It has felt like months reading this book, not sure why. It started well, with the bereaved Lady Ashby setting out to find a man! In modern parlance, she was after a fling before retreating to Yorkshire.

The list concept was good fun, but got a bit lost as the story developed… however, I almost stoped reading as there was just too much spice 🌶️… almost for the sake of it on some occasions.

Parts of this book read well, others dragged. I normally devour ‘Regency’ romances, and have read the previous book in this series, but there were way too many long sequences that went on for too long. Lots of side characters, but that wasn’t too confusing, just the spicy scenes seemed to take far too long…

3*, just too many gratuitous 🌶️ scenes!!

What the Lady Wants is the third book in a series called the Runaway Heiress. The book can be read as a stand alone. Emma Orchard is a new author for me and was a fun find.

Lady Isabelle Ashley was happily married to her first and only love. Then he died in a battle and she was overwrought and inconsolable. She knew she would never love another person like she did her husband. However, she knew that she wanted more physical intimacy and being an organized person wrote a list. She had convinced her family that she needed to stay with family for a bit longer in a season. In reality, she was looking for a lover to accomplish the items on her list.

Captain Leo Winterton was who she chose to help her with the list. Only he had a secret that she didn’t know, he was in love with her! Together they explore her list and each other. Not wanting their time to end, they both go to the same house party to “finish” up the list. However, with all secrets, the truth will eek out. All the secrets come out and choices are taken away from them. How will they move forward?

What the Lady Wants does not have a complex storyline as most of the story is about Leo and Ashley. Emma Orchard has written a fun historical romance.

Though part of a series, this can be read as a standalone.
Can one know what they want for the rest of their life? Lady Isabella Ashby has decided at the age of 22 and recently widowed, that she will never marry again.
What the Lady Wants is a very entertaining and spicy read. LOTS of steamy moments!
I loved the chemistry between the main characters, Isabella and Leo. The banter between them was fun and made me laugh out loud a few times.
Once I started reading this book, I was intrigued as to where the author was going with the story, Though the dialogue does seem to drag on a bit, I still enjoyed reading What the Lady Wants.
The story does contain infertility issues as well as mental issues.
Thank you NetGalley, Boldwood Books and Rachels Random Resources for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC

This is my second Emma Orchard book and I find her stories really entertaining. They're quick, easy read with fun romances and lot of spice. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good regency romance, lokking for a good time

This is fun romp. Historical fiction, friends to lovers, some steam.
Characters aren't fully developed and sometimes the writing is a bit wandering.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC.

I didn't actually finish this one, unfortunately.
I was already put in the beginning my the whole conniving-to-seduce a friend thing. I don't know. I just didn't like Isabella much. So I made it about 20% and then just gave up.

I may try it again at some point. I gave it 2 stars because the writing was fine. It was just the plot for me.

In "What the Lady Wants," Emma Orchard weaves a captivating tale set against the backdrop of Regency England, where Lady Isabella Ashby finds herself at a crossroads after the loss of her husband. Determined to reclaim a sense of adventure before retiring to a quiet life in Yorkshire, Isabella devises a scandalous list of experiences she wishes to indulge in one last time. Enter Captain Leo Winterton, a close friend harboring a secret love for Isabella. When she enlists his help to fulfill her daring desires, their friendship evolves into a passionate entanglement that defies societal norms.

Orchard skillfully navigates the complexities of grief, desire, and societal expectations, painting a vivid picture of a woman rediscovering her agency and a man torn between duty and love. The chemistry between Isabella and Leo is palpable, their interactions charged with longing and forbidden attraction. As they navigate the precarious waters of their unconventional arrangement, Orchard deftly explores themes of love, loyalty, and the transformative power of genuine connection.

"What the Lady Wants" is a delightful blend of romance and intrigue, with well-drawn characters and a plot that keeps readers engaged until the satisfying conclusion. Emma Orchard's storytelling prowess shines through in this tale of love found in unexpected places, making it a must-read for fans of Regency romance and complex, heartfelt narratives.

3/5 Spicy friends to lovers historical romance

I received an advance copy through NetGalley. This is my first book from the author, and I’m not sure she is for me. I ended up skipping a lot of descriptive sections which didn’t really add to the story. There were a lot of side characters, that it felt hard to keep up. Now the FMC was just confusing, her feelings changed very quickly and she kind of messed the MMC around a lot. It’s nice to see a spicy historical romance, but not at the expense of the story telling, which felt rushed in terms of the sudden development of feelings.

