Lord Gray's List by Maggie Robinson

Lord Benton Gray has had it with the weekly gossip rag, The London List.  He is always the front page fodder and everyone, including his own mother, eagerly awaits each new issue.  Deciding to end this once and for all, he goes and confronts the owner, a Mr. Ramsey.  But who should this Mr. Ramsey turn out to be but the one woman he proposed to years ago...Evangeline Ramsey.  Evie is running the paper to help pay her ailing fathers medical bills and dressing as a man has proved to be most advantageous as people are more willing to speak to a man over a woman and take her seriously.  Seeing the man she made a foolish mistake with and ruined her future as a result stems her anger and frustration but the final straw is when Ben goes behind her back and buys the paper from her father!  Sparks reignite, tempers flare and their past attraction still burns strong.  Together, Evie shows Ben the ropes of running a paper and the side that the public doesn't seem much, the caring and helping of all the desperate, poor people who need so much yet can not afford the rates to advertise.  Will Ben be able to truly turn over a new leaf and leave his rakish ways behind him and help Evie with all the issues with the paper and find what they thought they had lost all those years ago?

This book had everything I have come to expect from Maggie Robinson; heart, humor and heat.  The heat starts off rather quickly, with Evie and Ben already having a torrid affair in the past but then the sexual tension sets in and just keeps building.  The humor was just wonderful.  Our couple are constantly trying to prove who is the man and should wear the pants (literally)...Ben wants Evie to wear dresses and be a female and take care of her while Evie wants to continue doing her job and the pants suit her just fine.  Evie is a strong, bold, confident woman and does not need a man to take care of her!  (Even if he is devilishly handsome, wealthy and shows himself to have a very generous heart).  The heart comes from all the secondary characters that add a nice sense of completion to this story.  Evie knows what it is like to struggle and when Ben decides to shut down the paper, she shows him how many people depend on The London List to find jobs, homes, and helpers, that it is far more that a scandal sheet.  Yes, the situations that arose seemed to be settled fairly quickly and easily, but they were still pleasant to read.  I also really enjoyed seeing some of the day to day operations involved in running a newspaper!  Overall, a delightful, sensual romance that will surely please romance fans who enjoy a perfect blend of heart, wit, charm and heat.  4 stars

ARC provided by the author

The London List series
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