The Muse of Maiden Lane

By: Mimi Matthews

Narrated by: Stewart Crank, Zara Hampton-Brown

A 2024 BookBub Best Historical Romance!
One of Parade's Best New Books of November 2024!
One of Amazon's and Apple's Best Romance Books of November 2024!

A silver-haired equestrienne and a charismatic artist turn a scandalous bargain into a vibrant portrait of love.

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist—and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother’s pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic…like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who’s ever really seen her.

Aspiring painter Edward “Teddy” Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist’s model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He’ll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience.

After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella’s luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture….

Critic reviews

Praise for Mimi Matthews

“Shiveringly Gothic…For best effect, save this one for a windy night when trees scrape against the windowpanes.”—New York Times Book Review on The Belle of Belgrave Square

“Mimi Matthews never disappoints.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"No one writes Victorian romance like Mimi Matthews."—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author

“Mimi is truly a national treasure. All of her books are filled with such delicious chemistry and heart, and her writing is superb.”—Isabel Ibañez, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Mimi Matthews just doesn’t miss."—Evie Dunmore, USA Today bestselling author

"An effortlessly elegant slow-burn romance."—Kirkus, starred review

"Full of both wit and heart, this is another winner from Matthews."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Matthews builds the romance as skillfully as Teddy layers the brushstrokes in his paintings. Balancing witty banter and historical detail and practical concerns about living with a disability, Matthews renders a romance that’s both realistic and as luminous as the starlight—and the woman—Teddy loves."—Shelf Awareness

This brought me joy!

A lovely conclusion to a beautifully written series. I think too, this might have been my favorite. Mimi does it again! 💕

not great, but good

The story would have been a lot better if the female voice hadn't have been so ridiculous. When she was speaking as a man, I outright laughed at how fake it sounded. I don't know how I got through it. I love that those with disabilities were included.

Stars and light

This book features the fourth of the four horsewomen, Stella, the one with the gray hair. She meets Teddy, the younger brother of Alex from the Parish Orphans series. I loved how the two series interconnected. Teddy is an artist and he admires Stella for who she is. It’s a lovely story, beautifully narrated. Highly recommended!

My favorite in the series!

This one seemed to have the most romance and swoon which I loved. The narrators were great except when the female narrator spoke as Teddy. But I still couldn't put it down. Finished it in one day.

Narration Distracting

I love all of Mimi Matthews books but I did not care for the narration on this one. The back-and-forth between the two narrators was distracting. The male voice was good, and I wish he had read the entire book. The female voice was cheesy when she tried to imitate Teddy‘s voice that didn’t match the male counterpart. It was distracting enough to me to abandon the narration and just finish reading the book myself.

Without flare or drama

This is the second story of Mimi's that lacks sparkle, I'm very sorry to say, as she is one of my absolute favorite authors. I know Mimi can write excellent drama, but this story just fell flat, nothing happened in it, there was essentially no real conflict or resolution, nothing to get invested in. Hoping for more exciting books to come.

5 Stars for the love story!

Tenderly sensual and swoony, The Muse of Maiden Lane invites readers to embark on a soul-stirring journey of love, yearning, and resilience. Teddy and Stella’s thoughtful and emotionally rewarding romance will undoubtedly sweep readers off their feet. A supremely satisfying series finale that feels more like a new beginning. What happens when you raise the stakes of a marriage of convenience? Read and find out!

I loved this story when I first read it. However, when I reread via audio, the listening experience was frustrating. It took a few hours for my ears to adjust to the two narrators. Both narrators were good individually, But their voices are very different, and consequently, the same characters sounded quite different. This is one of those audiobooks I wish had a single narrator.

Love the emotion and attention to detail

Wonderful story full of emotion and attention to detail. As a disabled woman, it’s nice to find a story with a main character who is disabled and portrayed as a very strong and capable individual.

Delightful and heartwarming

The story of Teddy and Stella seemed to be a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait! I loved that Teddy saw Stella’s beauty from the first time he set eyes on her and that Stella was drawn to Teddy without ever seeming to hesitate at his disability/limitations. Their attraction was dynamic.

They are young, but seem to have a level of maturity that has come perhaps from the limitations that were set on each of them. Teddy and Stella long for freedom and are rankling at their own personal “prisons.” In choosing a marriage of convenience they are actually choosing freedom.

However, I love that this is not truly a typical marriage of convenience since both of their hearts are already engaged. It is heartwarming also to see that Stella is able and willing to push past Teddy‘s insecurities and walls, creating more than a physical bond between them.

This was a delightful story and the day after I finished reading it, I am still thinking about it. As always, the characters are so well drawn that I feel like I know them and I’m still wondering about them. I love that they have each other.

The one thing I will say, and this is obviously a personal preference, is that I felt there was an intentional lack of spiritual acknowledgment in them as individuals and as a couple. In other words, the various links and situations that brought them together seemed to me to be God ordained and yet this was never acknowledged, and, in fact, had me feeling that this was a missing element in their relationship. I don’t expect this story to be religious in any way, as that’s not its purpose, but I felt the lack of it in this particular story and in their relationship — since we are eternal beings, and somehow Stella and Teddy spoke to that in me.

I highly recommend this book and since I was able to listen to some of it on Audible, I can highly recommend the narration as well.

Where Is Alex Wyndham when a story needs him?

I don't get the appeal of two narrators. For me, it is very distracting and jarring. So that being said... this story was not enhanced by the narrators. Both were good. But not quite as good as one narrator narrating the entire book. I was looking forward to Teddy's story and catching up on the Parish Orphans. And I know that I am whining, but Alex Wyndham has been narrating most of the Orphan series... so for me, the consistency of Alex Wyndham as narrator would have been the sound choice to tell Teddy's story. Mr Wyndham absolutely enhances the experience. I often re-listen to stories because for the most part the stories are more enjoyable the second time around. I will not be re-listening to any of the stories in this series.