Once upon a time in Mayfair a group of wallflowers formed a secret society with goals that had absolutely nothing to do with matrimony. Their most troublesome obstacle? Rogues! 

They call her Beastly Beatrice.

Wallflower Lady Beatrice Bentley longs to remain in the wilds of Cornwall to complete her etymological dictionary. Too bad her brother’s Gothic mansion is under renovation. How can she work with an annoyingly arrogant and too-handsome rogue swinging a hammer nearby?

Rogue. Scoundrel. Call him anything you like as long as you pay him.

Navy man Stamford Wright is leaving England soon and renovating Thornhill House is just a job. It’s not about the duke’s bookish sister or her fiery copper hair. Or the etymology lessons the prim-yet-alluring lady insists on giving him. Or the forbidden things he’d love to teach her.

They say never mix business with pleasure. But when Beatrice and Ford aren’t arguing, they’re kissing. 

Sometimes temptation proves too strong to resist…even if the cost is a heart.

In this book the wallflowers win and being a bluestocking can endear you to the heart of even the most handsome rogue. I am a sucker for underdog stories and this one fits the bill. Between the bluestocking, wallflower, self-isolating, dictionary author heroine and the devilishly handsome, born on the wrong side of the cloth, sea faring, Naval carpenter hero this
story is full of underdogs determined not to let the world get in the way of their plans for the future. I adore how wonderfully smart AND witty this leading lady is.

And I may or may not have been inclined to add a few words from Beatrice’s dictionary to my vocabulary as they are too fun to pass up. I found this story empowering and I am excited to read the rest of this
series to see where it takes us. Lady Beatrice Bentley also known as Beastly Beatrice is ready to retire to life as a spinster so she can finally immerse herself in her own pursuit of happiness, she just needs to get through this last season and her mother’s determination to see her married at all costs. In an attempt to get work done on her life’s work, her etymological dictionary she went looking for solace in the library of her brother’s Cornwall estate. Little did she know that her brother had hired a handsome rogue of a carpenter to do renovations and thusly disrupt her peace
while she was there. Armed with a long list of that entirely too loud, to attractive, to distracting, carpenter’s transgressions to give to her brother, she returns to London to be subjected to her mother’s scheming and ministrations to find her a husband.

While there she
discovers that she has not only a long-lost aunt who shares her same passion for books but that she inherited a book shop that specializes in rare and antique books. Determined to keep the bookshop and the priceless books from being sold out from under her she is forced to hire none
other than that same roguish carpenter from Cornwall to make the repairs and help her save her legacy. Will she find a friendship where she least expects, or will she lose it all for trusting a
rogue? Stamford “Ford” Wright comes from a long line of carpenters, only he follows a different path by becoming a ship’s carpenter for the Navy. He is happy with his life at sea and has only come ashore while waiting for his next ship to help his injured father finish a renovation on Thornhill House. He is there to work, not to flirt with the vibrant redheaded, bookish, sister of the Duke.

But she is always staring at him and he finds himself constantly looking for her too. Good thing the job is finished, and he is heading to London to meet his next ship. He just needs to meet with the Duke to let him know of some suspicious accounting activity he noticed before heading back to sea. He does not need to get involved with helping that same redheaded
bluestocking renovate a bookstore or to fall in love with her.

This book was so much fun to read. I can’t wait to see how all of you like it.