Book Review Genre: Historical Romance
Disclaimer: Reading is all about exploring new worlds, but this Book Review does not shy away from spoiling specific scenes as this is more of a look inside the good and bad of a book.
The Analysis:
This book was part of a pack of three through a Harlequin subscription. I chose these three out of the selections because the blurbs for these were the most interesting. But first, follow me on Goodreads.
Here’s The Blurb:
Scandal and secrets abound in this sexy Regency romance!
Seeking a sensible husband
Tempted by a dissolute rogue…
Debutante of the season Esther Barrington-Hall is looking for a steadfast, responsible husband after her dreadful childhood with her destitute mother. Aristocrat Oliver Moreland is a notorious rake and Esther knows it would be wrong to give up her newfound life of safety for a man like him. But he is exciting and undeniably attractive. And dangerous, too. Because he is the one man in society who knows about her past…
Cover Critique:
The model on this cover is gorgeous. It’s a nice addition to any bookshelf.
Now The Story:
Book Info:
Pages: 288
Author: Sophia James
Available: Google Play
This book review left me with a lot of thoughts. The heroine clearly had a harrowing childhood and adolescents. She had finally gotten through it to attend her coming out with her uncle and auntie. Two people who were smart, supportive, and encouraging. All she needs is to follow the rules and she’ll bag a husband with money, who is also kind. It’s a slim chance at love, but it’s a chance.
Then enters the hero. The typical bad boy. He’s shown to have moments of care, concern, and understanding. Yet, his life is also chaotic. He doesn’t get along with his brother. The man tried to shoot him. He sleeps around with unattached women. I see his charm.
[Bias (in fairness to book review): Some of this may be due to my own personal experience. When you grow up in the darkness, you don’t want to play around the edges with a bad boy. This matters for this book because the author has done a good job of selling the reader on the perils of her past.]What irked me a bit was the quick shift. She has options for her hand in marriage. One guy seemed to rise above the rest because he was super sweet and attentive. Sure, it’s unique and he put extra thought into it. But, the hero ain’t done much beyond the bare minimum of sending flowers. So, why was she immediately bad-mouthing the old guy? Oh, he boring and this and that. Cool, but can the hero do more before we decide that his brand of chaos needs to be her brand of chaos. I’m not even sure what I want but it’s more than some flowers and 2 mins of convo at a party twice. I think I need proof even on a preliminary basis that his chaos can be tamed enough to give her stability. And I’m not really seeing that answer. I’m just seeing his charm, which he got in spades. But it’s not enough in the iteration of this story.
He doing his bad boy thing with a heart of gold. He gave money to orphans. It’s giving very much, how can you hate him? He was also shot. Now granted, it might be by some less than desirable. But I’m struggling to see him as marriage material.
So, what caused my stone-cold heart to crack? He said: I want you to like me. Then he got hit in the nose. But physical violence aside, it was the realist thing I felt he said the whole book, up until that point. It was sweet and it showed a genuine concern for someone else’s opinion. It won me over. He was being real. He was more than the bad boy with a heart of gold. And this was definitely the author’s intent.
However, eye roll moments still persisted. Like the moments where the heroine drolled on and on about the heroes quiet virtues, and how unfair it was that no one sees his heart. Like sis, that’s kind of the point. You’re the only one who sees his heart, purposefully. You can’t rightly blame everyone else for their assessment when they’ve seen nothing else. And she knows this, but still, I’m side-eyeing her.
Enter a third love interest. My first thought was she could be spending more time with the hero, forget all this. But this one proved to be even better than the first. Kind, sweet, and he checked off everything she wanted in a partner. Until he kisses her. She’s suddenly reminded of her mother and her many Johns. She’s instantly panicked and disgusted by the idea of being intimate with the man. He picks up on her hesitation and interprets it as virgin jitters and is actually quite kind in how he responds to that if not a tad aggressive.
But this upset me too and I’ll tell you why. We were learning about her intimacy issues with less than 15% (guestimation) left in the book. The heroine’s feelings were not only plausible but relatable. It was just too late to give it, its proper time. It certainly didn’t help that all of a sudden she had a ton of reasons to hate option three. It made me wonder if any of her feelings were ever genuine or if she just hated option three because he wasn’t the hero. In which case that wasn’t totally fair to the guy. Especially when the intimacy issues in particular magically disappeared with one kiss from the hero.
At some point during this magic courtship with the other guy, she considers how little she knows about the toxic relationship between the hero and his brother. These musings serve to remind me of what little she knows about the man, period. And it makes me wonder how I’m going to be able to root for them as a couple.
Elsewhere, our hero was getting news that his inheritance was in jeopardy. He had made plenty of money through his own investments outside the family jewels, but it was the principal. It forced a truce and tentative understanding between him and his brother. But to save the manor along with their legacy, he has to get married and produce an heir. This disappointed me greatly. For me, I badly needed him to come around to the idea of love and marriage on his own. And he sort’ve did, but it was like this asterisk on the marriage.
The truth of the heroine’s past is revealed to everyone in court. Her family swarms around her in love and support, which is truly lovely to see. But option number three turns into a complete douche just like option two. It’s not fair to rewrite another author’s story, but I can’t help but think the author could have kept the man good and had him leave her for being dishonest. Not because he was necessarily worried about his reputation. After all, she was lying to large swathes of the population. No need to prop up the bad boy by making everyone else look dirty.
The hero rushes to her rescue and marries her after she was discarded with no other options. This initial arrangement leaves everyone at a loss. But it’s the hero, who tries to bring them through it together. I found it endearing, actually. And I credit him with being the first honest one. But I also found myself screaming at the page, talk. He was pouring out his heart and she was giving him nothing in one-sentence answers. She was thinking all these nice things but offering nothing to assuage his fraught feelings. My thoughts on this: this must be the most historical thing I’ve ever read because she staying in her place and staying quiet, smh.
So I tossed back and forth about 3 or 4 stars and eventually opted for 4 because I truly enjoyed the moment they got together. Not because I necessarily thought they should be together. I’m not sure I was sold on that. But because they were both lovely people and I wanted them to be happy and that meant being in each other’s arms. Plus, I was invested in their end whatever it turned out to be.
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Book Review At A Glance:
Recommendation: 4 out of 5
Book Cover Appeal:
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Story & Narration:
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Romance:
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Character/(s) Personality:
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