TITLE: Romancing the Rifleman
AUTHOR: Courtney McCaskill
SERIES: The Astley Chronicles
SERIES ORDER: 6 of 7
RELEASE DATE: 6/12/2025
GENRE: Historical Romance
RATING: ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
SPICE LEVEL: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
BLURB:
She’s the one woman Harrington Astley can never have.
Lady Diana Latimer might be everything Harrington Astley has ever wanted. But her older brother, the Duke of Trevissick, despises him, and would never give his approval for them to wed. The beautiful girl who makes him feel like he’s more than just cannon fodder is as unattainable as a star in the sky.
Diana Latimer has had it with fops and fortune hunters.
Making her London debut seemed like a lark three years ago. But after her brother saddled her with an absurdly large dowry, Diana has found herself besieged by fortune hunters. There’s only been one man she’s truly liked—Harrington Astley, a handsome army lieutenant with an irreverent sense of humor. Now Harrington is back in London, but thanks to her brother’s meddling, he’s convinced that nothing can ever come of the attraction flaring between them.
When the Foreign Office asks Harrington to attend a house party to try to ferret information out of a Swedish prince he befriended during his last deployment, Diana sees her chance. Harrington doesn’t speak a word of Swedish. But Diana does. Of course, a young, unmarried lady cannot attend a house party without a chaperone… which is why she informs Harrington that they need to marry. For King and country.
Sometimes you have to fake it ‘til you make it!
Harrington promises Diana’s brother that they will annul their fake marriage just as soon as their mission for the Crown is complete. But Diana never agreed to that plan, and she’s not giving Harrington up without a fight. She’s going to do everything within her power to seduce her husband and turn their fake marriage into a love that lasts a lifetime.
Please note that the heat level is red hot!
MY REVIEW:
DISCLAIMER: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I absolutely adored this book! Harrington and Diana were so perfect for each other! I loved how they lit up any time the other came into the room, and how comfortable they were with each other! Courtney had me laughing out loud a lot during this book, and I really appreciated that! I also really appreciated her notes at the end about her research for this book.
Marcus, the Duke of Trevissick, was a complete sod, but I absolutely loved Diana standing up for herself, and for Harrington! Diana is one of those heroines that I would strive to be like! She’s not interested in the glitz or the glam, and she’ll face anyone head-on, including her brother, if they do anything untoward or gets in the way of her happiness.
Harrington… I love that man, but I also wanted to knock some sense into him! He could be quite stubborn sometimes, but I loved how patient Diana was with him, and how she got him to open up to her.
If you like historical romance with a strong heroine and a hero that doesn’t diminish her shine, this story is a must read! It releases June 12th, and it is the 6th book in The Astley Chronicles by Courtney McCaskill. I believe there’s only one book left in this series, but I could be wrong as I only began reading this series at Book 5, Let Me Be Your Hero. You do not need to read the other books in the series to understand this book. You get to see the other couples, as they are all family, so you may feel inclined to go back and read the previous books in the series, but as I said, you don’t need to to understand this story.
Thank you Courtney for the advance copy, I truly enjoyed reading this story!