Book Review: Ruined by the Ton by Emily Royal

Thank you NetGalley and Dragonblade Publishing for the chance to read and review this ARC!

In a sea of regency romance where things blur into one, Emily Royal has given us a memorable female MC dealing with some very real issues and a male MC being horrifyingly terrible because of his own trauma.

Ruined by the Ton comes out on the 12th of January! This regency romance is 323 pages long and is the second book in the Misfits of the Ton series published by Dragonblade Publishing! It will also be available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!

Quick Recap

After Lady Beatrice’s failed elopement, she’s being watched by her guardian. He really doesn’t need to; she’s heartbroken by the predatory nature of the men in the ton and how they only want her dowry and the liberty to mess around with other women.

Augustus, the earl of Hardwick was cheated on so many times by his wife, the woman he loved, that he’s a bit jaded and only wants a pliable woman to mould into shape.

Somehow, they actually like each other.

When a really horrifying event takes place, Augustus doesn’t believe Beatrice and after their wedding, abandons her at his estate and travels all over Europe. Upon his return, Beatrice isn’t the same woman.

Review with lots of spoilers!

I don’t really know how to talk about this book without spoilers, so read on at your own risk.

I like the book, and while I’m leaving it 4 stars, the start was cringe, The broken angel thing made me want to gag and I can’t believe I read on past that! Their connection was instantaneous, because how could it not be in a regency romance.

When a man tries to assault Beatrice at a party, and is very nearly successful, instead of defending her and being on her side, Augustus can only think of his late wife and how she cheated on him with every other man and how Beatrice did technically almost elope. He marries her and leaves her at his dilapidated estate with a paltry allowance only to run off to Italy.

When Beatrice recovers and works to restore the estate and turn it into something, he returns. He vacillates between being an absolute boor and being incredibly mistrustful of her and calling the estate his own and forgetting her contributions to being fairly ashamed of his own behaviour. And yet he repeats this behaviour several times in the book; it’s embarrassing and also just exhausting. I really appreciated that she was so done with it and stopped caring.

Where Emily Royal didn’t do well is how she brought them back together. Augustus hadn’t done enough to earn Beatrice’s forgiveness and I don’t appreciate her family and how they were all like he’s so nice, why don’t you talk to him about where he travelled to? That part of how the book went was kinda a let down for me.

However, given that Ruined by the Ton is the second book in the series, I do have hopes for the subsequent books being much better and I’m looking forward to them!

Blurb:

An abandoned wife, a doubting husband… will the truth reunite them?

Kept on a tight rein by her guardian ever since a failed elopement, Lady Beatrice Thorpe has no intention of falling in love again—until she meets a widower with kind eyes and a gentle touch.

Augustus, the Earl of Hardwick, was widowed when his unfaithful wife died giving birth to her lover’s child. On his return from exile abroad, he re-enters London society in search of the perfect, biddable bride. Beatrice catches his eye with her air of innocence, and her sorrowful gaze touches his heart.

Still bitter from his first wife’s treachery, Augustus struggles to trust again, and Beatrice, broken-hearted by betrayal, is unwilling to risk her heart. Neither can deny their desire for each other, which heightens with each scorching kiss. But passion without love is never enough.

Will they risk their hearts to find the happiness they crave, or will their fears tear them apart?