Say You’ll Be My Lady

In this second installment of Pembrooke’s “Unconventional Ladies of Mayfair” series, narrators Jeanette Illidge and Joe Knezevich provide a lovely dual narration of this friends-to-lovers historical romance. Lady Serena Wynter has decided that her friend the starchy former boxer Charles Townshend is just who she’d like in her bed. While Serena is comfortable flouting societal conventions while pursuing various charitable passions with the women of the Wednesday Afternoon Social Club, Charles feels he must protect Serena from the scandal she’s flirting with, even if that means missing out on an affair with the woman he’s always desired. Further, both Serena’s and Charles’s pasts and secrets prove to be stumbling blocks to Serena’s search for passion and Charles’s desire for marriage. Listeners who are new to the series might find they are missing some of the initial spark between the main characters, who were introduced in book one. A few too many plot points including the work of the Social Club, an orphan boy, and the secret held by Charles muddle the romance arc.