In this spicy upstairs/downstairs romance, maid Penny Smith sneaks into Lord William "Liam" Renquist’s world to spy on him, determined to prove he’s part of the infamous Devil's Sons, a gang specialising in trafficking. She doesn't realise that the brooding marquess is working undercover for Queen Victoria to take down the same criminal gang from the inside. As their paths keep crossing and secret missions clash their undeniable chemistry becomes a steamy affair that could ruin both their plans..

Things I Loved:
Awesome mix of intrigue and romance with loads of plot twists
Great chemistry between the feisty Penny and the noble Liam
The class difference is done well, with some real challenges
Steam factor: High, with quite a few open-door scenes

Minor Nitpicks:
The romance moved fast considering they start so suspicious of each other.
Almost a miscommunication trope (although with good plot justification!)

This is perfect for fans of:
Strong female leads in historical settings
Enemies-to-lovers with a spy twist
Historical romance with some suspense
Love stories that break class barriers

This novel can be read alone, but I highly recommend reading the first two in this series for extra enjoyment of some of the characters that appear. I promise you won't regret it!

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for providing a copy for my review. All opinions are my own.

The Confessions of a Lady by Darcy McGuire 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
Darcy McGuire has done it again!
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐/5 stars

Penny Smith may be a maid in Lord William Renquist’s house, but she is also a spy searching for proof of the marquess’ involvement with the nefarious Devil’s Sons. Expecting to face a cruel and evil monster, like the men in the Renquist family before him, Liam is not as she expected as he makes her heart race, and his unusual acts of kindness make her question if he is really is the man she thinks he is.
McGuire delivers on her promises. She hands us tough characters and puts them to good use. For example, Penny is proclaimed as an individual who grew up with a hard life in St. Giles and isn’t about to let anyone mess with her and throughout the book, we see her stand up and defend herself and even put the monstrously strong-as-he-is-handsome Liam to the test.
The romance is, as always, just the right amount of spice wrapped in McGuire’s beautiful prose. The banter and dialogue are sure to make readers fall in love with the new couple and all your favorites from her first book are an active part of the cast!

My Two Favorite Things:
1. The ongoing plot about the Devil’s Sons as well as Penny’s station as a maid both take very active roles in the book, influencing the characters and driving the plot. I read too many romances where everything outside the core romance is pushed to the back. That’s not the case here!
2. McGuire always has a scent picked out for each character. For Liam, it is the sharpness of the woods. For Penny, it is a heady mixture of vanilla, cloves, and soap. A nice touch!

🍰 𝑆𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒: McGuire’s colorfully sweet descriptions, oft comparing her characters to food makes a sweet pastry or a snack at hand a MUST when reading this treat! 🍰

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
🍰 Tough damsels putting others in distress
🍰 Hot & Sweet Spicy Romance
🍰 Secret Missions
🍰 #touchherandyoudie
🍰 Masque Balls!

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC copy of The Confessions of a Lady. This is my honest review.

Housemaid meets Marquess!_____4.5

Housemaid Penny Smith was trained in the school of hard knocks down in St Giles. She survived by fighting, claiming her own space, and “take no hostages” sorts of actions.
Which is exactly how her relationship with Lord William (Liam) Rehnquist seems to be going.
All she has to do is find letters that prove he’s a member of the Devils Son’s cohort.
Little does Penny know he works for the Queen. She’s under the impression that he’s linked to the fearful organisation. They’re working towards same ends but from different perspectives.
Penny is working for Constable Sweet gathering information about the Devil’s Sons for the reward money promised by Commissioner Worthington, in a desperate bid to free her mother from prison. Harriet Smith has been held in prison under the Vagrancy Act of 1838.
The problem is for Penny is that Liam sees her, he really sees her, lowly maid that she is, and that’s dangerous for both of them.
And did I mention the most dangerous of all! The fact they can’t keep their hands off each other!
Intrigue leaps from the pages as Liam and Penny investigate their leads to a rather shocking conclusion.

A Boldwood Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Darcy McGuire has certainly improved from her debut book (the first book in this series) to this one. Her pacing is better, and the romance between the main couple is more developed while still allowing time for exploration of the mystery that has led FMC Penny to secure a position as a maid in the home of MMC Lord William Renquist (anyone else distracted by him having the same name as the notoriously racist former Supreme Court justice? just me?), whom she suspects as being part of a group involved in human trafficking. Penny's investigation ends up crossing paths with that of the Duchess and her lady spies working on behalf of the Queen, even as Penny finds herself falling for William in a way she never imagined.

