The Makings of a Lady by Catherine Tinley #blogtour

Regency Romance as a popular subgenre of a historical romance has its own distinct features - a love story, with an authentic period background, and a great attention to detail.

The Makings of a Lady by Catherine Tinley is the third book in The Chadcombe Marriages series, but it reads perfectly well as a standalone.

Olivia's heart is broken by handsome Jem, who she helps to gain back mobility after a serious wound at Waterloo. Nursing him to health, she falls in love with the war hero. And he seems to be reciprocating her feelings.
Only instead of the anticipated proposal, Jem tells Olivia that he is to be posted to Australia. Being almost penniless due to his father's gambling debts, he feels he has no choice but pursue his career and go to Australia.
Needless to say, Olivia's dreams are shattered. She closes her heart to any advances, and lives a quiet life in her brother's household at Chadcombe. If only they would see that she has grown up and is not a child any longer.

I remember my early 20s, and having my heart broken, when you think that you will never-ever love anyone else and your life is basically over. You might as well relinquish the world and join the nunnery. Only it isn't the end of the world, even if it's hard to believe it then, and that you will find love again.

Four years have passed. Olivia is getting restless at Chadcombe.
And then during one of her walks she meets a handsome stranger, suave Mr Manning, who quite impudently steals a kiss from her.
Olivia is confused. She feels an immediate attraction to Mr Manning, yet is cautious. To add to the confusion, her old flame Jem and his sister are coming to visit her family.

That's the setting for a classic love triangle.

The novel is engaging and entertaining, with an authentic historical background, and a mix of drama and sexual frisson.

The Makings of a Lady, with its compulsive readability, is a charming, delectable novel for fans of the Regency romance genre.

If you enjoyed this review, you might want to find out what the other book-loving bloggers thought about this novel.
My review is part of the blogtour, and here are all the stops available.

Disclosure: Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for sending me a copy of the book for the purposes of reviewing.