Series: Goode’s Guide to Misconduct, Book 2
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: April 23, 2024
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible
As the daughter of a clergyman, Julia Addison knows she’ll never be able to fulfill her lifelong dream of acting on the stage. But writing forthright reviews of the Season’s most popular plays for Mrs. Goode’s Magazine for Misses, popularly known as Goode’s Guide to Misconduct is surely the next best thing. Even better, she’s got a ticket to Ransom Blackadder’s latest irritating satire about English society. Best of all, she’s sharing a theater box with the gruff but handsome Lord Dunstane, which is enough to make Julia call for an encore…
Graham McKay, the Earl of Dunstane, rarely leaves his home in the Scottish Highlands. Why would he? Nothing about London has ever held his interest—until he meets Julia. But when Graham realizes she is the critic who panned his last play—and she discovers he is in fact the man behind Blackadder’s wicked pen—will it bring down the curtain on their romance—not to mention the magazine that published the humiliating review? Or can an unexpected collaboration set the stage for a scandalous love affair?
A Scottish earl who secretly writes scandalous plays and the daughter of a clergyman who secretly pens reviews are a perfect match in The Lady Plays with Fire. Susanna Craig’s second Goode’s Guide to Misconduct novel features two likeable characters who are taken with each other in person while unknowingly sparring with one another behind the scenes.
Julia Addison wished to be an actress once upon a time, but now the lady’s companion has settled into writing reviews as “Miss on Scene.” Graham is an earl who used his Ransom Blackadder alter ego to pull his estate out of danger. Blackadder is cynical and cutting but Graham is rather sweet. He’s gruff at first but there’s a marshmallow heart inside of him that I found endearing. Julia is kind and sweet as well, but she’s got a steel spine that won’t let her back down. When Mrs. Goode’s Magazine for Misses is targeted because of Blackadder she’s determined to convince the playwright’s patron to sway the author to something less dangerous, never knowing the man she’s dealing with is the writer himself.
Julia and Graham make a charming couple and they have an easy chemistry that makes The Lady Plays with Fire entertaining. For a book centered around the theater this is not a dramatic read; rather it’s a fun and engaging romance that’s good to escape with. I quite enjoy Julia and her fellow “Goode girls” and am very much looking forward to seeing where Craig takes them next.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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