The Cloverton Charade (The Houses of Yorkshire Series)
Olivia Brannon and Lucas Avery are rival antiquity brokers, but when they meet at a house party, they find themselves strongly attracted to each other. The situation is further complicated by their discovery that some of the artifacts they are assessing are fake. Can they set aside their long-standing family feud and professional rivalry in order to work together to discover how the originals were replaced?
The protagonists are a pair of likeable and sensible characters, and both the mystery and the enemies-to-lovers trope are satisfyingly handled. What distinguishes this romance from most, however, are the insights into the aristocracy in Regency England. Behind the mask of arrogance and carefree (desperate?) gaiety lurk many insecurities, most notably fear of losing their wealth. Lacking this, the tenuous hold on their overvalued status is fatally imperiled in a rigidly hierarchical social structure: heirs may be forced to sell impoverished estates, younger brothers’ allowances cut off, dowerless sisters and daughters unable to marry well. Then together they slip down into the scorned middle class, where they are forced to work for a living. And for which they are woefully ill-equipped. Recommended.
