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Determined to secure a fortune at any cost

Cover of A Lady's Guide to Fortune
A review of A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin

Well-bred Lady Kitty Talbot must secure a fortune in twelve weeks in order to save her family’s country home, pay off her father's crippling debt and provide for her four younger sisters. She’s unapologetically ambitious and unwilling to risk the alternative. It’s not easy being forever responsible and she cannot waiver in her plan to save her family from ruin. She’s basically the best older sister ever. She views all potential suitors in a transactional way which might be easily misconstrued in Regency society, yet her grace, charm, wit, and beauty draw the eligible gentlemen to her like flies to honey. You can’t help but want her to succeed.

Kitty leaves Dorsetshire for London and enlists her mother's best friend to play "Aunt" to her and her prettiest younger sister Cecily during the Season. It turns out her respectable “Aunt” and mother shared a wild youth that would scandalize the ton if it got out, adding to Kitty’s urgency to find a match quickly. Self-absorbed Cecily also doesn’t make Kitty’s job any easier. The trio draw the ire of handsome Lord Radcliffe who views Kitty as uncouth and audacious but she won’t let him stand in her way of wooing his younger brother, Archie de Lacy. The repartee is sharp and funny with modern sensibilities, nothing is sacred or off the table for barbs.

Sophie Irwin has written a delicious debut featuring fabulous balls, invitations to Almack’s Assembly Rooms, chaperoned trips to gardens and galleries and enough top-notch banter for Kitty to woo a worthy partner and protect her family. The marriage plot isn’t a new one, but the fresh take and winks to Pride and Prejudice make this a must-read for Austen fans and those looking for a smart Regency romance with timely social commentary.

Oct 12, 2022