The Matchmaker's Lonely Heart by Nancy Campbell Allen was my first Proper Romance which I define as "chaste without faith elements."
The premise: In Victorian London, Amelie (AH-meh-lee, not Eh-meh-lee, as readers as told more than once) Hampton is a 21-year-old striving to be a Woman of Independent Means. With her beloved cousins Charlotte and Eva, she works as an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist for The Marriage Gazette (owned by their aunt) and lives in a boarding house owned by that aunt.
While secretly observing (spying on) a couple's first date she arranged, she encounters police detective Michael Baker who brusquely requests her assistance in investigating Harold Radcliffe, the man on the date. Ms. Hampton is initially attracted to Mr. Radcliffe, but as she learns about him and the reason for Detective Baker's investigation, she fears for her safety and that of others who know him while also becoming intrigued by the detective and his work.
This was a fun change of pace from my usual genres, even though it contained more violence and murder than I anticipated. The secondary characters and the "quotations" from various publications at the beginning of each chapter were delightful!
At times the novel read like a melodrama, but also included deeper plotlines, such as Detective Baker's backstory. I enjoyed the strong "Miss Scarlet and The Duke" (PBS Masterpiece) vibes, although the romantic relationship between the novel's hero and heroine progressed much faster.
I hope future installments in the series will focus on each of Ms. Hampton's cousins. Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and Edelweiss for the review copy and the introduction to the genre.
The premise: In Victorian London, Amelie (AH-meh-lee, not Eh-meh-lee, as readers as told more than once) Hampton is a 21-year-old striving to be a Woman of Independent Means. With her beloved cousins Charlotte and Eva, she works as an advice-to-the-lovelorn columnist for The Marriage Gazette (owned by their aunt) and lives in a boarding house owned by that aunt.
While secretly observing (spying on) a couple's first date she arranged, she encounters police detective Michael Baker who brusquely requests her assistance in investigating Harold Radcliffe, the man on the date. Ms. Hampton is initially attracted to Mr. Radcliffe, but as she learns about him and the reason for Detective Baker's investigation, she fears for her safety and that of others who know him while also becoming intrigued by the detective and his work.
This was a fun change of pace from my usual genres, even though it contained more violence and murder than I anticipated. The secondary characters and the "quotations" from various publications at the beginning of each chapter were delightful!
At times the novel read like a melodrama, but also included deeper plotlines, such as Detective Baker's backstory. I enjoyed the strong "Miss Scarlet and The Duke" (PBS Masterpiece) vibes, although the romantic relationship between the novel's hero and heroine progressed much faster.
I hope future installments in the series will focus on each of Ms. Hampton's cousins. Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing and Edelweiss for the review copy and the introduction to the genre.
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