Victoria Vane is the alt pen name of historical romance author Emory Lee. In this book we see the same strengths you can see in Lee's other works. A nice, fairly accurate depiction of the Regency period.
The trope we're presented with in this novella is "neglected betrothed kicks disinterested fiance to the curb and makes him sweat to get he back". As always, it's a fun look at an over-confident male being taught a much-needed lesson by the female he ignored.
What I like most about Vane/Lee's writing is the dialogue. The banter between characters feels authentic and it's lively and to the point. Her historical research in this piece is apparent on the page, but I didn't feel like I was getting an info dump as I believe it helped to progress the story itself.
And that's something to note because I believe this story might be categorized as "erotica", but I wouldn't have put it in that category. There might be a little more sex than the typical regency novella you'd find in an anthology, but this still has a solid story with lots of historical detail and it simply doesn't feel
steamy. That's not a complaint, by the way, it's just that I think readers going into it looking for lots of spice might be surprised.
It's nice little story with a trope I happen to like, though, so I'm happy I got the chance to read it.
Full disclosure: I received this story free from the author in exchange for an honest review.