Josi S. Kilpack’s Love and Lavender is nice Regency romance

Love and Lavender, by Josi S. Kilpack, Shadow Mountain, Nov. 2, 2021, Paperback, $15.99 (young adult/ new adult/ adult fiction)

Return to Regency England in Love and Lavender, the fourth installment of Josi S. Kilpack’s Mayfield Family Romance series.

The series, which also includes Promises and Primroses, Daisies and Devotion and Rakes and Roses, follows the extended family of Lord Elliott Mayfield. The younger generation of Lord Mayfield’s family has failed to learn from their predecessors’ bad choices, and Lord Mayfield is has come up with a “marriage campaign” to ensure they make good matches.

Hazel Stillman is a woman of rare independence and limited opportunities. Born with a clubbed foot, she was sent away as a child and, knowing her disability means a marriage is unlikely, she devoted herself to scholarship and education.

Now working as a teacher in an elite private girls’ school, she is content with the way her story has unfolded. When her uncle Elliott Mayfield presents her with the prospect of a substantial inheritance if she marries, Hazel is offended. What kind of decent man would marry for her money? Besides, she loves her freedom as a professional, respected woman. When she hears rumors of the school possibly being sold, however, she knows she must consider all her options.

Duncan Penhale has a brilliant mind and thrives on order and process. He does not expect to marry because he likes his solitary life, shared only with his beloved cat. When Elliott Mayfield, his guardian’s brother, presents him with an inheritance if he marries a woman of social standing, Duncan finds it intrusive. However, with the inheritance, he could purchase the building in which he works and run his own firm. It would take an impressive and intellectual woman to understand and love him, quirks and all.

Hazel and Duncan believe they have found a solution to both of their problems: marry one another, receive their inheritances, and then part ways to enjoy their individual paths. But when Uncle Mayfield stipulates that they must live together as husband and wife for one year before receiving their inheritances, Hazel and Duncan reluctantly agree. Over time, their marriage of convenience becomes much more appealing than they had anticipated. At the end of the full year, will they go their separate ways or could an unlikely marriage have found unsuspecting love?  —Synopsis provided by Shadow Mountain

Though each of the Mayfield Family Romance books standalone, you miss out on the nuances if you don’t read them in order. It is helpful to at least read Promises and Primroses before the others. It sets up the “marriage campaign,” which is the thread that binds the books together.

As with the other Mayfield Family Romance novels, it’s fairly clear from the start that the main characters in Love and Lavender will end up together. In fact, their marriage is no surprise.

So, what’s the appeal?

As with most love stories, it’s the process of finding love that makes a book worth reading. Hazel and Duncan are such disparate characters, you’d never put them together. And, yet, there are small elements, a push and pull on both their parts, that make their match make sense.

Love and Lavender is told from both Hazel and Duncan’s points of view, giving readers a glimpse into both their thought processes. Because of his blunt, abrupt manner, Duncan’s character is a bit harder to connect with, but his earnest nature will win you over. Hazel gets stuck in her head a bit, though that fits well with her storyline.

Love and Lavender is a fairly quick moving novel that offers a nice respite from modern troubles.

While none of the books in this series are for the YA market per say, Shadow Mountain’s Proper Romance line, particularly its Regency Romances, evoke the sort of Jane Austen sensibilities that do appeal to young adults.