Lady Diana's Lost Lord

The Beaumonts #2

by Aydra Richards

Lady Diana Beaumont has a fiancé—in theory. In practice, she’s languished at the edges of ballrooms for years, waiting for her absent betrothed to fulfill his obligations to her. But the Earl of Weatherford has eschewed polite society for a decade, and Diana is weary of waiting. If he will not come to her, then she will go to him, and put an end to their sham of an engagement at last.

Ben Gillingham is an earl—in theory. In practice, it’s been nearly a decade since he has called himself anything other than plain Mr. Gillingham. Cut off by his father years ago, he is now only a simple laborer with a young daughter to provide for. A daughter whose origins make it impossible to bring her out in society, whose education is sadly lacking, and whose hellish behavior will see them ruined if he cannot find someone to watch over her while he works to secure a better life.

When Diana arrives at his door to demand his assistance in breaking their engagement, Ben sees opportunity. He agrees to give her what she demands, if she will mind and educate his daughter. But as threads of attachment begin to bind them, an end to their engagement no longer seems quite so desirable. Can their unexpected love weather the obstacles still in their path?

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Slow Burn, Second Chance

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2024

Reviews

[del · Rating 4 out of 5]

so here’s the thing. i’ve only recently discovered aydra richards, but ive already read enough of her books to know that they will always be A TIME. and she has this wonderful gift of making me care so deeply for her characters even when the romance itself isn’t necessarily done to my tastes. thats sort of what happened here - there were things i didnt love about the way the relationship developed for diana and ben, things that would have made it all too easy to just give up with any other author, and YET! not only was i invested enough to want to follow through to the end, but i was moved! i teared up! i still enjoyed this plenty!

[Samantha · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭐
1 star.

👎



DNF @ 40%.


Underwhelming.

Nonsensical.
(Behaviors and decisions.)

Repetitious.

Uninteresting main characters.

Too much focus on the child in the story.

[BJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story where the h quietly rescues the rather weak H. He abandoned/ran away from his commitments to save a child. The h is firmly on the shelf so takes action. I really like her quiet determination and clever approach to the H and her family. Great read with a child that felt real.

[Cristina]

DNF

The premise of the story is the h waiting 10 years for the H. Meanwhile he had a daughter with someone else. Ehh, not really grabbing my attention.

[jakira · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 🌟's

this was super sweet!!

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book doesn’t feature the typical Aydra Richards grovel, but it was still very enjoyable. The H was such a good person. I was happy that it worked out for them.

[ana :-) · Rating 3 out of 5]

y’all know i’m an aydra richards stan but i guess this was not for me!!!! idk if the problem was that both characters were SUCH paragons of virtue that kept making these irrational, selfless to the extreme choices… and it felt like neither of them had an actual functioning braincell?
ok, so you spend TEN! YEARS!!!!! languishing in waiting for a guy who you barely know and watch all of your girlish dreams fade out and die and decide: instead of being practical and sending a letter to end this sham engagement i want to do it in the most complicated way possible, for /satisfaction purposes/. then you go get your satisfaction but actually, surprise, no satisfaction bc i’m not sorry at all about ghosting you bc i had /reasons/ and also you’re a nanny! pleaseandthanyoubye!

that first quarter really grinded my gears; the middle was a complete tonal shift which was good but inconsistent and also a little drawn out.

and i’m all for a princess saving herself AND her prince but if i was friends with her i’d be like… girl… have some self respect????? like you PAY this guy and his kid’s living for two months, give the kid a personality makeover and basically do the emotional labor of a lifetime, you vow to never marry or be happy again, THEN you go and fight his battles?????? meanwhile ben’s just a walking catchphrase every time hannah does something mischievous like “hannah!” in a chiding tone. like please be more useless baby boy!!!

the three stars are:
- for the delicious angst, esp the third quarter? lovely
- bc i do appreciate a trope subversion
- bc i love aydra, period. i can’t wait for rafe’s storyyyyyyyyyyyyy my homeboy’s about to be a father of 20 when he gets together with emma and adopts all of the foundlings 🙌🏼

[Margerm, Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the author's notes Aydra Richards points out that groveling was missing from the story but she felt it was unnecessary due to the understanding between the H and h. For me it was necessary. The h spent 10 years missing out on life because of bethrothal to an absent and missing fiance. Life was hard for the H when he accepted responsibility for his raising his good friend's infant child but he admits he seldom thought of his betrothed. His father threatened the child's safety but it feels like the H didn't do enough to look for solutions to the problem. He used the h quickly enough to take care of his daughter while he worked when the h finally found him having decided to break the engagement. It felt a little unsatisfying.

