The story line was trope-heavy, which I don't mind and can really enjoy, but I was really surprised Lady Cassia didn't get thrown off the "boat" sooneThe story line was trope-heavy, which I don't mind and can really enjoy, but I was really surprised Lady Cassia didn't get thrown off the "boat" sooner. For someone who bills herself as so unremarkable and average, she certainly ranked well above average in prattling and well below average in ACTUALLY LISTENING. Dear God, you throw yourself into a completely unknown situation and then proceed to tell all the people who hold authority over you that they are wrong? Mind you, Nathaniel was not great at communicating either, given his expectation to be instantly obeyed as captain, but yikes.
The writing style also had a tendency to pull me out of the story, which didn't help. Overall, a big floating disappointment. 2.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, Montlake and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own....more
If revenge is a chess match, what happens when the queen falls for the king?
Lady Ela Dalvi, daughter of the Earl of Marwick, grew up lacking wealth anIf revenge is a chess match, what happens when the queen falls for the king?
Lady Ela Dalvi, daughter of the Earl of Marwick, grew up lacking wealth and self-confidence, and she often hid in the shadow of her best friend, Miss Poppy Landers. But at the age of 15, their friendship fractured over the arrival of a duke's family in the neighborhood -- and the introduction of the handsome young Marquess of Ridley, Keston Osborn, into their lives. Betrayal forced Ela into a bleak boarding school in the north of England for years, where she nursed her heartbreak and plotted her revenge.
Three years later, Ela dons the disguise of a young heiress, Miss Lyra Whitley, and enters London society, determined to play out her strategy of befriending the leading debutante (Poppy) and making the most eligible bachelor (Keston) fall in love with her -- before destroying them both. But what happens when you start to see the pawns in your game as having more worth than you expected?
I've enjoyed some of Howard's previous romance novels, but this first venture into YA books really captured my attention. Billed as "an anti-historical Regency romp" for its many diverse characters and feminist vibe (I love how Ela/Lyra repeatedly ponders smashing the patriarchy), the book combines the revenge theme of The Count of Monte Cristo with some serious Mean Girls scenes. Generally speaking, I don't care for books where girls fight over boys and denigrate each other while they do it, but that theme is (sadly) still realistic for a teen romance, and Howard deftly gives Ela/Lyra the character growth needed to overcome that petty nonsense.
Most of the characters are skillfully written with care and humor, and they get the space to grow through the plot. Poppy, while being the sort of mean girl it's easy to hate, might have benefited from having at least one sympathetic characteristic to make the otherwise excellent ending more believable. (Or not. That might be Howard's point.) I loved all the details used to create more vivid mental pictures of the characters in the reader's mind, such as Ela/Lyra's chaperone's chai and saris, the physical symptoms of Church's illness, and the contrasts between Ela's younger and less confident self and Lyra's captivating presence.
The story alternates between past and present throughout most of the book, building the tension behind Ela/Lyra's motives for revenge and planting the seeds for the eventual showdown at the end of the book. I really liked how Howard used the chess theme throughout the story, both as a way to connect characters as well as to highlight the conflict.
As mentioned by other reviewers, this book will definitely appeal to fans of Bridgerton -- and anyone else who, like me, really loves the recent growth of historical romances featuring people of color as lead characters., And that makes it a perfect fit for the new Joy Revolution imprint at Random House. More of this, please!
Thank you, Joy Revolution/Random House Children's and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own....more
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