Lucille Van Zandt has always been more captivated by her whimsical newspaper strip, Lucy LaMode’s Fashionable Frolics, than Manhattan’s social whirl. Her parents insist she abandon her career as a comic strip artist and travel to London, where marriage to a titled gentleman could secure their place among the elite. Determined to play by her own rules, Lucy resolves to continue her illustrations in her new surroundings.
London’s aristocracy proves as elusive as New York’s famed Four Hundred. But Lucy is undeterred when she crashes an exclusive ball, catching the eye of the Marquess of Harlington, whose ancestral home is on the brink of ruin.
Fredrick, Lord Harlington, sees Lucy’s creativity—and substantial dowry—as the solution to his financial woes. As their romance deepens, can Lucy pursue her artistic ambitions without sacrificing her heart? Will Frederick find a way to reconcile his feelings for Lucy with the crushing demands of his estate? Or must their aspirations force them to choose between love and their dreams?
Allyson Jeleyne writes enchanting low-angst, medium-steam “slice of life” romance novels—no third act break-ups in sight! Her characters are a complex cast of adventurers, entrepreneurs, heiresses, peeresses, and survivors, each journeying through love and life in the Victorian era.
She earned an interdisciplinary studies degree in creative writing and journalism while also studying British history & literature in her spare time. When not writing, she enjoys traveling and checking things off her bucket list.
She makes her home in the South Carolina lowcountry with her beloved dog, Dollie Madison (2005-2022).