This is an odd romance book because another couple that we’ve been following through the firsWild indeed.
Genre: Historical Romance England, regency era
This is an odd romance book because another couple that we’ve been following through the first three books, Sebastian and Esme, gets equal page time. I’ve read romances before that have an A romance and a B romance, but this one felt really like A1 and A2, and because we’ve known Esme and Sebastian longer, as a reader I found myself wanting that A2 romance more often on the pages.
This series has been chaotic so far, with this entry as the most bonkers and also the funniest, where James has hit her stride with the dialogue and banter. I found myself laughing nearly nonstop for the last half of the book with the antics, which can best be described as “bored aristocrats discover feelings and try to find love at a house party.”
There isn’t much direct emotional connection for a reader with Bea and Steven, most likely because we don’t get enough page time to know them. We’ve been with Esme and Sebastian longer, but even still isn’t as much emotional draw. For a reader like me - who doesn’t often need to connect emotionally with a character - it still works because the balance of the character antics truly works. There’s a lot of “does he or doesn’t he like me” in Bea and Steven’s story line, and yet it doesn’t feel like a “hot or cold conflict” because of the emotionally removed tone.
While I’ve been enjoying this series, it’s not the first James I’d recommend you pick up, especially if you prefer a romance novel to have one emotionally invested arc through the book. But if you’re looking for something bonkers and a major change of pace, this book in particular feels like a Shakespearean comedy in full force. (Which is appropriate, since Eloisa James is also a professor of Shakespeare in her non-writing life.) ...more
There's gorgeous subtlety and elegant writing in this late Victorian era romance of class difference. LLG has a strong sense of craft, and her charactThere's gorgeous subtlety and elegant writing in this late Victorian era romance of class difference. LLG has a strong sense of craft, and her character development and plot really reflects that.
Genre: historical romance London, 1896
Evie Harlow has worked herself to the bone to pay off her father’s debts and to start earning money from the small bookshop she inherited at his death. In addition, she takes on side jobs, such as research and consulting for elaborate Epicurean Club dinners at the Savoy for her friend Delia. When Delia’s cousin Max, also Maximillian Shaw, Duke of Westbourne, agrees to help with the next dinner and meets Evie, he sees beyond the tired woman in desperate need of a vacation. Thanks to a few drinks and jibing from some “friends,” Max places a hundred pound bet: in six weeks he can turn Evie into a woman coveted by society. He’ll put her up at the Savoy and Delia will sponsor her entry into Society.
Bookshop Cinderella is brilliant in its subtlety. The writing is elegant and the character development shows off Guhrke’s strong sense of writing craft. The central plot is more Pygmalian than Cinderella, despite its title, and even the glow-up subtle. Max never tries to change Evie, because he already believes she’s beautiful, just tired and overworked. He wants to provide the opportunity for her to shine, and he’s annoyed that the young men he’s charged with keeping an eye on can’t see Evie’s worth.
For all he’s a thirty-two year-old duke elegantly shouldering the expectations of his class, Max is soft and sweet, and more likely than not to put his foot in his mouth. He’s determined not to repeat his past - he married his first wife for love, but she was an American who ultimately eschewed the British aristocracy and wasn’t ever cut out to be a duchess. Her death haunts Max years later, and he can’t help but compare Evie to her, as a woman from a different class to whom he is completely drawn.
Evie must also navigate complicated waters: a businesswoman who has worked tirelessly, now that her debts are paid she feels adrift. This feeling aligns with the return of a dear childhood friend, who her father had hoped she might marry, but who doesn’t see her for what she’s worth. She only agrees to Max’s offer when her bookshop’s boiler bursts and she has nowhere to stay while the damage is repaired. But she also agrees because her contrary nature means she loves proving people wrong. She wants a little adventure, and she’s not a little unswayed by the fine dresses from Max.
Class difference romances don’t always work, but Guhrke builds a case over the course of the novel as to why this one would: Max has already experienced a failed marriage with a class difference. Older and wiser, he thinks first to avoid the debacle, but starts to reconsider not only as he’s falling in love with Evie, but when she continues to amaze him with her ability to learn new things and her competence and business sense. Both characters profess their concerns again and again that it couldn’t work, all while Guhrke shifts the story in their favor, and making it clear that this isn’t just a happily for now.
The beauty in Guhrke’s writing is in the fact that she never over explains or tries to force her characters into a trope or theme. It’s gentle and subtle, and the sort of novel an avid historical romance reader will adore and appreciate.
Thank you to Forever and Netgalley for an eARC for review. Bookshop Cinderella is out TODAY 6/20/23. ...more
Genre: historical romance, Gilded Age New York, 1895
On a moonlight swim at the house party first featured in book one, Nellie Young encounters a strangGenre: historical romance, Gilded Age New York, 1895
On a moonlight swim at the house party first featured in book one, Nellie Young encounters a stranger in the dark. A brief encounter - a rough and passionate kiss - leaves both Nellie and the stranger shaken even more when they discover the next day he is the Duke of Lockwood who is about to propose to her best friend Maddie. (Read book one for how that shakes out). Angry that Lockwood is the sort of man who would betray a woman he is courting, Nellie sends jabs his way and steers each of her friends, Maddie, Alice, and Katherine, away from Lockwood. But Andrew Talbot, Duke of Lockwood cannot keep his mind from Nellie, despite the fact that he must marry an heiress of incomparable standing and Nellie attracts scandal wherever she goes.
I had already fallen for Lockwood and Nellie separately in books one through three, so watching them fall for one another was magnetic. Because I didn’t pick up book one in this series until I had the ARC of book four in hand, I’ve known through every book that poor Lockwood was going to be thrice jilted and that Nellie was the one for him. Externally starchy and polite, as is proper for an English duke in search of an heiress, my heart always squeezed a little for him in each of the other books. With Duke Gets Even, we see inside his head, and he is anything but starchy. He craves that which can make him feel alive, and obviously that is Nellie. Nellie is half-Irish, and her late mother’s family runs the Saints, an Irish gang out of Hell’s Kitchen, and her brazen attitude is linked in part to society’s refusal to accept her mother.
But honestly I was truly in this one for the politics. Challenges to late 19th century reproductive rights aren't all that different from challenges now, and Shupe gives us a well-written history lesson we all need. Nellie’s fiery personality is implicitly linked to her firm belief in her right to choose what happens with her body (and her right to choose with whom and when), and standing up to the Comstock Laws is something she doesn’t give a second thought to.
Bonus, this has what is now one of my favorite grand gestures. I can’t say more to keep this review spoiler free, but it fits so perfectly. Once you read it, please come gush in my DMs with me!
Thank you to @avonbooks and #netgalley for an eARC for review. This book is out 1/24/23, and I highly recommend the whole series (probably in order) in advance. ...more
Loading...
