Review: Lord Pretender by Sawyer North

The Lord Pretender
(Red Lion Ladies #1)
by Sawyer North
Publisher: Entangled
Publication date: June 20, 2022
Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance
Rating:

Step 1: Come up with the perfect plan
Emma Watts was almost the perfect lady. That is, until her father joined the notorious Prometheans’ Club and gambled away all her prospects. Now, cast out of society, and with only her name intact, Emma will do what a young, intelligent lady can when she is thwarted by circumstance. Take revenge, of course. And the gentlemen’s club, including its members, is first on the list…

Step 2: Find your target
Simon, the Earl of Blackburn, the most prominent member of the Prometheans, knows firsthand how dangerous a wily woman with an agenda can be; after all, his mother is the most devious of the species. But a string of chance encounters with a charming and breathtaking stranger leads him to reconsider.

Step 3: Then watch your plans go beautifully to pieces
Upon learning that a mystery woman is digging up dirt on his club brothers, Simon volunteers to uncover her identity and ruin her by any means necessary. But all it takes is a nasty thunderstorm to completely switch Emma’s and Simon’s lives. Their perspectives aren’t the only things that change though, when they wake up in each other’s bodies…

Emma’s father disgraced the family when he gambled away all the family fortune. Now an outcast, Emma is on a mission to bring down the very club that saw to his demise. However, when she comes face to face with the most prominent member of the Promethean’s club, lightening strikes and they switch bodies. Unsure how to switch back, they are forced to pretend to be the other while they figure out how to switch back.

This story sounded like a lot of fun. Not only is it a historical romance revolving around revenge, but then you add the paranormal aspect of switching bodies and it just sounds like a good time. However, I had a very hard time with this story. It was just so slow moving. Things don’t really take off until about the halfway point. The first half is just Emma going on and on about how the Promethean’s were to blame for her father’s gambling problem. I just wasn’t really a huge fan of Emma’s if I’m being honest. With that being said, the story did pick up for me once they switched bodies and started to actually see the life the other person lives. That was when I felt like the story really started to get interesting. From Emma going to boxing day (where the members box each other) to Simon getting his first period. Those were the moments that I found most interesting and kept me reading.

While the first half of the story was a bit slower than I would like, I did find the story as a whole interesting. I do wish that there was actually a romance in this story and maybe more time spent in the swapped bodies, though. I think anyone who is looking for a historical read with a paranormal twist might find this story to their liking.