[(⁠๑⁠•⁠﹏⁠•⁠) · Rating 2 out of 5]

whilst I do love a romance that is constrained by the societal standards and rules of regency, this one seems too preocupied with making this conflict credible and practically leaves romance to take a back seat, which is kinda weird for a romance book. they fall in love, yes, but it is more because they are raising a child together and admire each other as loving and doting parents - but they practically don't connect besides that, in my opinion. also, there is a lot of repetitive rambling on the same 3 topics and it gets a bit tiresome.

[Aspoon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sad to say but this book made absolutely no sense. The decisions, the behaviours etc just seemed forced and irrelevant . One thing I can’t stand is reading about a spoiled, undisciplined child who father just sit back and dolts on her and her horrendous behaviour. The story was boring and truly lacking the wit and romance you normally see from this author.

[Yvonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Waffling between 3.5 and 4 stars. I’m not quite sure when and how they fell in love…it felt as though it happened between chapters?

Diana is sister to Marcus, the hero of “Exit, Pursued by a Baron”: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Sweet Potato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very healthy couple, which I love, unlike her brother from the previous book.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the end, this was really a beautiful and emotional story, but it dragged like its 500 pages when it's just over half of that.

[Amy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed every one of Aydra’s books and always look forward to a new one with great excitement. But man, this book! Despite being a crier generally, I very rarely cry when reading books, and yet this one made me sob. SOB! I had to take a break to go shower and collect myself about three quarters of the way through before I could power on to what—I had to reassure myself!—would be guaranteed a happy ending. It was, of course, but it was touching, unexpected and a joy on the full journey towards it. I adored all the main characters, and cannot wait to see them make cameos in what I assume will inevitably be Rafe’s book to complete this trilogy.

My first 5 star read of 2024 (as of early April.) Definitely worth a read if you have yet to try Aydra Richards books!

[Aoife · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: This book is set in the same world as Exit, Pursued by Baron — Lady Diana plays a supporting role in that story as it is about her brother Marcus. It is not necessary to read Exit, Pursued by Baron first (I did not) however it does lend some deeper insight into Diana’s relationship with her father which is a key theme throughout this story.

When I finish this book and I thought about what was I going to rate it, I instantly knew my answer - Five stars. I’m not one to give out a full five star rating that easily, but there was just something about this story that really captured my attention from the beginning. I loved the storyline itself, I loved the characters and I loved the prose. This was one of those stories that I found exactly at the right time as it was just what I was looking for. Single dad, spinster lady and a longstanding engagement that hadn’t been acted upon yet.

Lady Diana Beaumont is an unmarried 28-year-old daughter of a Marques. She has been engaged these last 10 years, a match that was organized by her late father. Her fiancé is Ben Gillingham, the Earl of Weatherford. However, much to Diana‘s chagrin, the Earl has, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the earth — leaving Diana to spend season after season on the shelf, awaiting his return. She enlists the help of her brother Rafe to track down Ben’s location so that she can end their engagement at long last. We learn that Ben was cut off by his father because he has an illegitimate daughter and as a result, he has been living out in the countryside as a laborer. An impoverished laborer. In return for acting as a governess, Ben agrees to go to London to help salvage Diana‘s reputation and break the news of their engagement ending.

As far as characters go, I absolutely adored all three main characters in this book. I really don’t have much more to say on that, there’s only so many synonyms for loved that you can use. I loved Ben’s devotion to his daughter, I loved Diana‘s belief in herself and I loved how Hannah grew and matured with their influence. Hannah was the star of the show for me. Not only as a character on her own, but in the way she shows Ben and Diana how to love.

Diana wants to hate Ben but she can’t. Even before she knows the full truth of the upbringing Hannah had she can’t begrudge Ben for putting his daughter first. She spends her days teaching Hannah how to act like a lady while Ben and Hannah teach Diana what it means to have someone’s unconditional love. There were three core relationships (B/D, B&H and D&H) at the center of this book and each one of them was as important as the other. I would almost argue that Diana and Hannah’s relationship is more important to the story than Diana and Ben. When Diana first turns up a Ben’s doorstop and is mistaken for a governess. She and Hannah get off to a rocky start. Diana quickly deduces that the reason Hannah tries to runoff all of the people that mind her during the day is that she believes it will force her father to remain at home with her each day. However, Ben cannot afford to do that. He works in the mines all day, hoping to find enough graphite to lift him and his daughter from the poverty they find themselves in. Everything he does, everything he has done for 9 years, has been for the best interest of his daughter. Ben is a wonderful father and we really see this throughout the story. He would do absolutely anything to protect his daughter. He knows that by allowing Diana and Hannah to get close, Diana’s inventible leaving will be all the more painful but he sees how happy they make each other and he can’t bring himself to cut their time together short. Diana observes Hannah and her father from afar, and is initially a little bit jealous. Over the course of the story, she comes to terms with the relationship she had with her own father and begins on understand that a parents love is not something that should have to be earned. In turn, Hannah slowly begins to trust Diana as she feels the mother shaped whole in her heart. By the end of their time together, they really are a little family.

