A Reader for the Rogue by Felicia Greene

It takes courage to navigate the Regency marriage market, but it takes even more courage to refuse it. When five spirited young ladies send a letter to the papers informing the ton of their decision to remain single, there’s no small uproar – but Arabella, Grace, Rose, Bertha and Susan are determined to claim independence. Of course, their rejection of marriage feels set in stone at the time… but once the ladies meet their chosen gentlemen, even the strongest principles can waver in the face of true love!

Bertha Napp is unhappy. She usually tries to be cheerful, despite the coldness of her parents and the rudeness with which she’s treated by the larger part of the ton, and normally finds relief escaping into new books or writing her own. But now that her best friend Arabella has got married, breaking the pact they had all made to remain single, Bertha can’t help but feel a little bit alone. After yet another party at which she’s expected to be silent, dutiful and smiling, she flees to the library to hide away from people–but an unexpected guest interrupts her escapist reading.

Benedict Harrow is tired of being a rogue. Forced to find the library to take part in another soulless, carnal encounter, he’s shocked to find a very different lady from the woman he’d been expecting. An enlightening conversation leads to a kiss, a promise to meet again… and a passion on Benedict’s part that nearly overwhelms him.
He pours out his heart into letters. Their correspondence only makes him more sure that through some miraculous stroke of destiny, he’s met the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. But Bertha, sick of reality, wants nothing more than to lose herself in fantasy–a fantasy that will end sooner rather than later.

Can Benedict convince her otherwise? And can Bertha, with the help of her fellow Unmarriageables, convince herself that she’s worthy of happiness?