Well, this is a load of fun.

All’s Fair in Love and War is a promising start to Virginia Heath’s latest series which revolves around Miss Prentice’s School for Girls, which ‘finishes’ young ladies in respectable ways for jobs in the real world. It’s got mischievous kids, a lovable but impossible dog (NORBERT!), a hero who’s trying to be honorable, damn it, and a heroine who is smart, determined, and independent. Plus, there’s enough sexual chemistry to blow the door off a barn.

Harry Kincaid is an ex-captain straight from Nelson’s navy who now finds himself tasked with the temporary raising of his sister Flora’s three children, Felix, Marianne and Grace Pendleton (and their enormous, unruly dog, Norbert) when she and her husband head off on an Egyptian expedition. Harry is not a natural with either children or dog, and decides what the household needs is a governess. Miss Prentice’s School provides him with recent graduate Georgina Rowe. Unfortunately, Georgie is not the antidote to chaos Harry was hoping for.

Georgie’s child-rearing philosophy is the antithesis of the order-bound household Henry wants. Partially inspired by the cold upbringing she herself was subjected to as the daughter of a military man, she becomes determined to introduce joy and laughter to the Pendleton children. Harry is aghast and thinks her a terrible nanny – until Georgie’s life force begins to bring him around, and her methods work wonders on the children. And he starts thinking of wild oats and the sewing of them. But it would be improper for him to lie with the governess, would it not? Sunshine versus grumpy: who will survive?

If you smell a whiff of The Sound of Music – only way more erotically charged – here, then you are not alone. All’s Fair in Love and War absolutely reminded me of Maria’s battle to get Captain von Trapp to see his children as people instead of members of the military – and how she captures his heart along the way.

The romance in the book is steamy and filled with tension, but I have to call out the final act for doing a number of ridiculous things that dragged the grade down a bit. I can’t spoil it for obvious reasons but it feels as though Heath is straining to find a reason for Harry and Georgie to avoid formalizing their relationship. It’s too bad because the off-kilter union was enchanting.

As always with Virginia Heath, the supporting characters are amazing – the students at the school, the children and even the butler are all interesting people well worth spending time on.

All’s Fair in Love and War made me absolutely excited to see what’s up next for this group of enterprising young women – which is the best compliment I can give any romance series.