NB: Tara Scott is back with another squee-worthy review! If you missed her previous squee of The Liberators of Willow Run, give it a read!

Tara reads a lot of lesbian romances. You can catch her regularly reviewing at The Lesbian Review and Curve Magazine and hear her talk about lesbian fiction (including romance) on her podcast Les Do Books. You can also hit her up for recommendations on Twitter (@taramdscott).

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Sometimes you hear about a book and just know it has to be in your life, and Courting the Countess by Jenny Frame was exactly that for me. A rich girl/poor girl romance with a modern day countess and her housekeeper? Check. Thawing the ice queen (or taming the beast, if you prefer, since this countess is the most delicious butch)? Double check. The countess is also a professor and archaeologist? There aren’t enough checks in the world.

After watching her parents’ garbage fire of a marriage fall apart when she was a kid, Lady Henrietta “Harry” Knight learned a harsh lesson: never fall in love. She’s quite happy with no-strings sex from the women who are equally happy to oblige her, and it lets her focus on the true love of her life, archeology and Roman history. When her father, a truly hateful man, dies, Harry has to take up her position as Countess of Axedale, no matter how little she’s interested in all that it entails. Never one to shirk a promise, especially one made long ago to her grandfather, she takes a year’s sabbatical from her teaching position at Cambridge to restore Axedale Hall to the glory it held before her father’s neglect let it fall to shambles.

Annie Brannigan is the best and most sought-after housekeeper at the agency that employs her, moving from post to post with her 10 year old daughter Riley to take care of the rich and privileged. After so many moves, Riley doesn’t even try to make friends anymore, and Annie is hoping this latest gig in one of England’s oldest stately homes will make her history-loving girl happy. Except Harry isn’t happy to see Riley and is furious that the agency would send a family instead of a single woman. She immediately tries to send them away, and only begrudgingly agrees to let them stay when she learns no one else is available for at least a month.

Annie is like no other woman Harry’s ever dealt with before. She’s thoughtful and kind, yet strong enough to stand up to Harry when she’s being too rigid or pigheaded. She’s an excellent mom to Riley, knowing when and how to advocate for her needs, even going so far as asking Harry to come talk to her if Riley is too much, rather than rebuffing Riley directly. At the same time, Annie clearly has a gift for seeing the good in others, because she also encourages Riley that they need to teach Harry how to love and make friends. She and Riley truly do court that countess in every way that matters and my heart may have made a little leap when Annie baked Harry’s favourite childhood cookies. Riley is a great partner in crime for Annie and I was so pleased that the author made her a fully fledged character that rang true as a precocious child and not some impossibly awful distraction.

Courting the Countess is a gorgeous, perfectly paced romance with a delicious burn to it. As Harry warms up to Annie, she wants to race straight to the bedroom, and Annie’s having none of it. She knows her worth, she’s waiting for true love, and she knows Harry’s the woman for her. But how can it work when the woman for her doesn’t believe in love? Therein lies the angst bomb that had me texting the friend who recommended the book to me, possibly with a lot of caps and exclamation marks. Harry truly transforms by the end of the book, and every second of her journey had me transfixed.

If you’re at all inclined to listen to audio books, I highly recommend picking up the audio version of this one. Nicola Victoria Vincent’s voice is perfect for this story and she truly does it justice. I tried listening to another book after I finished this one, but it ruined me so much that I had to pause the other so I could listen to Courting the Countess again.

I loved everything about this book and I have literally no complaints. If you like the sound of a wonderfully angsty contemporary lesbian romance with a hunky butch countess falling in love with her warm and loving housekeeper, then this is a run, don’t walk. Courting the Countess gave me everything I wanted and more and I can’t wait to read more Axedale books from this author in the future.