Title: All’s Fair in Love and War
(Miss Prentice’s Protegees #1)
Author: Virginia Heath
Published: May 2024
Rate: 5 of 5
Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Romance, Romance-Comedy, Opposite-attracts, Enemies-to-Friends-to-Lovers

Blurb:

A new Regency romp of a series, about governess who believes in cultivating joy in her charges, clashes with the children’s uncle who hired her, only to find herself falling in love.

When the flighty older sister of former naval captain, Harry Kincaid, decides on a whim to accompany her explorer husband on an expedition to Egypt, he finds himself unwittingly left in the lurch with her three unruly children and her giant, mad dog. With no clue how to manage the little rascals, a busy career at the Admiralty that requires all of his attention, and no idea when his sister is coming back, Harry has to hire and emergency governess to ensure that everything in his ordered house continues to run shipshape. In desperation, he goes to Miss Prentice’s School for Girls prepared to pay whatever it takes to get a governess quick sharp to bring order to the chaos.

Thanks to her miserable, strict upbringing, fledging governess Georgina Rowe does not subscribe to the ethos that children should be seen and not heard. She believes childhood should be everything that hers wasn’t, filled with laughter, adventure, and discovery. Thankfully, the three Pendleton children she has been tasked with looking after are already delightfully bohemian and instantly embrace her unconventional educational ethos. Their staid, stickler-for-rules uncle however, is another matter entirely...

My Review:

Who doesn’t love a swoon-worthy naval captain with endless compassion for his nieces and nephew?

This first book in the series starts off by introducing the main characters for this series and the slow pace is designed to keep up with the plot. Harry’s ordered world is suddenly turned upside down when his sister leaves her three children to be looked after while she is away for around three months. His life is dedicated to building a career in the Admiralty after his past failures thus he must find a governess to educate her three unruly children, Felix, Marianne, and Grace.

Georgie is still unemployed at Miss Prentice’s school, when all her friends have managed to get jobs. After living with her stepfather, she loathes all the strict things about the navy but when a desperate naval captain requires a governess, she has to keep her mouth shut to get the job.

I loved this book so much because of the children within. Felix, Marriane, Grace, and their dog Norbert are all the stars of this book. Their lawless behaviour brings so much fun and joy throughout the story. I loved how educated Georgie is and how thoughtful and compassionate Harry is. Their quote-misquote pattern was so amusing. The story is undeniably entertaining, full of adventure and heart-warming turn of events. Their attraction might be slow but it burns all the way to the satisfying end.

About the author

When Virginia Heath was a little girl, it took her ages to fall asleep, so she made up stories in her head to help pass the time while she was staring at the ceiling. As she got older, the stories became more complicated – sometimes taking weeks to get to the happy ending. One day, she decided to embrace the insomnia and start writing them down. Twenty books and two Romantic Novel of the Year Award nominations later, and it still takes her forever to fall asleep. Follow her at https://www.virginiaheathromance.com/ or her facebook page Virginia Heath.

Picture and blurb source: goodreads.com