Friday Memes: The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Evelyn Maltravers entered the dimly lit shop on Conduit Street. The modest sign above the door proclaimed the names and trades of the proprietors: Messrs. Doyle and Heppenstall, Tailors.

Friday 56:

"I beg your pardon, Miss Maltravors," he said. "This is my dance, I believe."

In other circumstances, she might have been flattered. Mr. Hartford cut a dashing figure. He was healthy and handsome, standing head and shoulders over most of the men in the ballroom.

He was also dangerous.

This week I am spotlighting The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews. This is a historical romance from my review stack. Here's the description from Amazon:

Victorian high society’s most daring equestrienne finds love and an unexpected ally in her fight for independence in the strong arms of London’s most sought after and devastatingly handsome half-Indian tailor.

Evelyn Maltravers understands exactly how little she's worth on the marriage mart. As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, she knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making the biggest splash in the one sphere she excels: on horseback. In haute couture. But to truly capture London's attention she'll need a habit-maker who's not afraid to take risks with his designs—and with his heart.

Half-Indian tailor Ahmad Malik has always had a talent for making women beautiful, inching his way toward recognition by designing riding habits for Rotten Row's infamous Pretty Horsebreakers—but no one compares to Evelyn. Her unbridled spirit enchants him, awakening a depth of feeling he never thought possible.

But pushing boundaries comes at a cost and not everyone is pleased to welcome Evelyn and Ahmad into fashionable society. With obstacles spanning between them, the indomitable pair must decide which hurdles they can jump and what matters most: making their mark or following their hearts?