The Vexatious Widow

Regency House Party: Havencrest #2

by Michelle Pennington

A most unlikely temptation.

Mrs. Joanna Thorne infinitely prefers being a wealthy widow to being a miserable wife, but she is constantly swarmed by suitors with eager, insincere compliments. Fortunately, she has become quite adept at handling fortune hunters. When she meets Lord Tyndale at her friends’ house party, she knows she can help him thwart the charming rascal pursuing his niece. But why does it annoy him so? And why does she care for his good opinion anyway?

The last thing Lord Tyndale wants to do is accompany his beautiful, headstrong niece to a house party in Brighton. However, it is the only way to protect her from a disastrous marriage to the wastrel pursuing her. He should appreciate the help of a rather plain and meddlesome but capable young widow, but he finds himself increasingly annoyed as Joanna skillfully captures the fortune hunter’s attention.

She throws his life into disarray, won’t give him a moment’s peace, and drives him mad. So why does he find her so tempting? And why is he dreading the end of this very irregular house party?

Genres: Regency, Novella, Romance, Historical Romance, Clean Romance, Regency Romance, Fiction

77 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2019

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novella length book. It was fun to read but felt very rushed. The romance needed to be delved into more. It was so out of character for the leading man to do what he did, or was it? I'm not too sure because we didn't get to know him well enough. I felt like I had a very good feel for the leading lady. She was my favorite part of this story. She is a character I could read in many books. This is chaste with some kisses.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joanna Thorne is a young wealthy widow who never plans to marry again, as all those who come calling on her only want her money. Every year she attends the house party of Mr. and Mrs. Garvey, who are quite the odd hosts. Lord Tyndale accompanies his niece to the house party in Brighton to keep an eye on her, and to keep her away from a young man who's only after her dowry. Lord Tyndale meets Joanna his first morning there and she offers to help show his niece her suitor's true colors.

This was such a fun book to read. Even if I hadn't read the book blurb I would've known right away that Joanna and Lord Tyndale would end up together--just from the way they bantered back and forth. She drove him crazy with her schemes to help him with his niece.

There are so many colorful characters in this delightful book. Mrs. Pike aka Joanna's "Dragon", is something else. Mrs. Garvey, who seems to hate the summer house parties her husband insist on having is a hoot. My favorite line from Mrs. Garvey "The only things that improve a man are distance and death." I laughed out loud at that one.

My favorite scenes were Joanna and Lord Tyndale's interactions. I knew he'd eventually win her over once she could trust what he said. Joanna had never had a man pay her a sincere compliment before which I found extremely sad. Other than learning about Joanna's father and the man he married her off to, this is a light read and a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

I received a complimentary copy and chose to leave a review. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

[Katie (hiding in the pages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a super fun story! I love house parties and loved the playful argumentative banter that ensued between Tyndale and Joanna during this one. Joanna is a very wealthy widow and has fun playing games in attracting and casting off suitors who are only after one thing--her money. She's outspoken and brash, to the point of being inappropriate, but that's precisely what attracts her to Tyndale, much to his dismay.

Tyndale's ward, his niece, has a fortune hunter after her and she's blinded to his pursuit, so Joanna steps in to help. I couldn't help but to smile and laugh at the antics that result and the encounters between Joanna and Tyndale left me nearly swooning. These characters are written in a fantastically charming and delightful way and I was highly entertained throughout. I would have loved to have been a part of this house party, with all the mischievous goings on and subtle flirting. And why is it you always find love when you absolutely are NOT looking for it?!

Pennington does it again with this original and fun Regency offering that delivers a wonderful story that can be read in one or two sittings (I couldn't stay awake to finish last night, ha ha).

