reading until i found out what happened. anya was such a wonderful, complex and fleshed out character, as was damian, and the side characters in the story really added to it.

i don't want to spoil too much, but read if you like:
- lots of banter and sexual tension
- proposals of convenience (or are they??)
- diverse historical romances
- a little crime solving as a treat

thanks to netgalley and harper collins uk for the advanced copy. UNLADYLIKE RULES OF ATTRACTION comes out may 23rd!

|| : She had been worried sick. ‘I have no idea why he has given me his address. It's not as though he's inviting me to go there to speak to him. And he hasn't bothered to come here to speak to me.” She read the note again. Did the man care at all about the agonising minutes they shared. When they were binding Jeremy’s shoulder? And what of the rose garden? She flushed, avoiding Trixie's eyes. Of course, he didn't care about that. Well, that was just wonderful. She was a woman of the world. A court singer. She wouldn't care either. It was clear it was nothing to me. It didn't need to be anything to her either. She was pacing her room again. : ||

Anya has always had to fend for herself especially after that woman and her son had split up her and her sisters and.. the others. It was her father's fault really but since, she has found it hard to trust, keeping her circle small, allowing them in only enough to reamil cordial. Except Trixie of course, her ward, or as good as. She had made a promise to herself to look after the girl but how could she do that when she had been thrown into the messy business that the Budleigh's always seem to be in.

Preston and Cara especially despised her, Anya preferred their kids who were ever so sweet and thoughtful. So unlike their parents. Even Dowager Budleigh agreed but now she was gone there was no one to protect her from the direct sneers and taunts of the Budleigh children and their partners.
And if that wasn't enough. She had to deal with Ashton aswel. She liked Dowager Budleigh.. she was kind to her but had left her in an awful predicament.. and a very dangerous one.

A wonderful enlightening tale from beginning to end. It reminded me of old romance stories with a twist of sauciness. Loved this so much. I was in love with the heartache and beautiful heritage that came with each character. It made a change from traditional English. Like a breath of fresh air honestly! Cannot wait to read more of Amita Murray’s work

Thank you so much to Amita Murray, Harper Collins publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this for honest voluntary feedback x

For me there’s not much to say but if you love Bridgerton and are up for some spice this book will be a hit for you! Great banter, lovely characters and a cute plot.

This was a quick read, it made me smile and I liked the main female character. The historical side of it was good and the bit of mystery kept you invested.

Gives off Bridgerton vibes. A nice easy read and I enjoyed the fact POC were MCs in this and different elements of history were exploited, even though this has a modern flair. I think the romantic relationship between the MCs could have been allowed to develop a little more but overall I’d recommend giving it a go.

A romp of a good read! Such a joyous book. Anya is fabulous. She is on the edges of society, bullied and hated by the family and yet somehow manages to hold all the cards. The nastiness of society and especially those she is close to, contrasts with her close friend and eventually her sister. This isn’t a book about tenderness but about grit and toughness in the face of a hard society and a harder family. Damian manages to make so many mistakes whilst trying so hard not to care, is great. The couple deserve each other, and only the goats can help them work it all out.

Thank you HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for the ARC!

I was super excited to read this book because it was similar to Bridgerton. I love the show so much, especially in season 2 with Anthony and Kate.

The book, however, was kind of disappointing. I was frustrated reading it and I honestly think the relationship between Lord Ashton and Anya was that romantic. Like their feelings didn't develop between them. The characters didn't seem like they wanted to explore their romantic relationship and feelings with each other.

The ending was disappointing. It felt flat after all that build-up.

Title: Unladylike Rules of Attraction by Amita Murray

Release Date: May, 23rd, 2024

3.5 Stars

Anya Marleigh finds herself facing a challenging predicament. As a singer and sitar player in Queen Charlotte’s court, Anya unexpectedly inherits a fortune from Dowager Countess Budleigh, with the condition that she must marry before her next birthday to claim it. Complicating matters, the executor of the will, Damian Ashton, holds the power to consent to her marriage, and the Budleigh family is determined to thwart her inheritance. Accusations of murder and criminal dealings further complicate Anya's situation as she strives to protect her fortune and resist her growing attraction to Damian. Caught in a web of deceit and intrigue, Anya must navigate treacherous waters to secure her future and unravel the truth about her inheritance.

The romantic development between Anya and Lord Ashton feels lacking, hindering the emotional depth of the story. Some parts of the plot seem rushed, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the book. I was also not a big fan of the ending.

However this was a cute story, and if you are into historical/regency romances, this is a good read.

Tropes:

Regency
Dual POV
Enemies to Lovers
Marriage of Convenience
Mystery and Suspense



Thank you to The Publisher HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | HarperCollins, The Author Amita Murray & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Uk for providing me this Arc in return for an honest review

I enjoyed this one. Although I haven't read the first one I found myself really liking this one. I felt like while the chemistry between Anya and Damian is refreshing and fun, the story falters with it's pacing.

For me there wasn't enough build up in the relationship. But I enjoyed their banter and back and forth.

2.5 ⭐️ Rounded up because both MCs are POC and because of the anti-colonizer / anti-slavery narrative.

It's no secret that I loved the first book in this series. It was incredibly well-paced, and the chemistry between the MCs was electric. This book, however...

This story follows Anya, Lila's sister and court musician, and the complicated circumstances she finds herself in as she surprisingly inherits a small fortune from someone she considered an acquaintance. Murder, romance, and music make for a great combination that should have worked more than it did.

There was no real development of feelings between Anya and Lord Ashton. The book is Dual POV, which brings nothing into the narrative other than confusion, since neither character seems adept nor willing to explore their own feelings towards one another, even as their barely non-existent relationship turns to sex. The mystery plot was alright, but it was mostly slow-moving and the resolution fell flat to me.

Overall, I can't say I would pick this book up, especially if given the option to choose between 'Unladylike Lessons in Love' and this one.

This review has already been posted on Goodreads!

A Regency romance spiced up with a modern flair.. Anya Marleigh's journey as the daughter of an English Earl and Indian mistress brings a fresh perspective to historical romance. While the dynamic between Anya and Lord Damian Ashton crackles with chemistry, the story's pacing occasionally falters, and some plot twists may feel predictable. Nonetheless, the witty banter and steamy romance keep the pages turning, offering an enjoyable escape into Regency society. Although it may not break new ground in the genre, readers looking for a light-hearted romance with a hint of intrigue will find satisfaction in this tale.