Tropes: widow wants a fling; cinnamon roll MMC
Steam level: 3-4

3.5 stars I couldn’t quite round up. Tbh I was conflicted by this book. The cartoony cover implies this will be fairly low-steam and romcom-ish, while the writing style is on the old-school side (think Mary Balogh/Georgette Heyer), but the spice is spicy. Sometimes I felt the writing flowed well, with touches of sadness and wry humor that felt organic, at other times it seemed overdone and wordy, particularly in the last 25%, when I found myself skimming. The scenes of genuine warmth between the MC's are what almost made me round up to 4 stars; I liked their chemistry. And I appreciated how the topic of MFC’s mental illness was handled at the beginning–not many HR’s go there. But there isn't a lot of plot, once you get into the meat of the story and MFC's desire to fulfill the lusty items on her list, and somehow I felt the chemistry drained out of the relationship with the angst that got tossed in toward the end.

Overall: MC’s have chemistry and the plot has potential, but too much focus on style without quite enough substance.

I read an advanced reader copy of this book and this is my voluntary review. Opinions are my own. Thanks to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for this opportunity.

After experiencing a breadown (2 years) from her husbands death, Isabella is ready for pleasure, before she retires as a widow. She comes up with a list of experiences and recruits Leo, who she knows via family to help her realize her wishes.

Leo has been in love with Isabella for a while, and is happy to help hoping that she in turn may reciprocate. The couple do eventually get their hea.

The book was steamy, but beyond that seemed a little lacking in building the emotional side of the relationship. Emma's writing style also requires some patience as it does get prosy and verbose. A decent read.

What the Lady Wants by Emma Orchard is a delight. It is a must-read for fans of female friendships, unorthodox heroines, titilating couples, and sweet happily-ever-afters. Fans of regency romance may guess some of the plot points as they move through the story but only because they are what we know and love about the genre. The story manages to be sweet and sexy and stand on its own amidst a vast sea of competition.

None of the characters fall flat or feel out of place. I was left wanting to know more about them all. So, you can imagine I was thrilled to find at the end of the story an excerpt from Emma Orchard's subsequent book, A Duke of One's Own, which teases getting to know more of the interesting characters who populate this one. I, for one, await it eagerly!

I am so grateful to Emma Orchard, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for sharing this fun, frisky, and ultimately heart-warming story with me.

I’ll be reviewing a historical romance called “What the Lady Wants” by Emma Orchard. After the untimely death of her husband, the widowed Lady Isabella, the reason I applied for this story it sounded different to me then the regular historical romance books where they just go to a society ball, this one sounded different and I thought I would like it, which I did, she had a list of things she wanted to do before being a widow which she ended up being and she got her friend Leo to help her out, but he also had a secret in the book he was in love with her.
This was such a great read, I couldn't stop reading it it didn't take me long to finish the book. I just loved Emma even though I felt bad for her that her husband passed away, but she found new love and that is what counts so she did not have to be alone.

Leo was such a great character to love and I thought he was caring and loyal and honest.

Thank you to netgalley for giving me this arc, 100% opinions are my own.

This is a fun read, but I'd say... maybe not for everyone's taste.

It reads a bit like the classics, it has a lot of lengthy text about feelings and descriptions about the scenery. Therefore, it might be a bit hard to get into it if you're not used to this type of writing.

However, the dialogue was nice and flowy, sometimes even funny. I enjoyed the main character's conversations and didn't mind that it was a fast burn type of romance. No, it was not the swoony sort of romance. It was lust-filled, and maybe not very realistic but it was still fun to read it!

I usually like my characters a bit more developed, with more back-story so that I can really root for them, and it didn't happen with this book. But I quite liked the plot: whenever I stopped reading, I'd be wondering what was going to happen with the couple.

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to enjoy this book, and to the author/editor for accpeting my request to read it!

4.25
This was a fun surprise! I've never even heard of Emma Orchard, but picked this up on a whim because the summary sounded intriguing and I'm glad I did! Read almost all of it in one sitting because I just couldn't put it down, although it did lose a bit of my interest at the end as I just wanted them to hurry up and resolve their conflicts (a common issue with historical romance for me).

Lady Ashby is a fairly recent widow and having a hard time coming to terms with her beloved husband's sudden death. To help her cope, she makes a list of things she wants to do one last time, starting with a kiss. She picks the handsome Captain Leo as her first choice of lover and he is more than willing to go along, having been in love with her for a long time prior. Of course, he doesn't tell her that although he secretly hopes she'll fall in love too.