Content: mild romance

*I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.*

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

These house parties are a lot of fun and such crazy hosts. Joanna is such a great strong woman. It is hard to image her bowing down to another. I guess the death of her husband allowed her to be more assertive. I love how frank and honest her and Tyndale are with each other. It's so refreshing to have a couple who doesn't hide behind polite society. That's not to say they didn't have trials, but their spunk and fortitude helped them come through.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Vexatious Widow is a really great addition to this house party series!
Michelle Pennington does not disappoint! She crafts a well written story and sprinkles it with fun witty banter, comical observations (love the bunny reference!), and tops it off with a great ending.
~ Joanna is a widow who loves her independence - and does NOT want to marry again. She believes herself not a beauty, and therefore every man who is interested in her must only interested in her fortune. She has a great sense of humor and loves conversing with Tyndale.
~ Tyndale is reserved, honorable and very observant - and of course handsome. He is able to see Joanna for who she really is ~ a beautiful person inside and out.

They are instantly comfortable with each other and feel an odd attraction. They spark their way through several entertaining conversations that will make you smile. I love how their relationship builds.

This story is short, but sweetly delightful. I highly recommend it book and eagerly look forward to the next story in this series! Well done Michelle!

[Space Cowgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her Big Fat 👛Purse

Lord Tyndale🐺 is so busy trying to keep his niece away from a fortune hunter at a large house party in Brighton, he gets himself waylaid by Joanna💃💋, a beautiful widow!

She didn't do it on purpose, and actually she was happy just to be a rich widow at twenty-two, fending off male fortune hunters.
But the attraction between the two can't be denied, even though both are skeptical of the other's motives.

This is a sweet and fun Regency Romance💕! Takes only a couple of hours to read. Enjoy!

[Melissa Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good clean read! I enjoyed it!

[Lea Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

Wonderfully written, short and sweet. Great characters that came to life. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Also more from this author who is new to me.

[Sonya Wasden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joanna Thorne is content to be a wealthy widow for the rest of her life. She is tired of fortune hunters pursuing her for her wealth so she has resigned herself to never marrying again in order to keep any man from controlling her ever again. She has accepted the invitation to a house party. The party's hostess is very odd and is determined to limit the amenities for her guests.

When Joanna first meets Lord Tyndale, she determines that he needs her help to keep his niece from accepting the hand of an obvious fortune hunter. Joanna begins to capture the attention of Lord Tyndale's niece's suitor in order to draw his attention away from her and expose him for the scoundrel that he is.

The more Lord Tyndale gets to know Joanna, the more he is intrigued and irritated that she intrigues him. She doesn't trust that he could possibly have any genuine interest in her. But when they both begin to see the possibilities, maybe there could be a happy ever after. . .

This is the second in the series and I had already read the first and this was a wonderful continuation of the story of the guests at the house party and their very odd hostess. I was given an arc copy of this book and I willingly offer my honest review.

[Alisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There has never been a man Joanna Thorne could trust. Now that she is a young (22 years old) widow with a lot of money, she has no need to every re-marry. And she doesn't plan to. She's become an expert at rejecting fortune hunters.

Lord Tyndale needs to make sure his precocious niece doesn't make a terrible mistake. He knows she is planning something with the no-good fortune hunter, Mr. Seymour - so he goes with her to the Havencrest house party. And there he meets the young widow, Mrs. Thorne - who is determined to help him with his niece. After all, getting rid of fortune hunters is something she's good at.

The banter between Joanna and Tyndale had me laughing and not wanting to put this book down!

This is the second book in this series, but the first one I have read. I definitely want to go back and read all the other books. The Garveys are very interesting hosts...

[Ashlee (bookswithnopictures) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a little animosity in a love story. I laughed out loud a few times and very much enjoyed the word play between the main characters. I also liked that the ugly duckling wasn't thought of as beautiful by the end, but appreciated for other attributes all the same.

[Danielle Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice clean read

This is the 2nd in the series I have read and I have thoroughly enjoyed them both.
However the 4 star instead of 5 star rating is due to editing.

Both novels so far have obvious editing issues. I have a hard time imagining these obvious sentences errors were missed. Simply an added “to” where it didn’t belong or things similar to that. They were in both books. In addition in this story, twice wrong names were inserted in places. In this story once near the beginning the nieces name and Joanna’s name was swapped. And then near the end Tyndales name was placed where Seymores name should have been. When Mrs. dragon was reciting the false eloping scene. She said Tyndale was riding beside the carriage and then when he looked in and saw it was the dragon instead of Joanna he was aghast.

