Books in series
#1
Rake's Honour
2012
A rebellious debutante who needs to make a good marriage – fast! Her peagoose of a sister whose peccadilloes threaten the family name. And a handsome, eligible viscount who needs to avert scandal if he’s to win his true love. Get ready for a wild ride as Fanny and Antoinette Brightwell make rags-to-riches marriages in Book One of the Scandalous Miss Brightwells series! When Fanny’s ambitious mother offers her beautiful, intelligent daughter’s hand in marriage to odious Lord Slyther, a desperate Fanny disguises herself and, during a secret visit to Vauxhall Gardens, meets the devilishly dashing – and responsive – Lord Fenton. However, convincing the naughty nobleman that she would make the perfect wife requires a lot of cunning and a deft touch. With a spurned suitor intent on revenge and a feckless sister more interested in fun and flirtation, Fanny must appear the demure debutante that Fenton – or, rather, his exacting mama - requires. Will Fanny succeed or will Antoinette ruin both their reputations? Grab your smelling salts and find out! A steamy, humorous matchmaking Regency Romance. What the readers ★★★★★ "What a splendid book! I loved every moment of it… I was delighted by their torrid and passionate meetings. And the end... made me burst out laughing. It rocks!” BookedUp 5 Stars ★★★★★ "Steamy and passionate... A good light-hearted read." ~ Amazon reader
★★★★★ "A fast-paced story, filled with humour, sexual attraction, love and desperation. The first in a series of novels set in a time when chastity and honour were everything." ~ Amazon reader.
#2
Rogue's Kiss
2015
What if a prospective suitor were told the object of his desire had only six months to live?
Sweet, pretty Thea Brightwell endures a dull and quiet life of servitude as unpaid companion to her rich, crotchety Aunt Brightwell.
However, an invitation to visit Bath in the company of her bold and beautiful Brightwell cousins who have made spectacular rags-to-riches marriages opens up a world of possibilities.
When Thea's well-meaning but not-too-bright Cousin Bertram notices the gleam in the eye of Thea's secret admirer, wealthy, handsome Mr Sylvester Grayling, he's aware the charming rogue requires a potential bride with a dowry before he’ll show interest that may be misconstrued.
But what if Mr Grayling were told that the damsel he covets were destined for her deathbed within six months?
Thea has no idea of the lies Bertram has told the increasingly attentive Mr Grayling but she in turn is growing increasingly susceptible to his naughty but flattering overtures.
Complicating matters are the love letters addressed to 'Miss Brightwell' but intercepted and misinterpreted by an increasingly excited Aunt Brightwell as coming from the gentleman who broke her heart twenty-five years before and who is surely paving the way for a final, heart-rending assignation with her.
Heart-rending and disconcerting are the results, indeed!
#3
The Wedding Wager
2017
A lonely young woman's bid to be reunited with her long-lost love child seems doomed after her friends' matchmaking attempts go awry.
When Miss Eliza Montrose's extraordinary bravery wins her the respect of matchmaking queens Fanny and Antoinette Brightwell, the sisters and their bumbling brother hatch a plan to find a worthier suitor for the young woman they'd initially disliked.
Rufus Patmore, a kind honorable gentleman with a love of horses and a soft spot for damsels in distress, is the ideal candidate when he inadvertently reveals his true feelings for Eliza.
But Eliza has her own reasons for agreeing to marry the Brightwells' selfish, self-absorbed cousin, George Bramley. Reasons that have nothing to do with love! If it's the only way to be reunited with the love child she was forced to give up after a youthful indiscretion, Eliza will marry anyone!
Unfortunately, while the Brightwell siblings have acted with the best of intentions, fixing a horse race that was supposed to bring joy and happiness to two deserving, star-crossed lovers has unfortunate consequences.
And being able to follow her heart comes at an unexpected price. A price that Eliza might not be able to pay.
The Wedding Wager is Book 3 in the Scandalous Miss Brightwells series but can be read as a standalone.
What readers say:
"She's torn between being able to love her son, and being able to love Rufus. Some of what happens is amusing and some is sad, but it all makes for a great story." Amazon reader.
"Great plot and characters. Some tears for those who are sensitive but great enjoyment at the end." Amazon reader.
"Very intriguing Austen-esque novel with well developed characters and story line. The best historical romance novel I've read in a while." Amazon reader.
#4
The Accidental Elopment
2018
During a long English summer, a foundling home lad and an earl's headstrong niece form an unlikely alliance to protect themselves against a young bully. Twenty years later, that same bully threatens to tear them apart.
When Katherine and Jack are unexpectedly reunited many years after their childhood friendship was formed, love blossoms.
But Jack is about to depart for the West Indies and, at barely eighteen, each accepts that the future will take them in different directions.
Katherine is full of hope she will find love and happiness during the London season, while Jack intends to amass a fortune and return to England on a footing equal to the aristocratic bully who once tormented him.
Seven years later, Jack has fulfilled his ambitions, bought a fine estate in Wiltshire, and is returning home. Although betrothed to a beautiful, ambitious heiress, he can't wait to see his old friend and, once back on English soil, immediately seeks out Katherine.
However, Katherine is very different from the hopeful girl he left behind.
Notorious for the scandal she's courted since she eloped the day of Jack's departure, the newly widowed Katherine keeps Jack at a distance.
But Jack knows Katherine better than she knows herself. There must be some hidden reason she's insistent that her Cousin George, the boy who bullied Jack as a child, will be her next husband.
Can Jack and Katherine, pledged to others, break through the lies and secrets of the past seven years to discover the shining hopefulness that characterised their childhood alliance, and allow it to blossom into fully-grown love?
