Author: Lynn Messina
Publisher: Potatoworks Press
Publication Date: September 2014
Genre: Historical Romance
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: A woman in the British Horticultural Society! The very idea horrifies everyone, including ardent horticulturalist Lavinia Harlow, whose own name has been put forth for membership by the provoking Marquess of Huntly. He does it as a joke, of course, to get back at her for an imagined slight—well, to be fair, she had insulted his writing—and Vinnie, older sister to the infamous Harlow Hoyden, is far too sensible to rise to his ridiculous challenge.
Determined to head off further scandal (her name has already been recorded in the betting book at Brooks's!), Vinnie dashes off a polite note refusing the honor—which she has every intention of sending. Really. Only she can't help but chafe at the way everyone keeps demanding that she decline at once, even the Marquess. Oh, especially the Marquess, whose perfection she finds intolerable. Who ever heard of a gentleman being so handsome and so intelligent and so well informed about foreign flora? Clearly, the man needs to be taken down a peg, and somehow, despite all twenty-four years of faultless propriety, Vinnie is just the hoyden to do it.
My Thoughts: I found this story to be as delightful and charming as the first book in this series. This story centers on Lavinia “Vinnie” Harlow, the sister of the Harlow Hoyden, who has been in mourning since the demise of her despicable fiancé in the first book. Her adventures with the exceedingly attractive Marquess of Huntly, exploding hoses, drainage systems and whether or not she should accept the nomination of membership into the British Horticultural Society (she really wants to, though everyone is telling her to decline) will give the reader several hours of entertainment.
Though it had been several years since I last visited with the Harlow sisters and the Duke of Trent, I was able to fall right back in to their lives as if it were only yesterday. The author does a brilliant job of drawing the reader into the story and the lives of the characters so seamlessly that it felt like I was sitting in the drawing room with them.
I loved Vinnie and the Marquess. Their chemistry is amazing and though society demands certain protocols for the women of the ton to observe when in mourning, I personally couldn’t wait until Vinnie could shed the black and be herself once more. The scene at the dowager’s ball when Vinnie and the Marquess dance was wonderful and though Vinnie’s anxiety about the other attendees and their judgments gave her pause, I was happy to see that she took a page out of her sister’s book and did it anyway.
My Final Verdict: The story flowed very smoothly and I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend this book. I look forward to what the Harlow sisters get into next. London society will never be the same now that the Harlow sisters are there, and London is all the better for it.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of The Other Harlow Girl from the author in exchange for an honest review.
