Trope Round Up: Historical Romance Books with a Brother’s Best Friend (Volume 1)

Scandalous Summer Nights by Anne Barton (2014)

Historical romance, Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Honeycotes series. Duke’s sister Olivia has been pining for her brother’s solicitor friend for the past decade. When she learns that he is planning to leave for a two-year expedition to Egypt, she finally declares her feelings for him and sets out to convince him of her affections. However, her impulsive nature and lack of caution land them in a series of disastrous events. While this book had its humorous moments, Olivia’s chaotic energy was awkward for me to read. Also, whenever James seemed to have something serious to talk about, they kept getting interrupted (either by external circumstances or Olivia’s distractions). It was still an enjoyable read and added more drama to the Honeycotes series, but not my fave of the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Insatiable by Darcy Burke (2023)

Historical romance. Regency England. Book 8 of the Phoenix Club series. This is the final book of the series and we finally see our meddlesome club owner Lucien meet his match. With the scandal and drama that closed out the end of Book 7, Lucien is at risk of losing the club from the intervention of the anonymous patrons from the Foreign Office. However, it seems there is more danger behind the scenes. Meanwhile, his friend’s younger sister, Kat, has decided this is the Season she will dedicate more research to the mating habits of people. Kat is bookish and socially awkward and gets overwhelmed by crowds easily, but is comfortable with and attracted to Lucien. She asks him for assistance in her research and he can only resist for so long because he finds her honesty and directness attractive as well. I really enjoyed this book and it was a great ending to the whole series.

Advance ebook provided by Darcy Burke via NetGalley.

A Duke of Her Own by Lorraine Heath (2009)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Rogues and Roses series. At twenty-six years old, Louisa determines that she has no marital prospects as the impoverished sister of an earl so she takes a job as a chaperone for American heiresses that need assistance navigating through society. Her brother and his two friends are terrible candidates for her charges, so she warns them away. Hawk is one of those determined friends who needs a wealthy duchess so that he can bring his secret and illegitimate younger sister into society. Knowing that Louisa’s approval is necessary, Hawk sets out to soften Louisa’s stance on his courtship of her charge. Of course, Hark is distracted by Louisa herself and is more attracted to her than the woman he’s supposed to be courting.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue by Sophie Jordan (2015)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Debutante Files series. Aurelia has been in love with her brother’s best friend Max since first setting eyes on him at the age of 9. However, at age 15, she witnesses him having a tryst with a maid in the greenhouse, and broken-heartedly draws a caricature of him which accidentally gets discovered and setting him up for humiliation. From that day on, they’ve endured a bickering and spiteful relationship. We are many years later, with Aurelia having been uninterested in the social season or finding a match, until she realizes that she will be a burden on her newly married brother’s household and attempts to find a husband before she and her mother move to Scotland. Max is critical of all of Aurelia’s suitors, even though he has no desire to marry her himself. Max has his own issues stemming from the death of his mother and sister and his father’s subsequent suicide and swears he will never fall in love and set himself up to be in such a vulnerable position. However, all those years of angry bickering has caught up to Max and Aurelia who can’t seem to keep their hands (and mouths) to themselves this year.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Shop this book via Amazon // Bookshop.org // Libro.fm

The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh (2022)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Last Chance Scoundrels series. After younger sons of an earl Kieran and Finn assist their friend Dom in jilting their sister Willa at the altar, both families set down an ultimatum for the three scoundrels: each needs to marry a respectable woman within twelve months time or they all get financially cut off. Kieran’s book is first, followed by Finn in Book 2, and Dom in Book 3. As a terrible scoundrel, Kieran doesn’t have the best reputation among respectable ladies of the ton, so he needs some assistance gaining entry into polite events. He asks Dom’s sister Celeste, the epitome of a proper young woman despite her upbringing, to help him get into these events so that he can find a suitable bride. She refuses at first, but when her father insists that she is to marry her suitor at the end of the Season, she decides to strike a bargain with Kieran: she’ll help him if he takes her to scandalous places at night. Of course in spending all this time together, they grow close and fall in love, and they were already attracted to each other from the start. It was fun to see Kieran learn a different side to Celeste and appreciate the tough and brave person she is underneath all of the societal propriety she exhibits in the daytime.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Love and Other Scandals by Caroline Linden (2013)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Scandalous series. Joan is the plump and tall daughter of a baronet who is practically a spinster and has an overbearing mother. While she is delivering a message to her brother to attend an upcoming ball, she encounters her brother’s friend Tristan staying at her brother’s lodgings. Although Tristan does not typically attend society events, he’s intrigued and irritated by Joan so he seeks her out at the next ball. This ball ends up being pretty eventful for Joan and Tristan, as he scandalizes her with his behavior, insults her, but also dances with her and kisses her. It’s an amusing mix of actions here that leave Joan and Tristan totally confused about how they feel about each other. Joan’s mother disapproves of Tristan due to his scandalous reputation, and extracts Joan’s promise to avoid him in the future. However, as Joan’s parents and brother need to leave town soon after that, Joan’s brother asks Tristan to look after Joan and visit her. There’s a slow build up of real feelings between Tristan and Joan here, both getting over their initial reaction to the other.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

When the Viscount Wanted Me by Lydia Lloyd (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Rake Chronicles series. Henrietta is a beautiful and sought after debutante who has a tryst with a man she believes to be her friend, but is now being pushy about marriage. Trem overhears the man lamenting over Henrietta’s rejection and suspects that the man is trying to ruin Henrietta’s reputation. Being Henrietta’s brother’s best friend, Trem tries to resolve the issue by questioning the lady. Turns out the pushy guy’s accusations were true and now Trem sees Henrietta in a new (and attractive) light. They pretty quickly start their own affair and end up engaged in the process. Henrietta has had a longstanding crush on Trem and is pleased that he desires her in return, but is keeping secrets about her parentage and worries over Trem’s reaction. This book was high on the steam, quick on the getting together, and also high in external drama. An entertaining adventure.

Advance ebook provided by Tule Publishing via NetGalley.

Rogue Awakening by Cara Maxwell (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Wicked Widows’ League series. Sylvia is recently out of mourning for her much older husband of a decade and is ready to join the wicked widows. She’s at a ball looking for a gentleman to take to bed and settles on her younger brother’s best friend, Jasper, who has recently returned to England. Jasper has been in love with Sylvia for years and is hoping that this is the beginning of a courtship and marriage, but Sylvia doesn’t want to give up her freedom. This is a novella-length book that is a pretty quick and steamy read and the conflict does ultimately get wrapped up in short order. I love mixing in shorter reads in between longer more epic angsty ones.

Advance ebook provided by Cara Maxwell via BookSprout.

Shop this book via Amazon

How to Win a Wallflower by Samara Parish (2022)

Historical romance, Victorian-era England. Book 3 of the Rebels with a Cause series. We have our duke’s sister Charlotte, who’s the younger sister of the hero from Book 2 and she’s in her like 4th Season and uninterested in any suitors. She mostly spends her time helping her brother’s political causes and charitable causes. Charlotte is the ultimate do-gooder social butterfly and clearly not the wallflower in this story. That goes to our guy John who is Charlotte’s brother’s friend who has spent the past ten years away from the London scene, working on his various scientific inventions. He’s back in town though because his older brother died, leaving him as the new viscount and in a whole a lot of debt. John needs to figure out a way to pay off all these debts, so he can go back to his very solitary lifestyle in a cabin in the woods. Charlotte’s had a crush on John for years and years, so she decides to help him with his debt problem. They need to work together and they get closer, even though our dear brother duke has already warned each person away from the other. We’ll see how that actually turns out…

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.