#5
The Honourable Fortune Hunter
2020
Lizzy Scott can’t wait six years for her inheritance.
Heiress to a fortune, the dazzlingly divine Lizzy should be free to make a love match, but her controlling and sadistic guardian, Mrs Hodge, has other plans. She's promised Lizzy to Mr Dalgleish in exchange for a portion of Lizzy's inheritance.
While Lizzy knows Mr Dalgleish is only after her money, he's also her best hope to escape the cruelty of Mrs Hodge's household.
But on her way to meet Mr Dalgleish at Quamby house, Lizzy is rescued by notorious Theodore McAlister, who's been branded a self-seeking fortune hunter following a scandalous incident a year earlier.
Lizzy wonders if she can trade one fortune hunter for the other after sparks fly between her and the humorous and enigmatic Theo.
But Theodore McAlister is no freer than Lizzy when it comes to making a love match. He's preparing for a secret marriage, contracted six months earlier, that will undoubtedly excite the gossips but should ensure his acceptance into polite society.
It looks like Lizzy and Theo are destined for loveless marriages—that is, unless the scandalous Miss Brightwells can come up with another cunning plot to overcome the twin encumbrances of Theo's hidden past and Lizzy's guardian's designs.
Warning: This story contains humour, awkward situations and sizzling encounters.
#6
The Courtship Caper
2020
Widowed Sebastian Wells has spent a year searching tirelessly for the girl he was forced to give up after honour required him to wed another.
When he discovers Venetia working as a lowly companion to the exacting Dowager Duchess Lady Indigo at a Christmas house party he’s attending, their secret rendezvous turns scorching.
But Sebastian’s hostesses, the scandalous Brightwell sisters, have paired him up with a lively, golden-haired debutante they believe will be his perfect match. And this young lady is determined to make everyone believe the lie.
Will honour once again compel Sebastian to act against the desires of his heart?
Previously published in the
Have Yourself a Merry Little Scandal
anthology
#7
The Wilful Widow
2021
1827 ~ A shy seven-year-old’s inventive plan to derail her mother’s fifth wedding causes mayhem at Countess Quamby’s country-house party near Bath.
Another matchmaking tale from the Scandalous Miss Brightwells series!
Wicked and lively Fanny and Antoinette Brightwell have made spectacular marriages—despite scandals and the treachery of a disappointed suitor determined to besmirch their reputations.
Now it’s their children’s turn to play matchmaker after a deserving, much-married baroness waltzes into their orbit – about to marry the wrong man.
Antics abound as three determined youngsters work creatively together to ensure the 5th golden ring that is slipped onto pretty, widowed Baroness Highcliff’s left hand is not from the man she’s due to marry in three weeks.
But will it be from the right man? The one she should have married first?
This sweet tear-jerker second-chance romance reminds us that young hearts and minds are often wiser than we imagine. Get your copy now!
#8
The Gypsy and the Gentleman
2022
Impersonating the cousin of a debutante who is to attend Lady Quamby’s “Instruction in the Art of Graceful Accomplishments”, Tilly finds herself out of her depth when she falls for the man she believes is just the lowly dancing master.
But when their roles are reversed and Tilly discovers Henry is about to inherit an earldom, can she accept his marriage offer in good conscience?
For while Henry is determined that the disparity in their social standing will not prevent their happily-ever-after, Tilly knows something – or someone – who will.
The Gypsy and the Gentleman is Book 8 in the Scandalous Miss Brightwell series but can be read as a standalone.
If you’re in the mood for a steamy, swapped-identities Cinderella-style Regency romance, one-click now!
Author
Beverley Oakley
Author · 30 books
Also writes under Beverley Eikli. Beverley Oakley writes Regency, Victorian and Georgian-set romances full of passion and laced with mystery and intrigue. Born in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, she married the handsome bush pilot she met in Botswana while managing a safari lodge and has spent the rest of her life as a ‘trailing spouse’ doing what she loves most: writing books from sweet to steamy; and from humorous to historical romantic suspense. Here’s more about her series. Daughters of Sin A very steamy, funny, witty and dangerous Regency-set ‘Dynasty’ featuring two nobly-born debutantes and their illegitimate sisters - laced with political intrigue, cheating spouses and, of course, dangerous gentlemen.
- Her Gilded Prison
- Dangerous Gentlemen
- The Mysterious Governess
- Beyond Rubies
- Lady Unveiled: The Cuckold’s Conspiracy (Prequel coming October 2021) The Scandalous Miss Brightwells A humorous, sometimes steamy, matchmaking series – with some books sweeter and more sensual and poignant.
- Rake’s Honour
- Rogue’s Kiss
- The Wedding Wager
- The Accidental Elopement
- The Honourable Fortune Hunter
- The Wilful Widow
- The Courtship Caper Fair Cyprians of London A group of women who work in a high class House of Assignation. Ranging from very steamy to sweet, hopeful redemption stories.
- Saving Grace
- Forsaking Hope
- Keeping Faith
- Wedding Violet
- Christmas Charity
- Loving Lily Hearts in Hiding Historical romantic suspense, very steamy often showing the darker aspects of Regency society, including the dependence and subjugation of women – and how, against the odds, they find their happy-ever-afters.
- The Duchess and the Highwayman
- The Bluestocking and the Rake
- Duchess of Seduction
- The Countess and the Cavalier Scandalous: Three Daring Charades Three sweet, yet intrigue-filled Regency historicals Lady Sarah’s Redemption Lady Olivia’s Butterfly A Little Deception You can connect with Beverley on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBeverl..., or through her website at: www.beverleyoakley.com http://twitter.com/BeverleyOakley https://www.facebook.com/beverley.eikli