Editors should have caught these obvious errors. Or at least have a friend read the final edit before publishing. All the errors were obvious.

Other than that, the story flowed well, was clean and definitely worth the read.

[Andra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah this wasn’t it for me. Way too rushed of a love story, honestly there was barely enough interaction even fora “like” story. The characters weren’t very developed at all, and at one point Tynsdale tried to remember “what was it she called her? Her dear dragon” but nowhere in the story had Joanna ever said that when Tynsdale was around. It felt rushed and hastily put together, and it had all the bones of what could have been a good story but that’s all it felt like. The bones, with nothing else to fill it up. Also this is supposed to be a house party and yet other than when they first arrived and met the over the top frugal hostess, virtually no one else seems to exist within the realm of the house party. This story just as easily could have taken place anywhere else, and it would not have changed the story one bit. If the overarching theme is the house party it just felt like more of the story should have taken place in a way that tied that in, not just mentioned it and then forgot about it.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super cute story. It’s novella length but it still felt complete and not rushed.
I very quickly loved Joanna and Tyndale but I especially loved all their honest conversations and fun banter.
Joanna is a young widow who is blessed with a lot of wealth but not necessarily looks. She believes any man that pays her attention is only after her fortune.
Tyndale is not interested in marriage but only attends this house party to accompany his niece. He’s trying to keep her from making a bad match with a fortune hunter and when Joanna finds out, she decides to help.
This is book 2 in the Havencrest House Party series but since every book is written by a different author, they can be read out of order.
So far, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this series and can’t wait to try out book 3.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun. The main characters were likeable; I liked that the heroine was intelligent and able to deal with a lot of things, but she also made mistakes. I also feel that too many Regency novels use abduction or elopement as a plot point, so I liked the way the author played with those ideas. However, the hostess of the house party was rather ridiculous; if she is so stingy and sets such a bad table, it's surprising that so many titled and wealthy people would attend her house parties. I understand that her husband has ties to the Prince, etc., but I just felt that the character was overdone. I know that this book is part of a series written by assorted authors and so the character may not even be the author's fault, but she detracted from my enjoyment of the story. Otherwise, though, this book is perfect for a quick read with low drama.

[Priscila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved going back to the Regency House Party in Havencrest. In this particular novella, we get the story of Mrs. Joanna Thorne and Lord Martin Tyndale. I enjoyed getting to know both of them, and see how they intrigued the other, both with their words and actions. While I certainly liked their interactions and their slowly growing romance, I would have liked for both the ending and the kisses to have been more detailed (as with the author's To Love a Lord).
Still, this is a delightful and entertaining read which sheds a bit more light onto the life of Mrs. Garvey. Perfect continuation to the series.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

Tyndale didn’t know what hit him when he met the widow who wasn’t afraid to tell things as they were and charmed him with her quirky humor. Joanna schemes to save Tyndale’s niece from a fortune hunter and thus the fun begins. It has some crazy moments, nothing slapstick thankfully, but a well written entertaining story. Even though I knew the book would have a happy ever after ending I still felt that delicious reader anxiety of “they just have to get together but how?!”
This story was even better than the first one of the series. I’m hooked and can’t wait to read the rest.
I think this is my favorite book by this author to date.
Rating: G, Clean, appropriate for all ages

[Marie Bourgery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joanna had been told all her life how she wasn’t pretty, so when she becomes a wealthy widow she thinks that the men courting her are only after her money and now that she is free of a man’s control she has no desire to relinquish that freedom. Lord Tyndale was only trying to prevent his niece from marrying a fortune hunter. He never expected to fall for the woman who was scheming to save his niece while putting herself in the bounder’s path. I felt for Joanna being put down in life and as a result not seeing her good qualities beyond her fortune. There were several funny moments in this story including towards the end, which was also sweet.

