A Disorderly Grand Tour (Victorian Grand Tour Book 3)

Rachel Wickford has vowed to never marry, instead planning to follow the footsteps of her heroine, Florence Nightingale, which makes avoiding the determined Colonel Curtis Loughton and his attempts to court her quite the trial! Avoiding the heartache of love is difficult when the Colonel is so integral to her, attending her nursing courses and practicing among the expecting mothers on the continent. Curtis Loughton knows the value of good nurses as a doctor, but no prior battle has ever quite prepared him to wage war for his true love. He’ll need to convince Rachel that she can marry him and still be a nurse, but it won’t be an easy win, and both hearts are on the line.

The third book in this series, it overlaps slightly with the previous tales and focuses on a lady with goals beyond her station in life. The romance is solid with both sides presented and explored. Both Rachel and Curtis are complex characters with vivid emotions. Although the pace is slow and has less exploration of the European continent, the relationships between all the characters are delightful to read about. Furthermore, the story talks about many of the real events and highlights aspects of nursing contemporary to Florence Nightingale in a way that’s rarely explored in historical fiction, which will inspire readers to learn more. While some liberties were taken in terms of accuracy to push the story forward as an historical romance, this story has a delightful conclusion that will leave readers hoping for a fourth book in this series, sooner rather than later!

Sarah E Bradley