DadReadsRomance

As usual the subgenre I avoided because I did not think it would be for me (in this case regency/historical romance) does have something for me.

This review refers to the murder mystery, knife violence, gun violence, and 19th century homophobia that are in the book.

#SFW

Medium Used: 40% audiobook via Hoopla | 60% ebook via Kindle

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating:
💜💜💜💜 (4/5)

Sweetness Level:
🍫🍫🍫 (3/5)

Spice Heat Level:
💧 (0/5)

Slow Burn Steamy Tension Quality:
🥵🥵🥵 (3/5)

FMC Likability:
👗👗👗👗👗(5/5)

MMC Likability:
🎩🎩🎩🎩 (4/5)

Plot Engagement:
🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️ (4/5)

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail):
💯 (pass)

BONUS audiobook narration:🔉🔉🔉

Spoiler Free Review

Murder at the Seven Dials is the first book in the Bow Street Duchess Mystery series. It (presumably) begins a slow burn romance between Audrey Sinclair, the Duchess of Fournier and a Bow Street Detective, Hugh Marsden. Their paths cross when Mr. Marsden finds Her Grace's husband, The Duke of Fournier covered in the blood of a murdered opera singer Ms. Lovejoy.

This is a fun read, an intriguing mystery, and cute start of a love story. I appreciated that its pace and brevity. I loved the subtlety of the paranormal fantasy that is woven into this story. Her Grace has a gift that allows her to see other's memories when she touches objects or people. A gift that she considers a curse and keeps a secret. For me, this 'light' fantasy in an otherwise grounded world was novel. I am interested to see if the paranormal aspects of the world will grow at all as the fantasy continues.

The unique circumstances surrounding the meet (not so) cute of Her Grace and Mr. Marsden and their differences in station made their growth in admiration for each other both humorous and endearing. I look forward to seeing where this series goes. Consider me hooked.

What I liked about this book
* Minor Spoiler for a reveal in the first 10% of the story >!The plutonic love between the Duke and Duchess was really interesting to me. I love the dynamic of a married woman as an FMC that loves her husband, who loves her, but only as friends.!<
* I am a sucker for sass and witty banter. There is plenty in here.
* The way Audrey and Hugh have unique strengths as investigators that both compliment and conflict with each other. For example, Hugh is more careful about how he approaches things but he is also often too slow or too presumptive and misses things. Audrey can be rash but is a fast learner and her decisive action makes sure opportunities are not missed.
* Audrey Sinclair is up there with Nevada Baylor and Olive Smith in heroines that just do it for me.

What I did not like about this book
* At first I was listening to this book because it was available on Hoopla and an ebook version wasn't available on Hoopla or Libby. I found it difficult to keep the various aristocrats and Nobility straight in the audiobook version. Which made it hard to follow the mystery.

Spoilers Review

Click to Reveal Spoilers

What I liked Spoilers
* Mr. Marsden's honor and kind heart is shown not told. His efforts to protect the Duke and Duchesses secrets at the end of the story and his juxtaposition to all the members of the ton only looking out for themselves is a nice change from the super tall alphahole trope in much of romance.
* The Duke being gay and how this is weaved into the mystery and Audrey's character was great. What I found fantastic though was how the danger of this reality refutes the 'glamorization' of regency London which I suspected from the genre. I see now how historical romance can use the setting in a way dystopian romances do.¹
* The Duchess thinking people are following her because Mr. Marsden has people watching her but they are actually the bad-guys watching her. Loved this dramatic irony and the pay off when Hugh and Audrey catch up to the reader.

What I didn't like Spoilers
* Maybe it was because I started with Audiobook but I found Hugh's backstory really confusing. I am fairly certain there are still questions to answer but if there isn't I cannot say I followed it completely.
* Last Scene Spoilers Not a kiss or a hug in the last scene? Man you have to be kidding me.

^{1 One of the reasons I have not wanted to pick up historical romances (written in modern times, no issues reading 18th/19th century romance written at the time) is because both my parents marriage and my marriage would have been illegal (race mixing) in most of the Western World in the setting.}

This Book Reminded Me of:

• Hidden Legacy by Ilona Andrews, fast pace mystery with a strong woman lead

Who should read this book?

I think fans of slow burn romantic mysteries will enjoy this one. I described it to my wife as regency Veronica Mars vibes but with a splash of paranormal.

Get the Book

Bonus Gush Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe Volume 1

Apparently Rachel Smythe wrote the Greek Mythology romantic comedy graphic novel I didn’t know I needed but now cannot imagine life without.

I read it in as close to 1 sitting you can have with gremlins running about on Boxing Day. The artwork is beautiful, the dialogue is witty, and the comedy lands in the way I imagine Homer’s better lines landed a few thousand years ago. So good and I cannot believe I’ve never seen this mentioned here or on any of the sister.

💜💜💜💜💜 (5/5)

Big shout out to the librarian who said it was her favorite series when I checked this out. I will be asking you for more recs next time I see you at the library.

Discuss...

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#CaraDevlin
#RomanceBooks
#HistoricalRomance
#RegencyRomance
#MysteryRomance
#BowStreetDuchess