Books like Katherine, When She Smiled

I'm the kind of romance reader who can enjoy hot sex between H and h when it's appropriately placed in the story. But I don't like it when the story itself is just a vehicle to allow the H and h to go at it in the backseat, front seat, hood and everywhere else they can think of. So fuddy-duddy me appreciates a reading break from sex that a book like Harmon's gives me.You are warned that this is a 4- to 5-star book to me, but I doubt it would be across the board to all romance readers. If you've enjoyed, in the past, those Signet and Zebra traditional Regencies put out in the 1980s and 1990s, this is perfect for you. You need to enjoy rather quiet, witty low-key humor and romance. A comedy of manners, so to speak.This is Harmon's third full-length Regency novel and fits into their timeline as following the first one (A Feather To Fly With) and its companion novella (Regency Road Trip, a novella), but it occurs chronologically before her second novel (The World's a Stage). You don't have to have read any of her previous work to enjoy this new one, but for those who have read FEATHER, you'll enjoy knowing that Lord Charles, the H of this one, is the younger brother of that one's H, Arthur, Duke of Winton.Charles has been a career soldier. His father had left him an estate outside the lovely little village of Piddledean (!) and the Piddledeanians have been waiting years and years and years for him to come and take up the reins of it. Especially the Piddledeanian young ladies and their parents, who assume Charles must definitely be in need of a wife, preferably one from Piddledean.Meanwhile, our heroine Katherine, a native of Piddledean, is struggling to keep hearth and home together after discovering that her recently-deceased father had been having to supplement their family income by writing Gothick romances. Of all things! Father had been a renowned scholar, an expert in the classics and Homer. But finances are not looking so good and when she discovers a half-finished manuscript in his desk she makes the decision to finish it.Katherine, mind you, doesn't confide in the rest of the family. She's the sensible one and doesn't want them upset, so it's a heavy burden on her young shoulders. And there you are. We have Charles, newly arrived in Piddledean; Katherine with her secrets and her amusing struggle to finish up that Gothick sensation novel; Katherine's suitor, the young vicar; the unexpected visit of Charles' sister and brother-in-law along with a female friend of theirs; Hans, the artist brother of Cleo, h of FEATHER, doing his usual artist thing; Katherine's siblings and aunt; as many Piddledeanians as needed to round out the story, one in particular being Katherine's fair-weather friend whose obsession with marrying leaves no room for friendship anymore.All in all, this is a very entertaining story with great characters and an amusing storyline. It's my favorite so far in the series. I'm hoping Harmon is encouraged to write more and more and more of these little stories