The Secret Life of a Debutante
Series: Determined Debutantes #1
Author: Bianca Blythe
Published November 30th 2021 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
When scandal strikes her family, this debutante must act quickly!

Welcome to book 1 in the steamy new series Determined Debutantes by bestselling author Bianca Blythe.

Eloisa Holt is not the type of woman to wander London on her own. In fact, she’s not even the type of woman to consider such a thing. After all, her governesses hailed her as a paragon of everything proper. But when a nude painting of her mother scandalizes the ton, Eloisa must stop more paintings from being displayed. This debutante is desperate.

Lord Cornelius Chichester knows the first rule of being a best friend:

Don’t fall in love with your best friend’s sister.

Unfortunately, that rule becomes difficult to follow when he discovers Eloisa by herself at an indecent hour. Still, perhaps helping his best friend’s younger sister is honorable. He may have promised his friend long ago he would never marry one of his sisters, but Cornelius never promised he would not be of assistance.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

Eloisa Holt is the perfect debutante, but on the eve of her and sister's debuts, a nude portrait of their mother is made public, and they are tarred with the same brush. Now her perfect reputation is in tatters, and she must do whatever it takes to ensure that no other paintings come to light, and rescue her future, and those of her sisters. She's desperate, and risks everything, but luckily, the only person who notices what she is doing is her brother's best friend, Cornelius. Lord Cornelius Chichester may think he's kidding everyone, but it's clear he's falling for his best friend's sister, and though he's trying to be honourable in protecting her, the closer they get in their efforts to hide the paintings, the harder it is to stay part.

I wasn't too sure what to expect from this book. I thought that Eloisa would be a little bit too prim and proper for my liking, but she had a feisty persona hidden from view, but that she used when protecting those she cared about. As the oldest girl, she felt the brunt of the scrutiny, so she wanted to shoulder the burden and protect her sisters as much as possible. Even taking risks she could never have imagined, but she was willing to do it, at least for them. When Cornelius found her out, she was worried, but surprised he wanted to help. She'd had feelings for him for years, but never expected anything to come of them, so treated him as a friend, which was great for them both to open up to each other, and see the true person. An enjoyable Regency romance, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Dates Read:
January 6-7, 2022

Rating
3 Stars