Villainous intentions are easy to spot early on, and once again the use of "Lady" in the title is misleading - Penny is a destitute maid, certainly not a lady by the standards of the story's time period. I am still missing the Duchess' backstory though I suppose including more of those details in this book would have been difficult. The spice is decent and the HEA satisfactory.

3.5 stars rounded to 4. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for a complimentary copy of this book. These opinions are my own.

Penny is the highlight of the book, an illiterate housemaid who is solving mysteries and working undercover for the police. She was a delight.

The Cinderella elements were fun, especially the ball scene.

Great fun and great to see the working class in a Regency romance and class struggle explicitly in the narrative.

From the very first novel, I was hooked on this series and, true to form, this one doesn't disappoint—even if the witty banter and humor have taken a slight coffee break (I said "slight," not "missing").
This book is another high-speed chase through a captivating blend of historical romance, action, and mystery. The ladies are not just clever but cunning, taking risks without becoming reckless.
Expect romance, an intriguing hero, and a plot that nudges the protagonists into the inevitable fall for each other. It's a brisk read with a tightly knitted storyline that kept me hooked
So, get comfy, grab this series, and prepare for a thrilling ride! You will surely enjoyed this one too
Many thanks to the Boldwood Books and Rachel's Random Resources for this digital copy, all opinions are mine

I really enjoyed McGuire's last book, "A Lady's Lesson in Scandal," and I found myself similarly pulled in by this new book, "The Confessions of a Lady." McGuire has created a fun, Victorian world full of intrigue, romance, and vivid characters. I appreciated how both Liam and Penny had room to grow, and they each had believable challenges in the book. Penny is scrappy and savvy, a perfectly saucy maid in the house of Liam, who's managed to convince himself he's really a monster just waiting to break loose. They take turns saving one another, both physically and metaphorically, and I enjoyed the banter along with the shifting power dynamics. I found the dialogue quick and witty, the action scenes well-paced and well-described, and the settings perfect. I really liked the mystery plot running parallel to the romance. I'm looking forward to reading more from McGuire!

In this third instalment of the 'Queen's Deadly Damsels', we follow housemaid Penny Smith and Lord William Renquist as they both work to dismantle the corrupt 'Devil's Sons' organisation.

'The Confessions of a Lady' is a victorian times historical spy romance, ripe with sizzling back and forth banter and yearning. Each with secret agendas of their own, Penny and Liam work to uncover the truth, all whilst resisting their blatant desire for one another.

This novel is an absolutely beautiful romance! And the steamy love scenes were perfection! With such different social stations in life, their craving is all the more enticing!

Our heroine Penny is unafraid to be her bold, brazen self, with her sharp tongue and wit; and Liam made sure at every stage he treated Penny as his equal, regardless of her station.

I really loved Liam's realisations about the disadvantages and hardships his servants faced, and the frustration he felt with himself each time for not realising or doing something about it sooner.

The writing in this novel was very well detailed, following both Penny and Liam's POVs. All their thoughts and deepest fantasies were laid across the page for the reader. My only critique is that at times things were described quite repetitively. I think this added to the length of some of the chapters being longer than they needed to be. But still, the story and plot was captivating. You can tell the author cares a lot for these characters, having gone to great detail laying out their backgrounds and morals, and dreams for their futures.

Although this novel is the third in a series, I read it not knowing anything about the previous books, and still had a great time! It can definitely be read as a standalone!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this!

*I received this book as an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) for free in exchange for an honest review*

Spicy, male female, 3rd person dual point of view, historical romance. Slow burn with great chemistry between the leads and an engaging plot with mystery. This is the 3rd book in the Queens Deadly Damsels series but can be read alone. This was a fun perfect length read.

With each successive installment, I have enjoyed this series more and more. FMC Penny is my favorite lead so far. An excellent Victorian romcom with an upstairs/downstairs relationship, an odious brotherhood/fraternity up to dastardly deeds, and a group of women (and the occasional man) working as operatives of Queen Victoria intent on taking them down.

Relationships with obvious power imbalances are very difficult to get right, but the MCs, Liam, the Marquess of Stoneway and Peggy, a maid in his employ, do not fall into problematic patterns. She is too strong willed to defer to him for any reason other than the fact that she wants to, and he respects her too much to use his position to his advantage. This leads to what is probably my favorite aspect of the novel, their banter. The repartee is excellent and every riposte volleyed is both sharp and clever.

A fun, sexy historical romcom that should entertain any Bridgerton fan.

The Confessions of A Lady is packed with witty humor, smart unconventional characters,  steamy scenes and several people working hard to dismantle a very bad organization called the Devil's Sons.

