The Arrogant Younger Son, a Contrary Wallflower, and a Most Rueful Teapot
(2026)(The third book in the Regency: Circle of Sensible Affections series)
A novel by Marisa Paxon
I am the narrator of this book. I carried the tea trays, the glances, the humiliations, the improving speeches, and one astonishing quantity of emotional mismanagement, and now they have decided I must sell the thing as well. Very good. Here is your dry Regency romance with a dangerous younger son, a contrary wallflower, and one deeply rueful teapot.
In Leamington, Miss Euphemia Quenby has opinions, little money, and no intention of being arranged like a decorative screen. I watched her fend off a sensible solicitor who offers safety in the form of leases, botany, and actual reliability, then collide with Peregrine Thorneby, a beautiful younger son with debts, charm, and the deeply inconvenient habit of becoming better under pressure. Add a tactical sister, an heiress everyone underestimates, a hostess who can weaponise tea, and a town that gossips as if it were salaried, and I had to drag the lot of them through drawing-room warfare, nursery visits, concert-room disasters, and public scrutiny sharp enough to skin a weaker romance.
If Euphemia chooses badly, she risks her reputation, her future, and the tiresome business of losing herself by increments, which society calls prudence when it is feeling especially smug. I had to see whether a man built for display could become fit for honesty, and whether a woman built for resistance could choose love without surrendering an inch of self-respect. There is no murder here, unless one counts several reputations and my faith in human judgment; the violence is social, the comedy is dry, and the kisses arrive only when they have properly earned the right to exist.
Perfect for readers who like prickly heroines, genuine character reform, dry comic Regency manners, meddling side characters, and romantic tension served with tea rather than undressing. This is a closed-door, very low-heat Regency romance with a slow burn, a proper HEA, and a fully self-contained entry point in the Circle of Sensible Affections.
Now go on and open the book. I have already carried these people through one complete catastrophe; the least you can do is enjoy it.
Genre: Historical
In Leamington, Miss Euphemia Quenby has opinions, little money, and no intention of being arranged like a decorative screen. I watched her fend off a sensible solicitor who offers safety in the form of leases, botany, and actual reliability, then collide with Peregrine Thorneby, a beautiful younger son with debts, charm, and the deeply inconvenient habit of becoming better under pressure. Add a tactical sister, an heiress everyone underestimates, a hostess who can weaponise tea, and a town that gossips as if it were salaried, and I had to drag the lot of them through drawing-room warfare, nursery visits, concert-room disasters, and public scrutiny sharp enough to skin a weaker romance.
If Euphemia chooses badly, she risks her reputation, her future, and the tiresome business of losing herself by increments, which society calls prudence when it is feeling especially smug. I had to see whether a man built for display could become fit for honesty, and whether a woman built for resistance could choose love without surrendering an inch of self-respect. There is no murder here, unless one counts several reputations and my faith in human judgment; the violence is social, the comedy is dry, and the kisses arrive only when they have properly earned the right to exist.
Perfect for readers who like prickly heroines, genuine character reform, dry comic Regency manners, meddling side characters, and romantic tension served with tea rather than undressing. This is a closed-door, very low-heat Regency romance with a slow burn, a proper HEA, and a fully self-contained entry point in the Circle of Sensible Affections.
Now go on and open the book. I have already carried these people through one complete catastrophe; the least you can do is enjoy it.
Genre: Historical
Used availability for Marisa Paxon's The Arrogant Younger Son, a Contrary Wallflower, and a Most Rueful Teapot