Book Description 

Celebrated authoress Lady Georgiana Cleeve has achieved fame and fortune. Unfortunately, she’s also acquired an enemy: the enigmatic Lady Darling, whose spine-tingling plots appear to be pulled straight from Georgiana’s own manuscripts. What’s a stubborn, steely writer to do? Unmask her rival, of course.

But unmasking doesn’t go according to plan—because Lady Darling is actually Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter and object of Georgiana’s very secret, very embarrassing teenage infatuation.

Cat Lacey has spent a decade clawing her family out of poverty. The last thing she needs is to be distracted by the stunning(ly pretentious) Lady Georgiana Cleeve. But Cat can’t seem to escape her infuriatingly beautiful rival—including at the eerie manor where they both plan to set their next books. The plot unexpectedly thickens, however, when the novelists find themselves trapped in the manor together. In between ghostly moans and spectral staff, Cat and Georgiana come face-to-face with real danger: the scorching passion that’s been haunting their rivalry all along.

My Review 

Please note that Ladies in Hating  is the third in a series, and while my review will not contain any spoilers for this book, discussing plot elements from previous books is inevitable, so if you are new to the series, please proceed with caution.  

I was very excited about the opportunity to read this book because I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in the series. I was especially excited to see Lady Georgiana elevated to the role of protagonist after her memorable turn as an empty-headed debutante in the first book. Actually, pretending to be vapid had been a ruse to hide Georgiana’s secret career as a writer of scandalous gothic novels.   

This book takes place about seven years after the first book in the series, and Georgiana is still writing books. However, her rival’s books have so many commonalities that Georgiana cannot help but suspect that Lady Darling has been intentionally stealing her ideas. Needless to say, Georgiana is shocked to discover that her rival is none other than Cat Lacey, the butler’s daughter.  

After some initial grumbling and animosity, the two women quickly realize that they need to work together and that in addition to all those similar book ideas, they also share a mutual attraction. Georgiana and Cat have delightful chemistry as well as good bantering as they progress from enemies to lovers.   

I took two gothic novel classes in college, so I loved all the tropes and references to the genre. I also loved the mystery element, which kept both protagonists busy interpreting clues for most of the book. 

I would absolutely recommend Ladies in Hating, although as I said at the beginning of this review, readers really need to start with the first book in order to appreciate the full story arc as well as the backstory. I have gotten very picky about historical romance since I first started reading over twenty five years ago. I have very little tolerance for shenanigans, and that being said, Vasti has quickly become one of my favorite authors in the genre and I am very much looking forward to her next books. 

I received a digital ARC of this book from St. Martin/NetGalley.