Proper Romance Regency Series
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Sowerby, England, 1802
Miss Genevieve Wilde—a magistrate’s daughter and independent heiress—is determined to meet life’s challenges all on her own, just as her late-father had taught her. So when her father’s pocket watch is stolen, she will do anything to get it back, especially when the local authorities prove incompetent.
Upon reading an advertisement in the paper, she takes a chance and contacts a thief-taker to find the watch. It’s a choice Ginny regrets when former Bow Street officer Jack Travers arrives on her doorstep. He is frustratingly flirtatious, irritatingly handsome, and entirely unpredictable, and Ginny wonders if she’ll be able to resist such a man.
But after Ginny discovers that the missing watch is just a small part of a larger, more frightening plot against her, she needs Jack’s help more than ever. To protect her home and her reputation, the two enter into a risky charade—pretending Jack is her cousin so he can begin his investigation, starting with the household staff. As they work together to unravel the mystery, Ginny finds herself falling fast for her charismatic thief-taker, leaving her heart in just as much danger as her life.
Joanna Barnes’ splendidly-told Regency Romance, A Heart Worth Stealing, is sweet yet gripping, satisfying yet frustrating, and well-paced yet breathtaking, all in the best ways. Romance sometimes happens in the most unusual of circumstances and between two of the most unlikely people, and when it does, sparks fly, and thus, a remarkable story is born.
Genevive Wilde is very much her own person with a lot to prove when her father dies unexpectedly, leaving her to manage Windborne estate on her own, which she is determined to do. When she doesn’t receive assistance from the local magistrate she deems sufficient to retrieve her father’s stolen pocket watch, a precious keepsake, she hires a thief taker to assist in its recovery.
To her surprise, the thief taker, or special investigator as he prefers, is not at all what she expected. Jack Travers and his dark curls and piercing blue eyes are frustratingly handsome and irksomely always right.
Genevive’s strong personality and desire to prove herself clashes with Mr. Travers’s experience and skills in their pursuit of the thief, which turns into a much larger undertaking as several nefarious incidents targeting Windborne seem to be linked.
Throughout the twists and turns of the plot and the inescapable relationship developing between Genevive and Jack, the question remains whether they will be able to retrieve the watch, but most importantly, will they both survive the encounter and discovery of the unexpected villain?
This excellently crafted plot is fully engrossing with its winsome characters and the sometimes dangerous quest that brings them so brilliantly together only to threaten to tear them apart. Quite a charming and exciting read.
Well-written and perfectly paced, A Heart Worth Stealing by Joanna Barnes is a delectable treat with vivid and striking characters, witty banter, and a plot that leaves you guessing and surmising until the very end. 
Joanna Barker firmly believes that romance makes everything better, which is why she has fallen in love with writing Regency romances. When she’s not typing away on her next book, she’s listening to podcasts, eating her secret stash of chocolate, or adding things to her Amazon cart. Joanna’s books have received praise from Publishers Weekly, the Historical Novel Society, Readers’ Favorite, and more. She thinks being an author is the second-best job in the world—right after being a mom. She is just a little crazy about her husband and three wild-but-loveable kids.