There is this impending sense of doom while you’re reading the book, knowing that the time Diana has with the Gillingham’s does have to end. As I was reading, I found myself in Diana’s shoes, hoping that she would have just one more tomorrow. I think being able to put yourself in the shoes of a character is the mark of a well written character.

When the day finally comes, it is as heartbreaking as you expect it to be. Hannah’s reaction devastated me. She’s just a child and she doesn’t fully comprehend why Diana can’t just stay with them. She refuses to say goodbye, hoping that Diana might stay, but she doesn’t and Hannah loses the only mother she’s ever known without a chance to say goodbye. Diana’s message on the handkerchief was enough to make me cry.

I will say, I thought the issue with Ben’s father was wrapped up pretty quickly, but I was so desperate for the family to reunite that it didn’t bother me. Had Diana left earlier, and Richards had introduced this plotline earlier, I think we would’ve lost out on some beautiful scenes at the cottage, which were personally my favorite. I really enjoyed the setting of this book, nearly everything took place within the confines of the little cottage. The only characters who really appeared are Diana, Ben and Hannah, so we really got to know them.

I’ve never been so glad to read the Author’s Note at the end of a book. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t not have know this book was connected to Exit, Pursued by Baron nor would I have know that Rafe is getting his own story! I’m also trying to figure out if Diana’s friends Phoebe has a story because the very little we learned in this book has intrigued me.

[Zee · Rating 2 out of 5]

You mean to tell me the heroine easily forgave the man who wasted years of her life. A man who was too weak and cowardly to stand up to his father and break off their engagement. The same man who admitted that he didn’t even think of her much over the years. Not only that but Diana also fell in love with him and sacrificed her happiness for his.

And this was meant to be read as a story with a feminist heroine who went after what she wants. Even if her behavior and the sequence of events didn’t fit the era the story was it in. Like how unrealistic it was that Diana stayed for months with Ben and wasn’t discovered nor was her reputation ruined.

Also the child Hannah was an annoying brat who deserved to be smacked. And this is coming from someone who abhors physical discipline. But Hannah was really that annoying and unhinged. I genuinely don’t understand how Diana found her endearing so quickly.

It’s just really pathetic and insulting how Diana kept sacrificing herself first for her father then to the man she loves. For a man who frankly didn’t deserve her or fight to be with her.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by Aydra Richards, who was recommended to me as a good read for a fan of Alice Coldbreath, and I loved it - it definitely won't be the last book I read by this author!

Diana and Ben were an incredible pair; the hard feelings Diana brought to her extended engagement versus Ben's focus on doing what is best for Hannah was a challenging knot for them to overcome, and watching them do so was so gratifying. A compelling storyline combined with a writing style which was a pleasure to read made this book a wonderful surprise, and it turned Aydra Richards into an auto-buy author for me going forward.

My only regret is that I picked this book up without realizing it was the second entry in a series - I'm off to read the first book, Exit, Pursued by a Baron, now!

[luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was fun - even if the reason for separation was overwrought. hannah was lovely, and i liked the slow burn of the relationship between the main couple. ben was a pathetic kind of hero, and i thought it was sweet.

3.8

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[Carol (bookish_notes)]

DNF

It’s honestly so annoying this book doesn’t say it’s book 2 in a series. Exit, Persued by a Baron is book 1. It’s only obvious when the FMC (Diana) mentions having a brother who has a loving wife and there’s evidently some shared history in that exchange a reader should already know about.

Diana is 28 and was promised to be wed at 7 to a boy 2 years older than her, Ben. Except it’s been 10 years since he’s disappeared from society and she now basically has no prospects. And in the meantime, Ben has an 8 year old daughter, living in the countryside, and the girl’s mother passed away shortly after the girl’s birth. The girl, Hannah, has no discipline and is quite unruly since Ben is working to keep a roof over their heads and has no time to care for her as he should, and he’s been disowned by his father. In comes Diana, the perfect solution to his governess problem when she comes to confront him and wants to have him return to London with her to formally announce their engagement is broken off.

