Women taking a stand!

Someone Wanton His Way Comes (Wantons of Waverton #1) by Christi Caldwell          

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A young woman is trying to keep her life together after discovering her dead husband Norman Prescott, the Earl of Norfolk, was on the verge of leaving her. 

The dead man’s closest friend from Eton days, Clayton Kearsley, Viscount St. John, realises he hasn’t honored his friend Norfolk’s request to look after his wife Sylvia, along with her son, despite his anger with Norfolk.

Meanwhile Lady Sylvia Caufield, the Countess of Norfolk, has taken up residence with two other women, Lady Annalee and Valerie Bragger.  The two women living with Sylvia have come there by an interesting route. They are considered outrageous. Along with other women they form an association,  the Mismatch Society, to take a stand against women being bartered in marriage. Amongst them are some of Clayton’s sisters and his mother. Of course this becomes scandalous. So much so that Sylvia’s in laws see this as a way to getting access to their grandchild (and there’s a mystery around this).

To me the pièce de résistance is is Clayton’s relationship with his mother and his sisters, especially his youngest sister, Eris. She’s just fabulous. Some of the scenes between them are just too precious for words.

As a bonus we have the women of Clayton’s family wanting him to marry before a family curse leaves them stranded. Sylvia trying to protect herself and her son, various women doing the Regency equivalent of the Me Too Movement, and Clayton in love with Sylvia.

Women from the Lost Lords of London series form part of the group. Lila is Sylvia’s sister met in ‘In the Dark with the Duke,’ along with her friend Lady Annalee. This series opens up a whole new suite of plots.

A Regency romantic comedy, with an underlying serious dilemma, a second chance trope inclusion, and women taking a stand.

Great beginning!

A Montlake ARC via NetGalley