This is a wild ride and has me wanting to go back and read the first two books in the series! There is a trope that a lot of people don't like near the end, but I won't spoil it. Definitely is foreshadowed though, so you might see it coming like I did. Normally I would dislike it, but since I knew it was coming I didn't mind it.

Ever since reading Bridgerton a few years ago l've been craving something like it. This is the perfect historical romance with a little smut, a little drama, and a happy ending to wrap it all up 47
After the untimely death of her husband, Isabella decides to resign herself from London society and return to her parents' estate in Yorkshire. Before she does that, however, she wants one last hurrah. She devises a list of things (s) she would like to experience once more before she embraces her life as a widow. She recruits Captain Leo Winterton to help complete her list. What starts as a friends-with-benefits, 1816 style, ends with Captain Winterton developing feelings. But Isabella has promised herself that she will never remarry after her husband's passing Will he coax her into marrying him or will someone discover their sordid affair first?

1/5

I didn't like this at all. The writing style wasn't for me and the whole book was more of a "tell, don't show" which I'm not a fan of.

Isabella and Leo didn't have any chemistry whatsoever and it didn't even feel like Leo was in love with her. We were told that he was but as usual, it wasn't shown well. Also, we were reminded how they were kind of cousins all the time which took away the joy for me and made me dislike them as a couple (granted, they're not literally related: Leo is the first cousin of Isabella's sister in law - (though is she her sister in law is she is married to her husband's brother? Who knows). But anyway we were reminded how they were kind of a family and that's why Leo was trustworthy.

It took away all of the excitement for me. Also, for her he was just a stranger, and the description of the book lets us believe that Leo was Isabella's friend. That's why I wanted to read this book, I thought it would be friends to lovers where Leo loved Isabella for years and lined for her but didn't do anything about it because she was married. Not but now that she's not, he finally has his chance.

That's not what the book is about.

The writing is awkward and stiff, the characters are less than appealing and the plot is kind of boring tbh. I was hoping that Isabella would enjoy her encounters with Leo more, but all she did was to think about her list all the time which made the moment she realized she loved him and then accepted it, out of nowhere. There wasn't any foundation of it tbh.

I didn't enjoy the book at all. Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an ARC for an honest opinion.

What the Lady Wants is the third book in Emma Orchard’s The Runaway Heiress series. This follows the widowed Lady Isabella Ashby who we met in the previous book. She is a young widow who lost her husband in the war and was devastated. In this book she attempts to take back control of her life and her future. She decides she needs a lover to help her move on. She decides on Captain Leo Winterton with the avowal that she will never love any man apart from her late husband. Unbeknownst to Isabella, Leo has loved her for years. When she propositions him, Leo knows he cannot let her go to any other man and agrees. But when Isabella realises Leo has feelings for her, will she be able to face the truth of her own feelings? Or will it lead to ruin for them both?
This was, as always a very well written book with characters speaking and behaving within the strictures of the time. I do like that about the author. Isabella is a strong heroine – more so since she almost lost herself in her grief after her husband died. She is the one to realise last how she felt for Leo and it was understandable that she did not want to betray her love for Ash. Leo was a wonderful hero. He was a bit of a beta hero. He was very sweet and considerate of Isabella and always put her first. His crushing disappointment and subsequent actions to protect his heart when he realised Isabella might not ever be able to love him was reasonable.
While Isabella and Leo are the main crux of the novel, they are surrounded by a wonderful cast of characters. I love Hal and Cassandra [from book one] and the rest of the family.
I received an advanced review copy from Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately I have not read any other Emma Orchard books, which is unfortunate because I really enjoyed this book.

Being compared to Bridgerton is a tough order, that series has taken the world by storm since the Netflix series hit the screens but while there is the steamy regency vibe this does manage to stand on its own feet. There is a bit more depth to the characters in this book than others I have read and the author has captured the world well.

Alas, too much spice and not enough relationship development for me. However, other readers who adore steam will devour this tale of a widow who creates a sexy to-do list after her husband's death.

Isabella is a young widow who wants to move on from the sadness of her past and take control of her future. She thinks that the best way to do this is by having a fling (following her list of things she wants to experience) so she propositions naval captain Leo - who's always been in love with her, though she doesn't know this and tells him that she can never love anyone other than her late husband. Leo, not wanting anyone to take advantage of her, agrees to her scandalous proposition...

Lots of steam and stolen moments together; but there's more to the book than that. It covers grief, infertility, and the power of love to heal.

Thank you to Boldwood, Netgalley and the author for the ARC.