I think single parent romances are hard to navigate because the reader has to somewhat like the child in question? I don’t care for Hannah or to learn how Diana has to care for a child she never even knew about, who belongs to a man who did her quite dirty actually (but why her older brothers never once found him and dragged him back to London themselves in all this time is a mystery to me). I would probably like this story more without a child in it, but that might make this book too much like Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers.

The writing style is readable and not stuffy like a lot of historical romances. This is on KU. But I just wanted something different from this book I guess.

As it is, and the fact that this was never communicated to be a sequel, this is a DNF for me.

[*CJ* · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Lady Diana's Lost Lord" is the story of Diana and Ben.

What a heartwarming story!

We have met Diana in the last book. This headstrong spinster is so because her fiancé has been missing for over two decades! Betrothed since childhood, she is frustrated as he shows no signs of returning. She then takes it upon herself to track him down in order to break the engagement.

She soon comes across the penniless hero, who has been shunned from society for having a daughter! She asks him to accompany her to London, he demands she become his temporary governess to tame his headstrong child. What begins as a battle of wills between the child and the heroine, turns into a sweet parental relationship, and soon she and the hero fall in love. But she knows their time together is limited..

Mature characters, sweet romance and very moving moments between all three main characters. The heroine's family was amazing, and the only villain also got their redemption arc.

Not as angsty as other AR books but did make me shed a tear.

Safe?
4.5/5

[gnouella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want all of your tomorrows, Diana. I want you to have all of mine.”

Sa totoo lang, I didn't know I have an itch for assertive girlies in this time. Gusto ko lamang sana ng cozy cottagecore vibes ngayong Christmas pero unexpected na iiyak ako dito. I wouldn't imagine myself marrying an impoverished man na may title nga, pero wala namang pera. Tapos may daughter pa sa ibang babae. Imagine, diana was jilted for so many years kasi her groom failed to show up.

Tapos nung she decided to travel to break off their engagement, naging instant governess naman siya ng hellion daughter ni ben na si hannah. Ang heartwarming ng bonding nila as fam. Tipong hindi marangya life nila, pero magkakasama kaya parang it's enough 🥺

Naiyak ako doon sa pag-alis ni diana then she gifted hannah her embroidered handkerchief. Basta, ang heartwarming and heartwrenching talaga nito huhu. Gusto ko rin iyong chemistry nila diana and Ben. They're both virgins pa ha 😜
Overall i want to reread this kasi huhu, instant fave talaga

[Amanda Gayhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was ADORABLE. Ben freaking Gillingham. *swoon*

Aydra has deviated from her typical grovel (which, in this book, I don't know how you'd be able to pull that off) in this "fell in love with the governess" book-story (even though Diana is a lady, not a governess). It's a lost-love trope as well, given 8 years have gone by.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Ben. He's dad-goals, for sure. Hannah is the perfect little hellion who comes around in the most remarkably cute way. Also, both characters are virgins which? LOVE. SO MUCH LOVE.

Just an all-around cutesy good story.

[Denise Tocci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book just replaced my number one you must read this book. This is my new you need to read this bookDiana is strong and incredible Ben is a true hero.. I laughed and cried really cried. No spoilers but you should read the first book in this series.Exit,pursued by a baron, for the total effect

[Catherine Staerkel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one

I read Rafe and Emma's book first so I was prepared for this novel. This one has an intriguing love story with a bit of steam and a little girl who adds her own spice. Ben surprised me when he confessed his inexperience to Diana but it took soooo long. I wanted the pace a bit more brisk. A good read that Ms Richards needs to edit better. Please.

[Lidia Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this story! The characters were truly wonderful. Ben was the perfect Hero and Diana a strong wonderful heroine. This is a story I will read again because it was for me the perfect romance, very real love. True love does sacrifice and does put the other person happiness and safety first. Lovely just lovely!

[Rebecca Lindskov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bawled my eyes out. Such a sweet story and wonderful to see the family dynamic in play before the main characters get married, so you believe their connection. The daughter was a character in her own right and not only used as a plot devise. On the whole just a lovely story of growth and found family.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite not having a grovel, this book was still an enjoyable read. I think Aydra Richards just decided to go all in on writing the most wonderful single dad ever, so groveling wouldn’t have fit the story.

Hoping for more pain, angst, and groveling in Rafe’s story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern day rom in an historical setting. Similar to Tessa Dare but without the laughs. Very long on explanations of everyone’s perspective and motives. Much too long but will read her next book when it comes out.

[Michelle Halber · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely story -- interesting and fresh, with an older 20's heroine and an hero who puts in the work to create a home for his family.

I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more from this author!