A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

The Basics:
A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
Viking
Historical Romance
Published July 12, 2022
Source: Received Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon | Goodreads

Why I picked up this book:
I was completely hooked by the blurb.

Blurb:

A whip-smart historical rom-com debut that follows an entirely unconventional heroine who throws herself into the London Season in hopes of finding a wealthy husband to save her family from ruin. But the last thing she expects is to find love…

When Kitty Talbot is jilted by her fiancé three months before their wedding, the future looks dark. Without his fortune to pay off her late father’s gambling debts, she and her four sisters face certain ruin.
 
But Kitty has never backed down from a challenge, so she leaves the countryside and heads toward the most dangerous battleground in all of Regency England: The London Season. 
 
The aim is simplee: find a wealthy bachelor to wed in order save the Talbot family from destitution.
 
Kitty is neither accomplished nor all that genteel, but she is utterly single-minded; imbued with her father’s gambling spirit, Kitty knows that risk is just part of the game. What she doesn’t anticipate is Lord Radcliffe, elder brother of the deliciously wealthy Archibald de Lacy. Radcliffe sees Kitty for the fortune-hunter that she really is, and is determined to scotch her plans at all costs…

A  scintillating mano-a-mano between Kitty and Lord Radcliffe will turn into the romance of the year, one whose brilliant repartee and enticing wit make A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting a pure delight.

My Thoughts:

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting is quite a solid debut for author Sophie Irwin. Featuring a very determined young woman with the fate of her sisters weighing on her mind and a protective older brother determined to save his younger brother from a loveless marriage, the bulk of the story hinges on Kitty's efforts to find a suitable suitor. She casts a wide net through London society!

I found the early chapters a bit hard-going. The sisters aren't presented in the most favorable of lights, making it a little harder to root for them. Kitty is presented as quite practical and needfully mercenary and manipulative. The manipulation was a bit hard for me, but she grew on me as the book unfolded. I very much enjoyed her growth and came to appreciate how forthcoming and logical she was about what she had to do.   I also appreciated the conversations between herself and James, the opportunities for them to support and irk each other throughout the book were the bulk of the courtship. They grew on me throughout the book, and I found the plot payoff at the end quite satisfying!  Definitely worth pushing through my early uncertainties! 

The book itself is quite chaste as far as romances go, so if you're looking for heat, go elsewhere. But if you'd like to read a charming historical romance featuring a heroine outside of the ton and with genuine stakes (i.e. impending loss of home due to crushing debts), read on!

Bottom line:

While A Lady's Guide started off in a bit of uncomfortable spot for me, the twists and turns of the plot and growth of the characters made it well worth a read. I recommend it to fans of historical romance, absolutely.

4 stars
For fans of chaste historical romance, schemes, plots gone awry