"USA Today bestselling author Vivienne Lorret returns with the third book in her Liars’ Club series with a sexy and hilarious romance about a thrill-seeking debutante and a highwayman who is more than he seems on the surface…

Althea Hartley has lost her spark. As the youngest daughter of an eccentric family, playwrighting is in her blood. But two failed Seasons have left her disenchanted. In desperate need of inspiration, she takes matters into her own hands by creating a tale of a dashing highwayman. What could possibly go wrong?

But her stories prove to be a little too true for the actual highwayman living beneath the tons’ nose.

Jasper Trueblood, Viscount St. James, needs to put an end to the bewitching Miss Hartley’s incriminating tales. Society can never suspect that he isn’t the clumsy oaf he pretends to be. Or that, under the cover of darkness, he greets scoundrels and lightens their purses. Not too much. Just enough to keep those closest to him safe from his menacing uncle.

Then sparks fly when this unlikely pair meets one perfect night. And while she is eager to unmask him, he is determined to stay hidden. But there’s no denying the chemistry that neither of them are able to resist…

The only thing for certain is that Thea needs to guard her heart before the highwayman steals it."

Quoted material in this section is from the book's Amazon sales page. The bulk of my review is in the "further comments" section near the bottom.

People who like historical romance with intrigue and action, regency romance, general romance, or quirky stories.

Althea (Thea) and Jasper's characters, Thea's family and her sister's mother-in-law.

There were some dull parts that had me skimming.

Pet my kittens, who had been sleeping at my ankles.

Once I got into it, like I was in on the adventure.

"
About the Author
Vivienne Lorret is a USA Today bestselling author of five series of historical romances, as well as two stand-alone romance novels. --This text refers to the audioCD edition.
Review

“Lorret launches the Liars’ Club series with a scintillating fake fiancé romance in Regency England...With big emotions, sensual love scenes, and endearing protagonist, this is sure to win hearts.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on It Had to Be a Duke

“[A] sprightly and fun fake-engagement tale…It is a lovely tumble.” — Library Journal on It Had to Be a Duke

“I love this delightful historical romance, Vivienne Lorret is one of my favorite authors and It Had to Be a Duke is a fun romp. The fake betrothal trope has honestly been done so many times but somehow Lorret manages to make it fresh. It’s probably because on top of the fake betrothal trope, Verity and Magnus are enemies-to-lovers, my second favorite trope.” — Fresh Fiction on It Had to Be a Duke

“In this fast-paced romance with a bit of mystery, [...] Lorret alluringly creates passion between the protagonists, and readers will be excited to watch their love story develop.” — Library Journal on The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount

“Lorret strikes the right balance of humor and swoony romance. The pages fly as this unlikely couple work for their happy ending.” — Publishers Weekly on The Trouble with Inventing a Viscount
--This text refers to the mass_market edition."

Quoted material in this section is from the book's Amazon sales page. The bulk of my review is in the "further comments" section near the bottom.

It was a lighthearted, fun read, for the most part.

There are some gruesome bits, and one in particular caused me to choose the high rating. I think the story could have been told just as well without being as graphic.

This is the third book in the series. I do recommend reading them in order. Althea was introduced in the first two and it was nice to see her grown up, learning to overcome some circumstances I wouldn't have expected for her character, and to find true love by the end of the story.

It wasn't the most enjoyable of the three for me (it was less funny, by far, though it did have its humorous moments), but I am still glad I read it, and, for the most part, I enjoyed it. It took me longer to get into than I remember the first two taking. At about ten percent of the way through, I was very interested. At about 40 percent of the way through, I was totally hooked. Oddly, near the end, when I really wanted to find out the ending, it got boring to me for a bit. Maybe it wouldn't be boring to others though. It was a unique set of scenes.

I really loved Althea's growth arc, and Jasper's journey from hopeless to growing into his true self and letting it show to society.

In addition to those mentioned in the "I especially liked" section above, I also loved Thumper and Rolly and Jasper's cousins and all the good and helpful people.

As is expected with this kind of book, it had a happy ending and that made me happy. I think that's the last of the Hartley sisters, so I imagine this is the last of the series. I'm sure she'll write more books though, and I am looking forward to them.

I borrowed this book from my local library. It was released on July 1st of 2025, so is a new book.

Right now (the afternoon of July 14, 2025), here is where it stands on the Amazon best seller list:
"Best Sellers Rank: #22,933 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

#173 in Regency Romances
#333 in Regency Historical Romance
#658 in Teen & Young Adult eBooks"

It has 60 reviews averaging 4.5 stars on Amazon and 187 reviews averaging 4.1 stars on Goodreads.

I'm going to give it five stars for setting, because I could easily visualize all the scenes, and there were two in particular that delighted me.

I'm going to give it four stars for plot, though if there were a 4.5 star option, I would prefer that. The characters were what made it interesting to me, far more than the plot. Some of the plot was very predictable to me, but there were elements I didn't see coming.

Definitely I am giving it five stars for characters, because I loved a lot of the characters and for other reasons already stated.

Author's writing style - I would like to give it 4.5 stars, but because I can't and I already gave plot a 4 when I wanted to give it a 4.5, I will give it a five. I definitely want to read more books by this author. I think this is the fifth or sixth that I've read by her, and I have enjoyed them all.

Length of book - I'm giving it a four, because of the skimming / boring parts.

Usefulness and Illustrations/ Photographs, I am not rating, because it is a fiction book. It was useful as far as it was entertaining. I don't remember any internal illustrations.

Overall Quality - again, I'd really prefer to give 4.5 stars... I'm going to give it five stars though because I would read a fourth book if there were more in this series and I did mostly enjoy it. Also, I had already selected three fives and two fours, so there are more fives than fours selected.

I should note that I don't read the sex scenes of any book for personal reasons, so this review has no reflection on them.

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Created Jul 14, 2025 at 2:18pm • Submit your own review...