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mariamistry's review
5.0
4.5 stars
Would have been perfect if not for the hiccups near the end. Witty and sweet, a nice reintroduction to HRs.
Would have been perfect if not for the hiccups near the end. Witty and sweet, a nice reintroduction to HRs.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Sort of like a Rossini opera with a mezzo singing one of the pants roles. Harriet gets props for learning to fence. I almost took away a star because the nonsense about Villiers was getting ridiculous as was yet another scene of someone almost dying of a fever.
winterreader40's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Harriet is so tired of her people feeling sorry for her because her husband committed suicide so she decides to accompany her friend Isadore to Lord Strange's never ending house party, but it's decided that she will be going as a man and they will be escorted by the Duke of Villiers.
Jem is a bit worried about his instant mild attraction to the young man that Villiers brought with him, he's never swung that way before, but he agrees to take the young man under his wing as Villiers is still fairly weak after being ill for months. Spending more time with the young man doesn't help his attraction either but Harry(harriet) is having a grand time with the freedoms afforded to men as well as the clothes.
This is my favorite of this series so far, I liked that she stayed in disguise for much of the book and that it wasn't him but his daughter that she fell in love with first.
Harriet is so tired of her people feeling sorry for her because her husband committed suicide so she decides to accompany her friend Isadore to Lord Strange's never ending house party, but it's decided that she will be going as a man and they will be escorted by the Duke of Villiers.
Jem is a bit worried about his instant mild attraction to the young man that Villiers brought with him, he's never swung that way before, but he agrees to take the young man under his wing as Villiers is still fairly weak after being ill for months. Spending more time with the young man doesn't help his attraction either but Harry(harriet) is having a grand time with the freedoms afforded to men as well as the clothes.
This is my favorite of this series so far, I liked that she stayed in disguise for much of the book and that it wasn't him but his daughter that she fell in love with first.
pattydsf's review against another edition
3.0
My sixteenth romantic read written by James. I just fall into her stories and emerge when I get to the last page. What a wonderful break from reality.
riskyduck's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, I'm ambivalent.
Basically, Harriet feels like a boring, dumpy widow. Her husband cared more about chess than her, so she's inexperienced with sex/real love (shocking). Luckily, her friend wants to go to a risque house party to lure her husband back to England. With the help of her duke/duchess friends, Harriet becomes Harry and they all go to Strange's.
On one hand, the first half of this book is highly entertaining. Harry's enjoying her "man freedom" of riding, fencing, dallying, and breeches. Meanwhile, her "man mentor" Jem goes uber manly trying to stop Harry from being so damn effeminate. Then maybe he won't keep get these strange feelings around Harry... Basically, it was a well done gender switching romp.
I also appreciated all the details James included to make Harriet's deception more plausible. It wasn't like, "Bound my chest, threw on some pants and BAM, let's go."
My main problem is that you don't feel engaged with the characters. It's more like watching a play, and once the big reveal was over, the two characters got a bit dull. I never got a real feel for either of them (Jem more than Harriet) and once they started acting badly, I didn't care. I didn't really understand why Jem was angry...it felt like the expected fight for plot purposes.
The ending was bleh. Jem basically gives everything about himself up. I would have been nice to see his eccentricity and engineering come through with him. Plus Harriet is all too ready to give up everything from the past weeks and be the perfect duchess again. It all rang false.
I did get a bit tired of hearing Harriet saying over and over how wonderful it is to be a man. But really, she can do all those things as a woman too, it's just she didn't have the guts unless it was in guise. And I find it hard to believe she was never seriously offended/disgusted. She's a pretty protected innocent widow, and men are men.
The precocious child Eugenia was adorable.
Not too sure how I feel about the other two duchesses. Villers was entertaining though.
Two obvious mistakes were jarring. Harriet's holding a goose in the beginning (don't ask) and then it turns into a duck? At one point Strange is addressing himself because his name is switched with Villers's. Umm, proofreading?
Basically, Harriet feels like a boring, dumpy widow. Her husband cared more about chess than her, so she's inexperienced with sex/real love (shocking). Luckily, her friend wants to go to a risque house party to lure her husband back to England. With the help of her duke/duchess friends, Harriet becomes Harry and they all go to Strange's.
On one hand, the first half of this book is highly entertaining. Harry's enjoying her "man freedom" of riding, fencing, dallying, and breeches. Meanwhile, her "man mentor" Jem goes uber manly trying to stop Harry from being so damn effeminate. Then maybe he won't keep get these strange feelings around Harry... Basically, it was a well done gender switching romp.
I also appreciated all the details James included to make Harriet's deception more plausible. It wasn't like, "Bound my chest, threw on some pants and BAM, let's go."
My main problem is that you don't feel engaged with the characters. It's more like watching a play, and once the big reveal was over, the two characters got a bit dull. I never got a real feel for either of them (Jem more than Harriet) and once they started acting badly, I didn't care. I didn't really understand why Jem was angry...it felt like the expected fight for plot purposes.
The ending was bleh. Jem basically gives everything about himself up. I would have been nice to see his eccentricity and engineering come through with him. Plus Harriet is all too ready to give up everything from the past weeks and be the perfect duchess again. It all rang false.
I did get a bit tired of hearing Harriet saying over and over how wonderful it is to be a man. But really, she can do all those things as a woman too, it's just she didn't have the guts unless it was in guise. And I find it hard to believe she was never seriously offended/disgusted. She's a pretty protected innocent widow, and men are men.
The precocious child Eugenia was adorable.
Not too sure how I feel about the other two duchesses. Villers was entertaining though.
Two obvious mistakes were jarring. Harriet's holding a goose in the beginning (don't ask) and then it turns into a duck? At one point Strange is addressing himself because his name is switched with Villers's. Umm, proofreading?
tellingetienne's review
5.0
This book had one of my all time favorite romance tropes, the main character presenting as another gender, and falling in love in the process. I can't help it, it's so cheesy and perfect. This is one of my all time favorite Eloisa James books!
athenaevarinya's review
4.0
I was rather pleased to discover in the epilogue that Harriet was able to have children of her own body and that she only dropped down to the level of a Marchioness when she married Jem.
gotobedmouse's review
3.0
Precoucious child alert!!! I loved Lord Strange and the whole surround yourself with debauchery but do not partake theme that unwinds. A great little story. And the Duke is back..Halfway through the series.