The Lady He Lost (The Lucky Ladies of London, #1) by Faye Delacour
Series: The Lucky Ladies of London #1
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on April 2, 2024
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 336
Format: ebook
Source: Library
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Her only interest is in making her own way in the world. Luckily, he can help.

Lieutenant Eli Williams was supposed to be dead. In the two years since his shipwreck, his friends and family mourned him, his brother spent his savings, and his fiancée married someone else. So, when he turns up in the middle of the London social season, he quickly becomes the talk of the town. All Eli wants is to set his life back in order and reconnect with Jane Bishop, a friend who has always meant so much more to him, before returning to sea.

Jane refuses to waste any more of her life pining over Eli, who chose her cousin instead of her. She needs to focus on gaining her financial independence by establishing a ladies' gambling club. Never mind that Eli keeps trying to atone for his past mistake by bringing in new members. He's obviously keeping secrets about his disappearance, which means that she can't trust him with her heart even if she did kiss him in a moment of weakness. Or three.

As Eli works to regain her trust, Jane's defensive walls begin to crumble. But when Eli faces a court of inquiry on suspicion of desertion, Jane must decide if she can let go of the past to build a future with Eli, or risk losing him for good.

This charming and sexy friends to enemies to lovers historical romance romp is the perfect read for fans of Evie Dunmore and India Holton.

Read if you like:

• Historical romance
• Friends to lovers
• Second chance romance

My thoughts:

The Lady He Lost is a promising debut historical romance from Faye Delacour. It’s well written and highly enjoyable, though not without it’s faults.

Pirates, a shipwreck, and a hero presumed dead for two years while lost at sea. With a premise like that, it’s impossible not to expect a thrilling tale with a dashing hero. Eli had the dashing hero part down but not so much the thrilling tale. In fact, the story was quite boring at times. With so much mystery surrounding Eli, I expected his story to be a focal point of the book. I also expected a much more fleshed out story. He was gone for two years but his absence was explained away like it was two days.

The characters made up for some of the plot issues. Jane and Eli had pining down to an art. It was clear that Eli never wanted her cousin, Cecily, but Jane was the only one who couldn’t see that. I would have liked to see some flashbacks to their friendship prior to the shipwreck. I felt like their backstory was lacking something to really convey the depths of their feelings. I also hated that Jane was unwilling to even talk to Eli and explain why she was so hurt. I get that it would have wrapped things up too quickly but her running hot and cold with him got frustrating.

I also loved Jane’s uncle and her best friend, Della. I’m eager to read Della’s story next. She and Jane had a wonderful friendship built on common interests and a shared sense of humor. She seemed to have a bit more personality than Jane so I think I’ll like her even more in her own book.

I adored Jane and Della’s quest for independence with their ladies’ gaming club. Those were some of my favorite scenes and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for them in Della’s book.

Overall, The Lady He Lost isn’t perfect but will appeal to historical romance fans.

TL;DR

The Lady He Lost has dragged me back into my historical romance era. While it dragged at times, it was quite fun. I loved the writing and the characters, though the plot had some issues. I’m excited to continue the series and think the second book holds even more potential than this one.

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