Charming Regency romance

The Baron and the Lady Chemist (The Grantham Girls #2) by Alissa Baxter     

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Our heroine, Dorothea Grantham, has a very different passion/hobby. Chemistry, and in particular the using of electricity to dye silks into brilliant colors. Thea then embroiders the fabrics, often with gold or silver thread, producing the most startling shawls and fichus.

So lovely that many think she’s wearing smuggled goods. 

Britain at this stage has banned silks from Italy and France. This has become a lucrative item for smugglers and Thea finds herself the target of many knowing nods. 

Thea can’t explain her silks, as her grandmother has forbidden her to discuss her hobby within the hearing of Polite Society.

One of those inquiring after her ‘purchases’ is Lord James Castleroy, a baron and a rather bothersome man who caught her coming out of her workshop with her hem ablaze after a chemistry mishap.

Unknown to Thea, James is part owner in a silk mill near Macclesfield. Hence his interest in the silks she adorns herself with. Others, with more dastardly motivations, are also interested in the provenance of Thea’s silks! 

I must admit that my imagination ran riot with the description of her work.

A lively plot that uses the silk situation and Thea’s loves and fears to ground this nicely woven story set in Regency England.

Part of Dragonblade’s Sweet Dreams publications, this title is refreshingly free from anything more than delightful kisses.

A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.