Diana Quincy: The Viscount Made Me Do It

Diana Quincy returns with the second novel in her Clandestine Affairs series featuring a steamy romance between a working class London bonesetter who is dangerously attracted to her mysterious noble client.  

A seduction that could ruin everything . . .

Hanna Zaydan has fought to become London’s finest bonesetter, but her appealing new patient threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard for. With each appointment, the daughter of foreign merchants is slowly seduced by the mysterious former soldier. She’s smart enough to know Griff is after more than he’ll reveal, but whatever it is, the bonesetter’s growing desire for the man just might tempt her to give it to him.

An attraction that cannot be denied . . .

Rumors that he killed his own parents have followed Thomas Ellis, Viscount Griffin, practically since he was a boy. More than a decade after the tragedy, Griff receives a tip about his parents’ killer . . . one that takes him straight to a beautiful bonesetter. Griff is convinced Hanna is a fraud, but she stirs genuine feelings in him that he thought had perished along with his family.

Hanna has a gift for fixing fractured people, but can she also mend a broken heart? More importantly, will Griff let her?

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

CW: death/murder

Second in a series that worked great as a standalone, The Viscount Made Me Do It features a wounded soldier carrying grief from the murder of his parents and a spinster bonesetter who is determined to continue her father’s business.

This was the first Diana Quincy I have read, and I really enjoyed the premise as well as the interesting look at bonesetters (an ancient practice of joint manipulation that now is carried out by chiropractors, osteopaths and physical therapists) and Arab culture.  It was well researched, based in London but away from the whirl of the Season, and featured a mystery element which, although I guessed the villain pretty early on still kept me interested in the “why” and how the heroine was intertwined.

Hanna was a Regency standard spinster age (26) heroine who is focused on her career of bonesetting, a practice she learned from her father and assisted with since she was 11.  Her grandmother and mother would prefer her to settle down and marry, but Hanna dreams of opening a dispensary with a physician to treat middle and lower classes.  I liked how focused and strong she was, against many odds, and also doesn’t take any guff.  Although her family presses her to marry, Hanna is devoted to helping people through healing arts.

Griffin, after receiving a mysterious package, is on the hunt for clues about his parents murder over a decade ago. Griffin is a viscount who was badly injured in a fall from the horse during the war and has really experienced arrested development since the murder of his parents, as many suspect him to be the assailant.

When he goes to see Hanna under the pretense of treatment, sparks fly, and soon enough Hanna is not only curing Griffin but also getting him closer to answers about his parents untimely deaths.

I found this to be an immersive experience, fast paced and and well researched.  My biggest disappointment was the romance sometimes took a backseat to the mystery so that the “feels” and “sparks” weren’t there for me, at least for the romance portion.  However, I did really like Hanna and learning about her profession and some of the challenges facing her.

Griffin also had many likeable qualities, but I do think his arrested development sometimes made him seem two dimensional.  I can’t decide if that was intentional or not.  However, it felt sometimes like Hanna’s attraction or interest in him was purely physical.  However, I did like how supportive he was about her professional dedication and skills and how he starts to realize towards the end how wallowing in his grief has made him neglect many people around him who depend and care about him.

The romance was believable, however, and represented a lot of healthy elements of mutual support, admiration, and attraction.  I can believe, setting this novel down, that the MCs will have a successful relationship rooted in friendship.

I did think the mystery element was well paced with some twists and turns to keep me guessing even though the villain was pretty obvious early on.

The intimate scenes were sex positive and fairly vanilla.

I added a content warning because there is a bit of discussion about people passing and associated grief.  Its not necessarily the main focus of any passages, but its a common theme throughout the book so it may be difficult for those struggling with grief or the murder of parents.  Griffin’s guilt or the general suspicion of him that has led to family alienation is not well developed, but its another element that may be problematic for some readers.  Much of this gets redeemed in the end, but nonetheless the resolution raises a lot of feelings of how a person can really traumatize another person out of self interest.

The Arab culture (sometimes referred by others in the book as Levantine) is beautifully woven into the story and really gives Hanna dimension.  I love reading about my favorite era with new characters, points of view, and historical elements I haven’t explored…and I found this in spades in The Viscount Made Me Do It.

I am super interested to read more from Quincy, who is an #ownvoices author writing diverse historical romance.  I recommend this for readers looking for something a bit different who like a headstrong, spinster heroine and aren’t all about the alpha hero.

4.75 out of 6 Mystery intertwines with this romance between a wounded Viscount and a talented bonesetter

Content Rating/Heat Index
Mature Content
Pre-marital sex, lies, murder, affairs
Intimacy
Several scenes
Violence
Medical descriptions, brief murder recount

Overall
Adult themes, some violence, and intimacy are present.

*A review copy was provided by the Publisher via Netgalley.  No other compensation was provided.