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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
How I felt about this before the 75% mark:
A lot of wit and cleverness, and I do love a lady who dresses like her horrible cousin in order to steal all his money. Millicent gets really into her ridiculous (I couldn't help it) "rattle" character and I was all for her satire of the upper class male. Her mother was just as silly but without the self reflection and all the other characters acting normally was a good balm for the crazy. The sister's and Beth are, while a little frivolous, fun enough to like and root for their success. All and all I was excited to see how our cross-dressing heroine was going to handle keeping up her disguise.
And then it all went down hill...
First, the Grandmother motivations for marrying Beth to the Bad Duke™ were confusing. He might have the title but he wasn't thought well of AT ALL in society, so wouldn't that matter more? I was willing to just wave off this bit of unthought out villainy and move on when the death knell of this book fell.
And yes, blah blah historically accurate blah blah. I just cant get behind a homophobe MC. Period.
Also, I was expecting Stoffer to at least start suspecting something was up with North/Millicent, but that never happens. All in all I was pretty disappointed with the ending and was kind of rooting for Millicent to keep on keeping on without the Duke. Which is clearly not the point of a romance novel.
A lot of wit and cleverness, and I do love a lady who dresses like her horrible cousin in order to steal all his money. Millicent gets really into her ridiculous (I couldn't help it) "rattle" character and I was all for her satire of the upper class male. Her mother was just as silly but without the self reflection and all the other characters acting normally was a good balm for the crazy. The sister's and Beth are, while a little frivolous, fun enough to like and root for their success. All and all I was excited to see how our cross-dressing heroine was going to handle keeping up her disguise.
And then it all went down hill...
First, the Grandmother motivations for marrying Beth to the Bad Duke™ were confusing. He might have the title but he wasn't thought well of AT ALL in society, so wouldn't that matter more? I was willing to just wave off this bit of unthought out villainy and move on when the death knell of this book fell.
Spoiler
Stoffer's reaction to the rumor of North/Millicent being gay was too much for me to like him after. If he would have just been worried about her being arrested and hanged, ok. But he was angry at her and grossed out and so happy when he found out North was really a woman because that meant she wasn't gay after all. BooooooAlso, I was expecting Stoffer to at least start suspecting something was up with North/Millicent, but that never happens. All in all I was pretty disappointed with the ending and was kind of rooting for Millicent to keep on keeping on without the Duke. Which is clearly not the point of a romance novel.
I really liked this story. I loved how it seemed so real! So why the 3 stars...well about 3/4 of the way through there was very descriptive intimate scenes. There was more than one which required skipping sine I really hate reading these things. I wish those parts had not been added. I would have LOVED this book!
Ridiculous fun!
Such a charmingly lighthearted yet touching and lovely story. Cleverly written with a deft and humorous hand, this was thoroughly enjoyable!
Such a charmingly lighthearted yet touching and lovely story. Cleverly written with a deft and humorous hand, this was thoroughly enjoyable!
Apt title. I really enjoyed the first 30% of this book then it just went OTT and it was weirdly homophobic and slut-shamey in parts.
The reader got on my nerves. Her English accent didn't sound right.
Also, the MCs do something REALLY stupid towards the end.
Also, the MCs do something REALLY stupid towards the end.
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's a fun story overall with thoroughly enjoyable leads (particularly Mr. North/Millicent). Plenty or ridiculous scenarios that, honestly, would not, in all probability, work out the way they did, but given the general premise of the plot they can be forgiven. It's a fast-paced, lighthearted romp through regency London.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Classism
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was fun. Do you need to suspend your disbelief a bit, sure. It was still fun.
This was truly, truly enjoyable, more than my lackluster three stars suggests. I love the idea of a woman pretending to be her dead male cousin so that she can have his money and land and, of course, that she immediately falls in love with a duke. *Chef's kiss*
But this book was 150 pages too long. Carter uses the same jokes and the same scenes multiple times, so instead of tension you just want to roll your eyes. I kept putting this down because I couldn't believe how long it took for anything to happen.
I would recommend this as a palate cleanser, so if you're reading something intense or horrific (like Stephen King's The Stand, or, I don't know, any recent news article) you can stop and read a few pages of this, and then resume your regularly scheduled programming.
But this book was 150 pages too long. Carter uses the same jokes and the same scenes multiple times, so instead of tension you just want to roll your eyes. I kept putting this down because I couldn't believe how long it took for anything to happen.
I would recommend this as a palate cleanser, so if you're reading something intense or horrific (like Stephen King's The Stand, or, I don't know, any recent news article) you can stop and read a few pages of this, and then resume your regularly scheduled programming.