A Fickle Fortune by Christina Dudley, narrated by Katherine Anderson
#6 The Hapgoods of Bramleigh
Historical RomCom
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Published: 10.28.25
Time: 10 hours 41 minutes
Rating: 5 stars
Format: audio
Source: Tantor Audio
Sellers: Amazon
ADD TO: GoodReads
GoodReads Synopsis:
Scandal makes its own rules....
Harriet Hapgood has always delighted in arranging the lives of others, while generally doing as she pleased. And after having thwarted her cousin Caroline's engagement, what better way to pass a dull winter than in helping Caroline to a new husband? Her cousin sets her sights on the glittering Mr. St. John Rotherwood, so Hetty cheerfully puts her shoulder to the matchmaking wheel.
St. John Rotherwood didn't always glitter.
A magnificent inheritance has catapulted the erstwhile impoverished Oxford mathematics tutor to the top of London society, where he finds himself eagerly pursued as a matrimonial prize. This apotheosis has not been an unqualified blessing, however. The attention is wearisome, and his formerly humble mother has been transformed by ambition. Is it nostalgia for his university days that draws St. John to Miss Hapgood, sister of his former pupil?
Hetty feels the lure of the season's most eligible bachelor, but when an evening's lark leads to scandal, she discovers society has laws as rigorous as any found in mathematics.
She could let Mr. Rotherwood rescue her, but if the world breaks her will, will it also break her heart?
Sophia Rose's Review
After scotching her cousin Caroline’s chances with her brother, Hetty Hapgood is determined to do right by her and accepts an invitation to join Caroline for the London Season. A new wealthy bachelor is the talk of the Ton and Hetty determines he is just the thing for Caroline, but Mr. St. John Rotherwood has other ideas.
A Fickle Fortune is the sixth and final installment in the inter-connected Hapgoods of Bramleigh series of Regency RomComs. Hetty was introduced as a young girl in her father’s book, School for Love and had a big roll in the most recent, her brother’s romance, The Purloined Portrait which also introduced her grown-up cousin, Caroline.
In A Fickle Fortune, Harriet ‘Hetty’ Hapgood, cousin to the Hapgoods of Bramleigh is all grown up, but just as irrepressible believing she has all the answers and knows the best matches for the people around her. Matching her bird-witted cousin with the serious and quiet man who was her brother’s former math tutor seems like a good idea to her and just because she is older doesn’t mean she isn’t ripe for a few more scrapes in her life. One of her scrapes lands her in a scandal with which only Mr. Rotherwood can help extract her.
In his eyes, Hetty is the only young lady of the Season with whom he feels an affinity and who seems to have the intelligence to carry on a conversation. Not the earl’s daughter his ambitious mother presses on him nor the charming feather head Hetty pushes at him or any of the other wealth-seeking daughters of good family in society. But, after looking after his mother since her family turned their backs on her, he feels some obligation to please her though his noble heart is leaning toward Hetty Hapgood.
I was eager to get Hetty’s story, particularly after her machinations in her brother and Edith’s story just previous. She’s so fun and full of spirit. I couldn’t wait to see her unleashed on London Society and the amusing situations I knew would ensue. I really liked her and St. John together and cheered him on to get her notice rather than just for her cousin. Hetty is determined that she can deal with anything and everything so convincing her was not easy.
Katherine Anderson rounded out the Hapgoods of Bramleigh series with a winning bit of narration work for Hetty’s story. I really like the tone she struck throughout these light Regency Romps and the way she voiced all the characters including the male ones like St. John.
A Fickle Fortune was a triumph, but I felt sadness that there are no more to anticipate from the series. Of course, I have Christina Dudley’s other series along the same vein and I will dive into them. Those who love fun and feisty, yet sweet romances set in the Regency period should add the Hapgoods of Bramleigh to their reading/listening stack.
Author’s Bio:
Christina Hwang Dudley is the author of clean historical and contemporary romance.
Her historical romances include the Hapgoods of Bramleigh and Ellsworth Assortment series of Regency romances, including THE NATURALIST and TEMPTED BY FOLLY.
In contemporary romance, her forthcoming PRIDE AND PRESTON LIN (Third State Books, 2024) riffs on Austen, but this time the story is set in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Asian American protagonists who hail from different ends of the economic spectrum.
Website: https://christinadudley.com/
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
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