This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
A Reckless Match is the first book in the "Ruthless Rivals" series and this has been an author that I have been wanting to get to. She has really become pretty hyped in the last year and I was curious to see how her books would be for me especially with so many influencers raving about her writing. And this writing was fun to read and I do plan on reading her more for sure. The dialogue has a slight hint of modernisms though so keep that in mind if you are curious about this one. But I had a fun time with the banter, and it didn't feel too modern as a whole and I still enjoyed it. It was far from a perfect read but it was delightful and a great diversion type of read and I can see why many enjoy this author if her other books are written like this one is.

First Line
It Started With a Pig

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Earl of Powys, Gryff Davies
War hero, oldest of the Davies group and his father recently has passed and the Earldom has fallen to him.

The Heroine:Madeline Montgomery
Interests in Archaeology, devoted daughter and strong and with a touch of sassiness to her

Summary
Maddie and Gryff grew up hating each other and playing tricks on one another as children due to the family feud that has existed between their families for centuries. When they do their yearly meet on the bridge that combines their families lands, something more sparks between them and they share a kiss that rattles them both. Through a course of events, they stumble across a smuggling plot in their area, they work together to bring it down and in the process start to fall in love with each other despite how much they try to fight their feelings for each other. But is there any way for them to find a happy ending when their families have hated each other for years?

What I Loved
As family feud romances go, this story wasn't the worst and it had some delicious banter to go along with the story. I was really intrigued by their relationship because even though there was a sense of animosity there was also a sense of respect for each other. I really enjoyed how these two have a dialogue with each other and it was different than I was expecting. It had a twist of animosity, laughter and respect. It was really delightful to see how these two interact with one another. They both have some chemistry that builds between them. I wouldn't necessarily call this a spicy romance lol its definitely more of a slow burn which is what you will normally have when dealing with a family feud situation. There was a sense that their match would be slightly forbidden, but that aspect wasn't heavy at all so it was kinda confusing that their families would just fall in line with them being together. I did enjoy seeing our hero fight for the heroine and the relationship. The smuggling plot was really fascinating and the author did very well with that aspect and I appreciated it dearly. I loved the sense of enemies to friends to lovers that this story turned into. And this type of story is the style of enemies to lovers that I enjoy. There isn't really a true hate between them, you can sense how much they admire each other even from the beginning and the chemistry starts very early on and I was engaged easily with this story and I really flew through it.

What I Struggled With
So I have read quite a few of family feuds and to be honest they are one of my favorite types of enemies to lovers dynamics you can see in a romance. However, I wasn't a fan of how this was resolved in the end to be honest. And the ending just felt rushed. I would have liked to see a bit more of a reaction to the family when they decide to get married. But it was basically they tell each other they love each other and then want to get married and then there was the epilogue lol It just didn't feel that satisfying to me and I would have liked the last stretch of the story to be a bit more fleshed out. Also the heroine running away in the third act because she loves the hero, that didn't make any sense to me. She was all for the hero and then just goes cold with him, no wonder he was confused lol I would have liked to see her be willing to fight for their relationship like he was willing to. It just felt a bit one sided in some aspects.

Overall View
A Reckless Match was a delightful twist of supsense, heated rivalry and slow built tension that was delicious and engaging! A TRUE DELIGHT!

Favorite Quote(s)
Love and hate just were two sides of a very thin coin, after all. Combining them might prove truly spectacular

For her part, she had the sneaking suspicion that what they’d shared would have a lasting effect on her, just like the lightning. Only instead of scars upon her arm, Gryff Davies would leave an indelible mark upon her heart.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance, Regency Era
Character Types: Military, Archaelogy
Themes: Angst, Childhood Ties, Slow Burn, Family Feud
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
A Mix of both

Song This Book Inspires
Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Recommendation For Reading Order
Yes

Steam/Spice Explanations

Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments. ( )

An ancient feud was put to rest with a handshake. A handshake each year from a member of each family cemented the truce. But this year the Davies were late. Or so Madeline Montgomery hoped. With minutes to spare, it was not to be as her nemesis rode into sight. The new Earl of Powys.

Tension simmers amongst their wants. Maddie could not trust although she desperately wished to know more about the mischievous boy who once taunted her that is now very much a man. Including herself on a mission meant for one, Gryff’s gentlemanly advances turn to more as they are outed with Maddie unchaperoned. But it can never be, for a Davies and Montgomery could never be civil to another. Or could they?

Bateman tells a sweet tale of a family feud put to rest with the unlikely union many fathers would not approve. Yet Maddie and Gryff are about to embark upon a very un-regency match of old. The first book of The Ruthless Rivals set the stage. I want to read more from this talented author.

I received this book as an advance review copy free from NetGalley . I have read and reviewed this book voluntarily.
--Brenda, JustViews ( )

A Reckless Match was a fun enemies to lovers regency romance. It's fast pace and enjoyable characters made it a fun read and had me always saying just one more chapter. I absolutely couldn't put it down. ( )

Surprisingly fresh and a little different, this novel is a pretty good start to a new historical romance series. Interesting characters, a fun adventure, and sweet romance. Look forward to the next one in the series. For historical romance fans.

Net Galley Feedback ( )

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. There was a lot I enjoyed about this book, and I look forward to the others in the series. I received an advance copy to review, but my opinions are entirely my own. Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the opportunity regardless.

I'm a bit wary of enemies to lovers stories honestly, sometimes the characters spend nearly the entire book being absolutely horrible to each other, only to suddenly 'see them in a different light' near the end and claim to have actually been in love the whole time, or some such rubbish. I don't care for it. But, I can totally work with the Romeo and Juliet/rival clans vibe, so there's definitely some overlap between the two. This felt more like 'worthy opponents to lovers' or something, which was a lot more fun and less angsty in my opinion.

I liked that it was two feuding families on the Welsh/English border, and that there was lots of opportunity for them to be thrust together despite their personal 'opposition' to each other. A couple of the future couples were set up well in this book without hijacking the story. And the heroine wasn't helpless which I appreciate. There were also some definite cute parts, and I laughed out loud quite a bit, especially in the beginning.

The drawbacks were that the pacing lagged at times, and it seemed like, (though I did not count), the heroine had three chapters from her perspective for every one that was told from the hero's. (I personally typically enjoy the perspectives from the heroes more, so this might be less of a drawback for others. And I did particularly enjoy the hero's in this book. Still, it didn't seem well balanced to me). The characters were generally likable, but the heroine was a bit daft at times especially near the end. And also near the end, the hero would seem like he'd come to realise his true feelings and desires regarding the heroine and might begin to take steps toward that or something, but then the next moment he would think or say something that made me realize he hadn't actually fully grasped the situation yet after all. And it happened multiple times. I felt like I kept starting to give him credit for catching on ahead of the game, and then having to take it away again. None of the issues were enormous, and may even be smoothed out before the final draft. But they interrupted my otherwise enjoyable reading experience. ( )