Best Regency Romance Books of August 2024

This August, I’ve been working on finishing up the last-minute edit for my upcoming new release, For the Love of a Scottish Lass. Over two years in the making, I am so excited because this book is set to be released on September 9, 2024! You can preorder it now! I’ve also been working on writing book three of the series, For the Love of a Courtesan, which will come out later this fall.

Along with all this writing and editing, I’ve been doing a little reading. Reading has been something I haven’t been keeping up as much as I would like, but this August, I picked up my Kindle again and read a little bit. In this blog post, I’m going to be talking about the best Regency Romance books I read this month.

The Captain’s Old Love by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Captain’s Old Love
Author: Mary Lancaster
Series: One Night in Blackhaven (Book 1)
Page Count: 254
Publication Date: November 14, 2023

The Captains Old Love by Mary Lancaster is a heartwarming love’s second chance novel set in the Regency era. It is a love story between Antonia Macy, a widow who was married off to her first husband, Francis Macy, at a young age even though she was in love with Sir. Julius Vale. Vale was a captain in his Majesties Royal Navy. Ten years later, a widow with a young son she is reunited with him, and the two become betrothed again.

This book is a sweet romance where the hero is a disabled, retired sea naval captain, and the heroine is, as stated previously, a widow. Mary Lancaster writes a lot of great Regency romance books with disabled heroes. In this specific instance, Julius Vale has an eye patch and a limp. I would recommend this book fto anyone who enjoys the love’s second chance trope or a wounded war hero.

The Earl’s Promised Bride by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Earl’s Promised Bride
Author: Mary Lancaster
Series: One Night in Blackhaven (Book 2)
Page Count: 254
Publication Date: January 18, 2024

The Earl’s Promised Bride is the second book in the One Night in Blackhaven series. It is the sweet, witty, and fun mistaken identity romance between Julius Vales’s sister, Lucy Vale, and the “Wat Tyler.” At the beginning of the book, it’s revealed that Lucy has been betrothed since the cradle to the son of her mother’s friend. With both women having passed away, Julius is in charge and doesn’t intend to hold Lucy to the betrothal unless she decides she wants to be married to the Earl.

Throughout the story, Lucy falls in love with the character Wat Tyler, who got his fake name from his revolutionary hero, as he is a bit of a radical himself. In the end, Mr. Tyler is revealed to be Earl, and Lucy is a little bit miffed about him keeping the secret from her. However, eventually, he gets shot (not fatally), and Lucy gets over her anger, and the happily ever after is a go. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes the mistaken identity, false identity trope, or just light-hearted Regency romance books.

The Soldiers Impossible Love by Mary Lancaster

Title: The Soldier’s Impossible Love
Author: Mary Lancaster
Series: One Night in Blackhaven (Book 3)
Page Count: 267
Publication Date: March 14, 2024

The Soldiers Impossible Love by Mary Lancaster is the third book in the One Night in Blackhaven series. This is the main series that I’ve been reading this August. As far as the series goes, book two has been my favorite. However, book three was interesting. The Soldiers Impossible Love is an age-gap romance where the bride is an eighteen-year-old woman who has not even had her first season yet, and the groom is a thirty-two-year-old war hero on leave for his PTSD trauma. I was surprised by this trope line because I hadn’t come across one, and I was actually writing in a similar trope for the third book of my Lords of Seductive Language series.

Roderick Vale has nightmares and flashbacks that are set off by loud noises, thunderstorms, and anything that remotely reminds him of his days in the war. He was sent back from the army after he freaked out at a base camp when an episode of his flashbacks became violent. He returns to Blackhaven to be with his family and goes to a ball, which is a central event in all the books in the series so far. There, he meets a girl who he initially decides looks way too young for him: Lady Helen Conway, who is the sister of an Earl with a country seat near Blackhaven. The two unexpectedly hit it off, and after a scandal of her own making ruins Lady Helen, Roderick offers to marry her. She eventually accepts, and they are married within a week’s time. However, while she loves him, she doesn’t think he loves her back. On their wedding night, Roderick’s crazy ex-mistress tries to burn down their new home in a jealous rage. She ends up being carted away, but after the incident, Roderick reveals he loves Helen, and they live happily ever after. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes wounded war hero books or age-gap romances.

Summing Up August

This August, I read a total of three Regency books, a couple of chapters here and there, and some nonfiction stuff. I’ve been working on the last-minute edits of For the Love of a Scottish Lass, which is out for preorder and set to be released in September. I’ve also been working on the first draft of my series’s third novel. This series has been planned for years now, and I am just working away on the plans to make it a reality.

Of all the Regency romance books I’ve read so far this month, I’d say that The Earl’s Promised Bride was the best. It is playful, fun, and uplifting, whereas the other books have slightly darker undertones of soldiers with disabilities, both physical and mental. Not that they were not all good, as I gave them all five stars! If you love reading Regency Romance, you should check them out. Right now they are all on Kindle Unlimited.