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stormyday's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
it took me a while to read because i’m in a slump, but i adored this book!! if you like stories with revenge plots and women learning to love themselves and another, this is for you
lezreadalot's review
4.0
Two wrongs didn’t make a right, but occasionally they did make an escape.
This was just the absolute height of adorable. A caper! A romp! A really cute adventure with an irascible, rich, dgaf heroine who's had it up to HERE with terrible men, and a clever, poor, almost-pensioner with a scheme, who team up to best a really shitty dude, and fall in love along the way! And they're both like 70.
I have such a huge soft spot for later-in-life-love-stories, and cute old ladies are my catnip. This addressed some stuff that's been bugging me a lot these days: how older people (and in the era this is set in, especially older women) are constantly written off, ridiculed, treated like they're already dead, or halfway there, so who needs to care about them! Seeing how they both fight back against that, Bertrice with her take no shit, say and do whatever attitude, Violetta with her steely determination to survive, no matter what, was really really heartening. It was a short novella, but in it was just this great sense of... a will not only to survive, but live and enjoy life, take pleasure from it, live like you have decades left and be kind to people along the way.
(People who deserve kindness. So, not Terrible Nephews.)
The romance was sweet and well done, but I'll admit it: I did want more! Especially in terms of just like... the feeling of finding and becoming friends with another woman who loves women, talking about their situation in the framework of the larger society, the knowledge that it isn't the Norm. It's what I want out of a lot, if not all historical f/f romance, because exploring that always leads to great things in the emotions department. And... it was treated pretty casually here. Which wasn't bad? But I was a little disappointed.
But not by much! I loved this a lot, and will remember it fondly. 3.5 stars.
This was just the absolute height of adorable. A caper! A romp! A really cute adventure with an irascible, rich, dgaf heroine who's had it up to HERE with terrible men, and a clever, poor, almost-pensioner with a scheme, who team up to best a really shitty dude, and fall in love along the way! And they're both like 70.
I have such a huge soft spot for later-in-life-love-stories, and cute old ladies are my catnip. This addressed some stuff that's been bugging me a lot these days: how older people (and in the era this is set in, especially older women) are constantly written off, ridiculed, treated like they're already dead, or halfway there, so who needs to care about them! Seeing how they both fight back against that, Bertrice with her take no shit, say and do whatever attitude, Violetta with her steely determination to survive, no matter what, was really really heartening. It was a short novella, but in it was just this great sense of... a will not only to survive, but live and enjoy life, take pleasure from it, live like you have decades left and be kind to people along the way.
(People who deserve kindness. So, not Terrible Nephews.)
The romance was sweet and well done, but I'll admit it: I did want more! Especially in terms of just like... the feeling of finding and becoming friends with another woman who loves women, talking about their situation in the framework of the larger society, the knowledge that it isn't the Norm. It's what I want out of a lot, if not all historical f/f romance, because exploring that always leads to great things in the emotions department. And... it was treated pretty casually here. Which wasn't bad? But I was a little disappointed.
But not by much! I loved this a lot, and will remember it fondly. 3.5 stars.
jen286's review
4.0
This review was originally posted to Jen in Bookland
I love Courtney Milan. Her books are always so much fun! Oh I loved Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure! I hope I am half as awesome as Mrs. Martin when I am her age. It would be so much fun!
Miss Violetta Beauchamps is in a bit of a bind. She has never married and has worked hard her whole life thinking that she will be able to survive in her old age, only something happens to shake up her plans. So makes a new one even if she is not happy about having to lie to Mrs. Martin to make it work. Only her plan doesn't work out the way she had anticipated and oh she was in for an adventure.
Mrs. Martin is so much fun. She sees Violetta in the way no one thus far has. She doesn't want to get close to her and risk losing someone else, but how can she not. When Violetta comes to her about her Mrs. Martin's Terrible Nephew she jumps into action enlisting Violetta's help in taking him down. Her nephew really is terrible and I loved how these two ladies dealt with the situation. How Mrs. Martin does what she wants because she has the money to do so, but also the money to help those in need. She speaks her mind and comes up with the craziest of plans and it was awesome. How she makes people bend to her will because she can. She has the power that she didn't feel like she had for so long. I hope I am just like her - even if she was afraid she didn't want to be so she didn't let that stop her.
