Book Review :: A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin

A Lady's Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin
ISBN: 0008519536
Published by HarperCollins
on 12 May 2022
Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 400
Source: HarperCollins NZ
Find at Harper Collins NZ
Goodreads

The season is about to begin—and there’s not a minute to lose.

Kitty Talbot needs a fortune. Or rather, she needs a husband who has a fortune. This is 1818 after all, and only men have the privilege of seeking their own riches.

With only twelve weeks until the bailiffs call, launching herself into London society is the only avenue open to her, and Kitty must use every ounce of cunning and ingenuity she possesses to climb the ranks.

The only one to see through her plans is the worldly Lord Radcliffe and he is determined to thwart her at any cost, especially when it comes to his own brother falling for her charms.

Can Kitty secure a fortune and save her sisters from poverty? There is not a day to lose and no one—not even a lord—will stand in her way...

Last updated on 13 February 2023

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What is A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin about?

Kitty Talbot needs a husband. She needs a rich husband. And in A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting that’s exactly what she’s after. When Kitty is left with the responsibility of looking at her four younger sisters (after her parents’ deaths), she discovers that her father left her with an incredible dept. And if she doesn’t marry a wealthy man, the five Talbot sisters will be ripped away from their home … in just 12 weeks.

So Kitty and her younger sister Cecily head to the city for the London Season with one goal: find Kitty a rich man who she can marry and he can pay off her family’s debt.

But it’s not quite that simple. Kitty and Cecily (who is too young to be looking for a husband too), have not been introduced into society yet, and while the Aunt that they’re staying with has some connections, it’s not nearly enough. But as chance as it, the two sisters meet two Radcliffe siblings on an outing one day, and thus a friendship (and potential courtship) ensue.

Like any rich family, there’s usually another older brother somewhere. And it’s the case with the Radcliffe family too. Lord Radcliffe arrives back in London after some time in the country and meets the Talbot sisters. Kitty persuades Lord Radcliffe to help her find an eligible husband before the season is out, and the story follows Kitty trying to do just that.

My thoughts on A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting

Note: There are some spoilers in here, but it’s a very predictable book so you probably already know what happens. Proceed with caution, however.

Like much of the world, after bingeing Season 1 of Bridgerton and then Season 2 when it was released in 2022, I promptly picked up the books and get ahead of the story. Historical romance has never really been my jam, but when I saw that A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting was being released, I thought it would be a really fun read, and fill a bit of a Bridgerton-shaped hole.

I mostly enjoyed this light-hearted read, and it being set in the early 1800s was a lot of fun. Kitty is pretty feisty, and her determination to find herself a rich husband is driven by the love she has for her sisters. She’s not that clued into what happens at balls and in polite or high society, so her comments about the things that happen were definitely amusing. Cecily was just excited to be there, and while she has her own mini-story throughout, it’s not really that focused on.

Speaking of the other Talbot sisters, apart from the beginning of the book, we don’t really hear much about the others. There are a few letters here and there from them to Kitty but they remain a bit of a mystery. I would have liked, perhaps, a bit more of them in the story.

Lord Radcliffe was an okay character. He was a bit uptight, wasn’t that charming or swoon-worthy, and didn’t really possess much in the way of personality. Their enemies-to-lovers romance was predictable, and while they had some banter throughout the book, it wasn’t something that was particularly exciting … it was a bit bland. And when they finally do get to the end where it all falls into place, it felt rushed. We didn’t get a lot of them together and it felt a little bit like ‘oh. Okay. The end’.

The story is told in the third person, but we jump between perspectives a little bit. However, I did find that the voices weren’t distinct enough and I often found myself a tad confused as to whose perspective we were meant to be in.

My final comment is around the pace. I liked the beginning of the book at first, but then as soon as Kitty and Cecily go to London, I thought it actually got better. Having said that, after Kitty meets Lord Radcliffe and he starts helping her navigate the complexities of London society while trying to find a man, I realised that the first third of the book, maybe, was just setting it up for the second third and I then felt like the first third could have been swifter. If you see what I mean. Then it started to drag slightly, and by the time it go better again it rushed into an ending with perhaps not as much build up as I would have liked.

Overall thoughts

A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting was a fun read, but I do think it needed some refining. The tense and the voices were probably the biggest thing that I struggled with, as well as the pace of the book. I think the characters needed to be a little bit more rounded and thought out, but if you’re looking for a regency era book that involves lots of balls, dancing, Lords and Ladies and country girls trying to find their way in that world, then give A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting a go!

Have you read A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting? What did you think? 

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I received this book for free from HarperCollins NZ in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my thoughts and all my opinions are my own.