THESE VIOLET DELIGHTS

Star-crossed lovers must contend with a family feud and threatening fires.

When aspiring artist Violet Arden gets caught up in a scandal, she retreats to Pressmore, her cousin’s English country estate, which neighbors the ruins of Clafton, once home to the Kerrs, longtime nemeses of her family. The Kerr patriarch perished in the fire that decimated the house, leaving behind his wife and two sons. Alasdair Kerr has now returned home after years of traveling and acquiring art, ready to rebuild, take up residence at Clafton, and hopefully rend his mother from her complete devotion to a shifty clergyman. Violet and Alasdair were briefly friends as children, but now Violet would happily steer clear of hulking, handsome Alasdair. When romance brews between his rakish brother and her cousin’s new sister-in-law, they must join forces to stop the lovers from making rash decisions. They’re further thrust together when mysterious fires endanger Violet. They grow in each other’s esteem during this time spent together and soon find themselves falling in love. Following Much Ado About Margaret (2024), this Regency romance features another Arden sister and has similar Shakespearean influences and lovely prose. There are too many moving pieces that don’t fully gel, though—the secondary romance starts strong but peters out, the mystery of the fires doesn’t add much tension when it’s obvious who’s behind it, and the leads’ former romantic dalliances take up too many pages for how little they add to the story. Violet and Alasdair are both winsome, but the unnecessary padding distracts from their cute love story. Still, a theme woven throughout about the purpose, power, and simple delight of art and fighting back against those who would try to silence it is timely.

Prettily written but too unfocused to entirely captivate.