Hilarious Regency Rom-Com

 

Image copied from Goodreads

This is not a new series for Beverley Watts. In fact, there is at least one other spin-off series to this one that is out now. But it was new to me when my sister recommended it. Both of us have been Julia Quinn fans for years. So, when she told me that this series featured a large family of almost all girls and their reverend father who is desperate to marry them off to affluent husbands, I was intrigued. Knowing that in May I was going to be traveling a lot, I looked up audiobooks for the series through my library's digital app. I was happy to find they have all nine of the books in this first series about the Shackleford family.

I was not disappointed in the least with Grace or the other two books in the series that I've listened to so far. Grace is the oldest Shackleford daughter. Soon after the newly titled duke of the estate, Nicholas Sinclair, returns, Grace finds herself inexplicably being married off to him. Of course, nothing ever goes smoothly to plan in rom-coms like this one. The two characters in the story do not have a good first encounter. But they are nevertheless reluctantly attracted to one another. Both Grace and the Nicholas carry their own scars and misbeliefs that make them certain they will not find love or true contentment in marriage to anyone, least of all each other. However, when the duke starts off their marriage ignoring Grace, she takes matters into her own hands to convince him that he would be better off letting her live an independent life and be married in name only. Hijinks of all kinds ensue. The one thing that I did find funny and surprising was the character of the father. Reverend Shackleford is every bit as impulsive, imaginative and headstrong as any of his girls. The plans he concocts are wild and wildly amusing. You expect that sort of thing from the heroines and even sometimes the heroes in these stories. But you rarely have the parents play an active role in this way in the stories.

The backstory for the Nicholas Sinclair was also interesting. He is not only the heir to the estate, but he is also a war hero in the Battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon. A severe injury ends his naval career, leaves him partially crippled and causes him to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Nicholas also has a depressing family history, which is not that uncommon in a regency romance. But part of his trauma involves his nearest and dearest from his recent and distant past. It makes a nice counterpoint to Grace, who comes from a boisterous but close-knit family. Other side characters add to the humor and heart of the story, including the reverend's assistant Percy and the reverend's wife, Agatha. The book is told from multiple points of view, from Grace, to Nicholas, to the reverend and occasionally we get Percy's perspective as well. But unbelievably this was not a detraction for me in the least. It actually helped build some light suspense at times in the plot. I started this book as an audiobook, but I ended up finishing it as an ebook. I will say that at first, I enjoyed reading the ebook version better than listening to the audiobook. The story is read by two accomplished voice actors. But when the male voice actor had to switch to telling the story from Grace's perspective he sounded like an old woman more than the young early twenty something character he was portraying. When the audio went back to the female voice actor things were fine. But listening to the man do some of Grace's dialogue was a bit jarring at times, especially listening to the story for the first time. 

So, if that sort of thing puts you off listening to a book, you might want to stick with a print or ebook version to read. If you are fans of Julia Quinn, Karen Hawkins or other regency romance authors who incorporate lots of humor and heart into their stories, I highly recommend this series. 

Stay tuned for my next review this month. In honor of disability awareness month I will be reviewing another book that features a disabled character as this one did. But the ones that I'm considering for review will be for a younger reading audience. The three that I'm considering, and depending on how long some of them are, I might do two of the three, are in no particular order:

Between Two Brothers  a middle grade novel by Crystal Allen

Popcorn a middle grade novel by Rob Harrell

El Deafo a graphic novel by CeCe Bell

I am also open to any suggestions for good reads that feature disabled characters that any of you might want to suggest as well. The titles for all three of these books also serve as links that will take you to their bookshop.org page to find out more. As always, thank you for reading!