Penny Smith is a maid working at Lord William ( Liam) Renquist' home. She is trying to find evidence against Lord Renquist for Constable Sweet so that her mother can be released from jail. While Penny secretly spies on Liam, she also begins to have feelings for him and he is in lust with her. But it seems that Penny is more preoccupied with helping catch the Devil's Sons, in order to save women from trafficking, serve the queen and set her mother free.
Will Penny catch Liam red handed and turn him in or will love conquer all?

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this action packed historical romance.

I really enjoyed this mystery romance with its enemies to lovers, class disparity, boss-employee, „Cinderella“, revenge and espionage tropes. The plot is very well written and packed with drama, intrigue, action, mystery, suspense, danger and steamy love scenes. Penny and Liam are strong and unconventional characters who both have to face their demons and challenges. I loved their verbal sparring, the sizzling chemistry between them and their inner thoughts.
What I also liked was that the book shows the social hierarchy and the injustices of the time very well.
The book can be read as a standalone, but I recommend starting with the previous books of the series to understand the backstories and the supporting characters.

Former army officer William "Liam" Renquist, Marquess of Stoneway, returns to London after mourning the loss of his brothers to fulfil the Queen's secret mission to track down and destroy the human trafficking organisation "Devil's Sons". He is convinced that there is a beast inside him that makes him as evil and nefarious as his father and brothers.
Penny Smith grew up in prison before becoming a servant. To get her mother out of prison, she accepts an assignment from a constable friend and infiltrates Stoneway's household to gather evidence that he is a member of the Devil's Sons. Jenny blames Liam for the cruel fate of her family and wants revenge on him, but he is different from what she expected and she soon finds herself attracted to him. Liam is also drawn to his unconventional maid, but she is his servant and therefore off-limits to him...

Overall, a captivating romance full of intrigue, suspense and spice that I‘m happy to recommend!

I received a free ARC of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and left voluntarily.

Once again, I find myself reading a book partway into a series. Penny is a badass. She grew up scrappy and strong and is the perfect spy. The suspense is perfect - I got physically uncomfortable at parts waiting to see what would happen. And the slow burn was so good.

Highly recommend!

3 stars

Not really for me. Took a long time to get going. I found it incredulous that Queen Victoria is some sort of spymaster general. The heroine had a chip on her shoulder about being unable to read. It was fairly obvious her friend the constable was a wrong un and the hero was too perfect. The sex scenes started half way though the book and were well written though I personally get a bit jaded with lots of oral sex. I jumped into this series at book three in part to try this, to me new author, but I won't be continuing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions written are completely honest and my own.

I've never been a huge fan of historical romances as I found they tend to be very one dimensional.

This is not the case in The Confessions of a Lady. Here we have not a damsel, but a heroine with a mission.

I did not know there were 2 prior books in the series and only found out by looking up Darcy McGuire to get the names of her books to read. This book very much stands on its own.

Thank you to @rachelsrandomresources for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in this series and my favourite so far. We follow Penny in this one, a maid who is tasked with spying on her employer. But, as with all best laid plans, this one doesn’t quite go to plan.

She’s trying to find secrets to feed to her friendly policeman in return for the reward money that will change her life for the better. Along the way, we meet some of the Deadly Damsels from the previous books who try to help but Penny is determined to do this for herself. As you can imagine, things turn ugly.

Well written and nowhere near as much sex education as the previous books, this one had my attention all the way through. After reading this one, I’ll pick up the next if the series continues.

I love a historical romance so this was the perfect read for me, it felt like a great blend of different elements whilst also keeping it exciting and romantic throughout.

I love a historical that is all about the aristocracy. I also love a woman undercover who is too smart for her own good.
It took a bit to connect to the story but I really loved the heroine.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Boldwood Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the kickass maid heroine and her mission. I’m also happy to see class difference that’s a bit more grounded in reality and the problems that the heroine would have faced. Her spying mission and skills helps to even out their power imbalance.

Interesting premise: Penny is working for a constable she knew from prison to help gather evidence of human trafficking in the home of William, the Marquess of Renquist, who inherited his title upon the death of his older brother. Although illiterate, Penny can identify the seal of the traffickers, The Devil’s Sons, and is searching for documents bearing this said seal.

When she realises that the Marquess is working as an undercover agent for Queen Victoria on the same matter, they join forces and work together to bring the perpetrators to justice. It was a fun, easy read that kept me engaged.

There are previous books in this series, which I had not read before, but I was able to follow along quite well. I received an ARC from the publishers and NetGalley and submit my honest review voluntarily.