romanticxcx
London, 1825.
Bianca Lombardi knows exactly what is expected of a woman like her: attend balls, make polite conversation, and eventually marry a respectable gentleman.
Unfortunately, Bianca has never been particularly interested in doing what is expected.
Behind her carefully composed smile lies a secret that could ruin her reputation, disgrace her family, and destroy the life she has built in England. While society concerns itself with gossip and marriage prospects, Bianca spends her nights where no lady of the ton should ever be seen, helping those the world has chosen to ignore.
Benedict Bridgerton has spent the last year surviving rather than living. Widowed young and raising four children alone, he has convinced himself that love belongs to the past. His family disagrees.
When Bianca unexpectedly becomes part of the Bridgertons' world, she finds herself drawn into a family unlike any she has ever known-warm, chaotic, impossible to resist. And Benedict finds himself increasingly unable to ignore the intelligent, stubborn Italian woman who seems determined to save everyone except herself.
But secrets have a way of surfacing, and London is always watching.
As rumours spread and old wounds refuse to heal, Bianca and Benedict must decide whether some risks are worth taking... and whether love can arrive when neither of them is looking for it.
A slow-burn Regency romance about grief, healing, family, and choosing who you become when the world tells you who you should be.