Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Liberated
SERIES: Enlightenment #6
AUTHOR: Joanna Chambers
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 356 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 25, 2026
BLURB:
A dutiful duke-in-waiting
George Asquith knows exactly who he is. The future duke. The responsible heir. The man who will marry well and manage his estates with quiet competence.
He has built his entire life on fulfilling his duty. Ever since one terrible mistake taught him the cost of reaching for what he really wants. Now he shoulders his responsibilities without complaint and keeps his impossible desires locked away.
When George leaves his family estate to attend the lavish wedding of the man he once believed himself in love with, he is resigned to a few days of misery. But then Theo Caldwell turns up. Theo, who George desperately admired as a boy—and who only seemed to despise George in return.
Theo, who betrayed him.
A feckless pleasure-seeker
As the younger son of a spendthrift aristocratic family, Theo Caldwell may have little fortune but at least he has his freedom.
After a lengthy stint abroad, seizing whatever pleasures came his way, Theo has returned to England to claim an unexpected inheritance—an inheritance he plans to sell off before returning to the Continent as soon as possible. But when Theo reluctantly attends a society wedding, his plans are thrown into disarray when George Asquith innocently stumbles upon his deepest and most dangerous secret.
The passionate encounter that follows should only have happened once—George resolved long ago to bury his desires, and Theo never beds the same man twice—but somehow Theo finds himself inviting George to go with him to the dilapidated estate he has inherited, and George finds himself accepting…
REVIEW:
This is my first book in the Enlightenment series, although I am a big Joanna Chambers and Regency fan, so not sure how I never tried this series. This is book #6 and perfectly fine as a stand-alone. We have George, the heir to a dukedom, who is all about duty and being a good person. He has been close friends with Ollie since school, and really wanted more, but Ollie has distanced himself from George. Now Ollie is getting married, to the daughter of a tradesman (the horror!), and wants George to be there. Seriously, you know right from the start that Ollie is a tool. Another school friend, Theo, is also going to the wedding. Theo is the opposite of George. Where George is careful, Theo is reckless. George, an organized planner; Theo, completely spontaneous. Theo does not look to tomorrow, just today. They are so opposite. There is also the idea that George believes Theo betrayed him and Ollie, which had repercussions. Theo was not all that friendly to George at school, “He’d genuinely thought it would do George good to learn to toughen up.” Um, no.
Theo spends all his money traveling, and when he finds out he has inherited a small estate in Wales, he immediately plans to sell it. But first, he is going to attend Ollie’s wedding as a favor to Ollie’s cousin, Piers (a joy!) because guests are refusing, since tradesmen are so below them, no matter how much money they have.
George is such a kind, good-hearted soul. He is treated abominably by Ollie repeatedly. Ollie asked George to leave London when Ollie was searching for an heiress, then has the audacity to tell George later how much he misses him. “You could have come to see me in town….” But George isn’t that easy. “That’s not true..you asked me to leave. How could I return after that?”
Theo can see how poorly Ollie treats George, even at the wedding, where George is seated as the guest of honor near the bride’s father, who boorishly spends hours talking about himself and his money as George is too polite to say anything. Theo saves Ollie then, and again at the wedding breakfast. A chance encounter at a place Theo and George never expected to see each other ends in a very sensual session. With more Ollie BS at the wedding breakfast, Theo can’t take it anymore on George’s behalf. This ends up with an invitation to Theo’s newly acquired estate and in a rare show of adventure, George attends.
It is at Blackfriers, the estate, where Theo starts to realize how he has lived life to this point may not be as wonderful as he thought, and that his focus on the right now has consequences for people outside himself. It was sobering for him, but he slowly starts to think outside of himself.
Not to give anything away, but Mr. Martin broke my heart. And George’s dad, well, George has the Duke, and an incredibly rare, special situation there. Again, no spoilers, but this is probably the first time I’ve read something like this in a Regency book. I loved that.
Something I truly appreciated, the misunderstanding here was believable. It wasn’t contrived to be a plot point, but was something I could see happening, just as it happened. The sex is quick but the realization of feelings takes longer. And every time Ollie shows up, and he does, he made me want to slap him. Luckily, we get to see George come to the realization of the crumbs Ollie offers and that it isn’t enough.
RATING: 
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