A Gentleman's Offer by Emma Orchard

 

A Gentleman's Offer by Emma Orchard.

Published 22nd March 2025 by Boldwood Books.

From the cover of the book:

June, 1817.

Sir Dominic De Lacy – one of the season’s most eligible gentlemen – has recently proposed marriage… to a woman he scarcely knows. But his father’s choice for him, Miss Maria Nightingale, seems amiable, and at 29, Dominic cannot live the life of a bachelor forever. He hopes he can provide a happy future for her as they learn to care for each other.

Maria, however, has other ideas. Midway through their engagement celebrations, she confesses to Dominic that she is not Maria at all, but her identical twin sister, Margaret. Maria has disappeared, and Margaret’s been persuaded to take her place until she’s found – and for that she needs Dominic’s help. The pair quickly find they make a formidable team, but with just three weeks to avoid the biggest scandal of the season, time is against them.

But even if they find Maria, can they really hope the wedding will happen? Because, as they are starting to realise, chemistry can’t be arranged – and Sir Dominic might just be engaged to the wrong Miss Nightingale…

***********

June, 1817. Sir Dominic De Lacy is one of the season's most eligible bachelors. At twenty-nine, the time is ripe for him to find a bride, so when his widowed mother tells him it was his late father's dearest wish that he marry the very pretty Miss Maria Nightingale, he gives it serious consideration. Although he barely knows the young woman in question, she seems amiable enough, and when he proposes marriage to her, she graciously accepts. 

On the night of their engagement party, Sir Dominic is astounded when his betrothed takes him aside and tells him she is not Maria, but her twin sister Margaret (Meg). Maria has gone missing, and Meg requires his help to discover where she has gone before the scandal becomes known. As they set about tracking down the whereabouts of Maria, it is clear that Dominic and Meg are attracted to each other in a way neither have felt before. Could he be engaged to the wrong sister?

Emma Orchard has done it again, pulling out all the stops to produce a Regency romp that has everything you could want in terms of characters, story, and romantic suspense. The tale unfurls via the points of view of Dominic and Meg as their search for Maria takes unexpected twists and turns, burgeoning from a missing person mystery into a love story with oodles of intrigue.

Co-opting the assistance of all sorts of helpmates for their quest, from above stairs, below stairs, and even of the salons frequented by gentlemen in search of pleasure, Dominic and Meg soon discover that Maria's disappearance is more than the elopement they suspected - and they find out rather a lot about each other in the process. As the plot thickens, with witty banter galore, confessions, a dollop of blackmail, family reconciliations that greatly improve their stakes in the game, and plenty of simmering passion, Orchard brings everything together in a lush ending that will have you chortling with glee.

There are lovely threads running through the whole story, balancing lighter, comic storylines, and steamy interludes, with deeper social history themes about poverty, race, and sexuality, plus women's independence and their right to choose the course of their lives (and loves). I especially enjoyed the literary threads about women writers, and their admirable blue-stocking ways. Go ladies! I absolutely adored Meg and Maria's half-brother Francis too, who comes through to save the day.

This is my favourite Emma Orchard to date with sumptuous chemistry between the lovers, atmospheric locations that thrum with spot-on time and place vibes, and a stellar supporting cast for you to love and loathe in equal measure. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

A Gentleman's Offer is available to buy now in paperback, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Boldwood Books for granting me access to an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and and to Random Resources Tour for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Emma was born in Salford and studied English Literature at the universities of Edinburgh and York.

She was a copy editor at Mills & Boon, where she met her husband in a classic enemies-to-lovers romance.

Emma has worked in television and as a Literary Agent, and started writing in 2020.