[C. Richter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable Read

I enjoyed this Regency house party book by Michelle Pennington. I have read some of her contemporary books in the past, but it's been a while. I didn't know that she wrote Regency romances, as well, so it was fun to rediscover this author once again.

As for "The Vexatious Widow," the banter between the Hero & Heroine was lively and fun. I always enjoy books that contain a good dose of humor in them. I prefer cleverness & wit over "angst" any day, so this was a perfect book for me. Great clean romance story, cleverly created characters, and a surprise twist to the ending. I highly recommend this book. ❤

[Kerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story to read. I had a hard time putting it down. Joanna had a terrible marriage and does not think much of the institution. I love how she is able to read the men that come after her for her money. Lord Tyndale doesn't think much about marriage either. I like the interactions between Joanna and Lord Tyndale. They have some funny moments and they are filled with chemistry. I recommend this to anyone that loves clean romance with a couple that fights against having a feelings that lean towards marriage.

[Sara Eves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, I have never enjoyed a regency romance more

Ok, Pride and Prejudice is still my ultimate favorite but this book is in a category of its own. The characters conversations were delightfully absurd and funny. I love how many times the main man is left thinking "What the devil just happened?" It was brilliant. I want to read this again and again. I even read parts of it to my long suffering husband and he even thought it was funny. I can't thank the author enough for all the laughs, and the clean entertainment.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything about this story felt off for me. The scheming was weird, especially the running away at the end. There were several times that I believe the wrong name was used to describe something (for instance at the end it says Tyndall was riding alongside the carriage Mrs. Pike was in… but it should have said Seymour) and that threw off the flow for me. I didn’t feel like there was enough interaction between Joanna and Martin for them to fall in love. Even for a novella, it seemed a bit too rushed.

[Christina Morley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Regency Romance has all the feels! There are wonderful characters, a beautiful location, a little bit of suspense, and lots of witty banter. It's a fun clean read. There were some elements that could have been fleshed out further. For example, I thought Lord Tyndale would need to put his fencing skills to good use, but it only gets mentioned and nothing more. I wished the book could have been longer!

I received an ARC. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Gwen Battis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful

This was the first time I have read this author.
I thoroughly enjoyed this short story.
The banter back and forth between Joanna and Lord Tyndale was humorous and engaging. I even found Lord Tyndale’s niece, Phoebe loveable as she tried to outwit her guardian.
I loved the concise telling of the story without losing character development.
I will be looking for more of this author’s stories.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so fun to read another story of happily ever after from this house party setting. I loved the headstrong characters and their wonderful personalities! And the love story is sweet and clean. Another great read from a great author!

I received a complimentary copy of the book. All opinions are my own and are expressed voluntarily.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series and I think the idea is a fun premise. I thought the h funny & witty. The H was great too, of course. I enjoyed how he softened to the h. I was rooting for the H &h to come together. Good characters, writing and dialogue. I appreciate the writing staying within the time period.

[maura g brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely loved the widow. She was eccentric, outspoken and determined in the best way - she wanted to live her life on her terms and wasn't about to compromise. Lord Tyndale was her perfect match - they truly complemented each other.

My only complaint - the book was too short! I enjoyed their interactions so much I would have enjoyed another 100 pages of so.

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been skipping around some of the house party series’ recently. I read the summaries for most of the stories in this house party series and I wasn’t interested in this one. Then I read the book before this one and there was an excerpt for this one at the end and I enjoyed it, so I got this one next. And I loved it! It turned out to be my favorite!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES!!!

This book was great! I completely felt for Joanna! I’m sure every girl has felt inadequate at times. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the good in yourself but to the right person, your flaws could be beautiful! Lord Tynsdale might just be my new book boyfriend. ;) I loved his characterization and how well the reader could feel his emotions. AMAZING BOOK!

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a fan of instalove but I wasn’t surprised it appears here given the brief page count. I love an insecure heroine, but I gotta say, Johanna’s “plan” with the fortune hunter made no sense to me. Why on earth would she risk Mrs. Pike’s reputation like that?? Never mind put her in possible danger?!