What a Widow Wants

The widowed Lady Stephen Tarkington, Fanny to her friends, has finished mourning her cad of a husband and is ready to enjoy her freedom. The kind of freedom neither a gently bred miss nor a close-watched wife is permitted: dressing up as Aphrodite for a masquerade, drawing gentlemen away from the party, and hinting at late-night assignations with her dance partners. All is going pleasurably according to plan until the Roman god Fanny kisses during a masquerade turns out to be Matthew, Lord Lathbury, whose proposal she refused years ago but who she had a brief affair with several years ago. Matthew is everything Fanny wants in a lover but unfortunately, he’s on the hunt for a wife. The third book in the series & the time frame overlaps with the first two books as do the characters. I loved the first book & really liked the second but the jury is out on this one. This could easily be read on its own. The pace of the story varies going from very slow & a bit drawn out to quite fast paced especially when Fanny & Ella leave London. Whist the characters had depth I didn’t warm to them. I liked Matthew but wanted him to 'grow a pair' & lay the law down – he saw what was needed to captivate Fanny at his house party but didn't follow through until the end. I didn’t like Fanny, I found her to be flighty, indecisive, selfish & annoying. She wanted stability & to be loved but nearly threw Matthew’s love away on more than one occasion, I wanted to shake her several times. I’ve enjoyed all the author’s other books but this one left me slightly disappointed as I know her work is usually so much better. My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

What a Widow Wants by Jenna Jaxon The Widows’ Club #3 Frances, Lady Stephen Tarkington was widowed after her husband died at Waterloo. She has a six year old daughter and was not happily married. She had heard, and believed, that a reformed rake made the best husband only to find out that her husband had no plans to reform at all. There was another man that offered to marry her but she had set her sights on Stephen even though Matthew, Lord Lathbury had a title and proved to be the better man. Matthew saw Fanny and knew he had to have her. He declared his love and his offer of marriage was turned down. When Fanny came to him to seek revenge (and wanted comfort) he was there for her only to be spurned again after four enjoyable months together. This should be the perfect second chance at love setting BUT...well...I wrote as I read: Fanny is petulant, selfish, immature, a bad mother, dramatic, stupid… and she didn’t wise up till it was nearly too late. I didn’t get her and didn’t warm to her. As for Matthew...he was a nice enough guy but a bit of a wimp to sit on his hands for ten years or even seven years waiting for a woman who continued to turn him down. I didn’t see the attraction between them and though they achieved their HEA eventually I never really invested in them or their story. Did I enjoy this book? Not so much Would I read more in this series? Maybe Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Lyrical Press for the ARC – This is my honest review. 2-3 Stars

A story of a lost chance at a true love, only to accept another choice that did not turn out well. In her coming out season, Franny fell in Love with Matthew but as things go, she ended up marrying another man she pursued. Finding out she had a cheating husband she did the same. What? Well, she took up with Matthew her old love.. Not good I would say. Years later, her awful husband passes away and she finds herself, after her year of mourning, free and feeling she will do as she pleases. Meeting up with Matthew again, he still cares for her deeply, but she does not want to commit due to how she had been treated by her husband. But there is a lot more at stake, a daughter, who was really not her husband's. A sick brother in law who means her and her daughter harm. Can Matthew save them and will Franny finally commit to him? This is part of a series that runs parallel to the prior books and you see characters interacting. Although part of a series it can be read as a standalone