A Lady's Guide to London (The Lucky Ladies of London, #2) by Faye Delacour
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on April 15, 2025
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
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An enemies-to-lovers historical romantic comedy between a grumpy Viscount with a rocky reputation and a bright-as-sunshine heiress determined to make something of herself, perfect for fans of Evie Dunmore, India Holton and Bridgerton.

If he won't add her business into his guidebook, she'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

Della Danby is determined to prove she's more than just a flighty heiress riding on her parents' money to get through life. When her closest friend and business partner finds her hands full with a new baby, Della takes the opportunity to shoulder more responsibility at their ladies' gambling club and secure their financial stability, and she has the perfect to drum up new business by adding their club to a popular guidebook of local attractions.

Gambling ruined Viscount Lyman Ashton's life and his marriage. He has no intention of putting a new club in his guide, nor of getting involved with its intriguing and energetic proprietress. But when Della refuses to take no for an answer and approaches his publisher with a plan to write her own book of attractions for ladies, Lyman reluctantly agrees to collaborate with her in exchange for the money he so desperately needs to pay his debts. As they grow closer, Lyman finds himself falling for Della even though his past could jeopardize her reputation. But if they can ever have a future together, Della may have to choose between the club she's worked so hard to build and her chance at love.

Read if you like:

• Historical romance
• Enemies to lovers vibes
• Unconventional storylines
• Neurodivergent representation

My thoughts:

A Lady’s Guide to London is a thoroughly unique historical romance that I was so excited to read. I enjoyed the first book in this series and I was eager to see what Faye Delacour would do with this one. Unfortunately, I struggled quite a bit with Della’s story and had to push myself to finish it.

There was nothing about A Lady’s Guide to London that made it a bad book, there were just so many little things I didn’t like about it and they all started to add up.

These characters did absolutely nothing for me. Della was fun and vibrant in book one but none of that personality seemed to be present in this one. I understand that she was forced to take more responsibility at the club but it ended up taking over her life and everything fun about her personality got lost along the way. Add in Lyman and it got even worse. Because of mistakes he’d made in his past, he became rather judgmental and self-righteous. It felt like he judged everyone who drank or gambled or did pretty much anything for entertainment. I get where he was coming from but just because he made a mistake, it didn’t mean everyone else would make the same one. It felt like he snuffed out what little light remained in Della and made her question everything she’d done with her life.

The storyline was non-existent for much of the book and the pacing was off. There didn’t appear to be any kind of conflict until midway through the book. The first half of the story didn’t feel like it was leading anywhere. It dragged on in the beginning and then the ending came across rather abrupt. I was bore for most of the book and then left feeling like I was missing something at the end.

I do want to give credit to the many unique and unconventional aspects of this story. While not directly mentioned, I believe Della had ADHD. I’m basing that solely on my own experience with ADHD but the way Della described things in her head was very reminiscent of my own experience. I could relate to her and I loved seeing that, especially in a historical setting.

I also loved the female-owned gaming club idea. I enjoyed that aspect of the first book but I liked it even more in this one. Faye Delacour did a great job showing the business side of things, both their wins and their struggles. I have a feeling this will feature again in the next book.

Overall, I don’t think Faye Delacour’s books may be for me but there are so many things I can appreciate about them. A Lady’s Guide to London is a fresh take in the historical romance genre but had a few too many flaws for me.

TL;DR

A Lady’s Guide to London did not measure up to my expectations. There were some really original and unconventional aspects to it but altogether, things didn’t work. The romance felt lackluster, the characters were quite infuriating at times, and the story bored me a bit. It wasn’t badly written or even a bad story, it just wasn’t for me.

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