A Gentlemans's Gentleman by T.J. Alexander

This made it on to the 100 Notable Books of 2025 list by the New York Times--I like this list because it is robust. One hundred books is a lot of books, more than most people read in a year, and so it gets away from being too reductive. This is a romance, but with a few twists. Lord Christopher Eden is a a man of unusual habits for someone of his class: he prefers to live in the countryside, and would rather have the comfortable company of his childhood cook and his aged butler than a swarm of servants. His pleasant, if lonely, life is upended when he receives word from his lawyers that, according to his late father’s will, he must find a wife by his next birthday if he intends to keep his family’s fortune and the Eden estate. Christopher is appalled-- he isn’t attracted to women, his chances of making a wife happy are slim. Furthermore, if his quest to marry has any hope of succeeding, he must move to London posthaste and acquire some more suitable staff. Enter James Harding, Christopher’s new, distractingly handsome—if rigidly traditional—valet. After a rocky start, the two strike up a fragile friendship and make their choices.