Three Weeks with a Princess

Kelly’s spirited second Improper Princesses Regency (after My Fair Princess) follows the socially impossible romance of an English royal’s plucky love child and her childhood playmate, the heir to the Marquess of Lendale. Lia Kincaid, illegitimate daughter of the Duke of York, was raised by her grandmother, the late marquess’s mistress. Lia’s mother and grandmother are the notorious Kincaids, considered “moral pollution” by the marquess’s family—except for his heir, Jack Easton, Lia’s childhood friend. When Jack becomes marquess in 1816, he inherits a nearly bankrupt estate, but he still wants to support Lia and her grandmother. With limited prospects, Lia asks Jack for help setting her up as a rich man’s mistress. Flirtatious encounters gently heat up the narrative until masquerade ball mayhem devolves into fiery passion. When a lord’s death in a brothel puts Lia in peril, Kelly gives her a wonderful character-defining moment that will have readers cheering. The plot drags a bit in the middle, but the entertaining cast of snooty relatives, thespians, and street thugs delivers adventure aplenty. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (July)