With One Kiss

A Sisters Duet, #2

by

Cheryl Holt

Another nobleman's mother behaving badly!

In With One Kiss, author Cheryl Holt concludes the two-book set of A Sisters Duet, wonderful Regency romances filled with excitement, angst, love and lust, and a double dose of perfidious moms! The intertwined stories were robustly plotted with randy, confirmed bachelors who meet their matches in the Cronenworth sisters. 

Charlotte, the younger of the two Cronenworth sisters, reacted much differently to their change in fortunes on the death of their father than her older sister, Theodora. While Theo had gone with the flow and acted as the peacemaker of the surviving family members, Charlotte had burned with constant rage. She'd railed against her fate and had willfully forged her own path, escaping her stepmother's control at the earliest opportunity. She'd quarreled with Theo and taken a low-status teaching position at a boarding school, much to the toplofty family's chagrin. It was not the first, nor would it be the last scandal to beset the Cronenworths. 

Winston Wainwright, Lord Dartmouth, is the spoiled young patriarch of one of the kingdom's oldest and noblest lineages, a member of the inner circle surrounding the throne. An established roué, he's soon to give up his bachelorhood to wed the icy and conniving Lady Jasmine Clement. Win meets Charlotte Cronenworth when she shows up on his doorstep with an abandoned young pupil when their boarding school abruptly closes, the only clue to her origins being the name of his coastal estate in her file. He assumes the girl is his deceased younger brother's love child. Feeling responsible for Holden's death, he is determined to do right by the young girl, but his desire for Charlotte is anything but noble. While used to his pleasures and the adoration of every woman he meets, he has become besotted with Charlotte, who doesn't immediately succumb to his charms. 

The main romantic plot contains a couple of great secondary storylines and circles back to events left unresolved in the previous book. I enjoyed Charlotte's and Win's initial meeting; he's rude, imperious, and entitled, and she stands up to him. Her dialogue is clever, biting, and priceless. As in the previous book, the Dowager mom is a devious force to be reckoned with, but she's also met her match in Charlotte and Win's eventual determination to get what he truly wants. Jasmine is a scheming shrew without a heart, and I was shocked when Jake Boggs's true position in the Wainwright family was initially revealed. However, the resolution to the duet of tales is ultimately satisfying. 

I recommend WITH ONE KISS to romance readers who enjoy strong female protagonists, conniving noble ladies, and a touch of spice in a Regency setting. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.