These two were super sweet together. I love that they both brought out the best in each other and helped each other grow stronger even if they didn't realize it. Violetta is used to being silent and screaming on the inside, but Bertrice helps her figure out how to let it out and do something about it. She is that cranky old lady who speaks her mind, which usually made me laugh because she was hilarious. The things they got up to, the ways they tried to make the Terrible Nephew's life terrible were great. And I loved how everything worked out in the end. Such a fun read!
*Note: I received a free copy of this book for voluntary review consideration
I love Courtney Milan. Her books are always so much fun! Oh I loved Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure! I hope I am half as awesome as Mrs. Martin when I am her age. It would be so much fun!
Miss Violetta Beauchamps is in a bit of a bind. She has never married and has worked hard her whole life thinking that she will be able to survive in her old age, only something happens to shake up her plans. So makes a new one even if she is not happy about having to lie to Mrs. Martin to make it work. Only her plan doesn't work out the way she had anticipated and oh she was in for an adventure.
Mrs. Martin is so much fun. She sees Violetta in the way no one thus far has. She doesn't want to get close to her and risk losing someone else, but how can she not. When Violetta comes to her about her Mrs. Martin's Terrible Nephew she jumps into action enlisting Violetta's help in taking him down. Her nephew really is terrible and I loved how these two ladies dealt with the situation. How Mrs. Martin does what she wants because she has the money to do so, but also the money to help those in need. She speaks her mind and comes up with the craziest of plans and it was awesome. How she makes people bend to her will because she can. She has the power that she didn't feel like she had for so long. I hope I am just like her - even if she was afraid she didn't want to be so she didn't let that stop her.
These two were super sweet together. I love that they both brought out the best in each other and helped each other grow stronger even if they didn't realize it. Violetta is used to being silent and screaming on the inside, but Bertrice helps her figure out how to let it out and do something about it. She is that cranky old lady who speaks her mind, which usually made me laugh because she was hilarious. The things they got up to, the ways they tried to make the Terrible Nephew's life terrible were great. And I loved how everything worked out in the end. Such a fun read!
*Note: I received a free copy of this book for voluntary review consideration
nevclue's review
4.0
Fun, anger-filled novella. The Terrible Nephew is terrible. The ladies are delightful.
amsaduke's review
5.0
"He suggested taking the waters at Bath, but yelling at terrible men is far more restorative, don't you think?"
"Ive screamed on the inside, too. I've screamed on the outside. I've screamed until I thought there was nothing left of me but my voice, and then I lost my voice. And I still kept screaming."...
"I never screamed aloud, and yet lost my voice from disuse."
"I don't stop existing because I can no longer have children."
"You really shouldn't blame men for everything."
"No, just the ninety-eight percent of society's ills they're responsible for."
"She could feel the strength in the other woman, the muscle and sinew that had survived all these decades. Years of experience and hardship sang to her. Here, in Beatrice's flesh, she could hear all the things that they as women could not bear to say to each other, but must carry with them anyway- all the wounds that had healed into hard scars, carried by the sex so often referred to as soft."
Ugh i loved this book so much. Strong women who don't give a damn are my favorite.
"Ive screamed on the inside, too. I've screamed on the outside. I've screamed until I thought there was nothing left of me but my voice, and then I lost my voice. And I still kept screaming."...
"I never screamed aloud, and yet lost my voice from disuse."
"I don't stop existing because I can no longer have children."
"You really shouldn't blame men for everything."
"No, just the ninety-eight percent of society's ills they're responsible for."
"She could feel the strength in the other woman, the muscle and sinew that had survived all these decades. Years of experience and hardship sang to her. Here, in Beatrice's flesh, she could hear all the things that they as women could not bear to say to each other, but must carry with them anyway- all the wounds that had healed into hard scars, carried by the sex so often referred to as soft."
Ugh i loved this book so much. Strong women who don't give a damn are my favorite.
qalminator's review
4.0
Very enjoyable, and I love seeing an older couple represented romantically. Probably the funniest thing I've read this year, too. Older women brought together because of Terrible Nephew, who really needs to be taught a lesson (or at least put where he can't do any more damage if he refuses to learn...)
gaderianne's review
5.0
Listen, I love historic romances, but I haven't ever read one like this. They all pretty much follow the same pattern and the same character archetypes, and I'm okay with that because I love light and fluffy reads that are just fun and that I can loose myself into the story without having to worry about if it will be a happy ending or make me sad.
This one is a novella that follows the same story arch, except there are two heroines, they fall in love, and they are in their 70s. And I loved so much both of these strong, older women who knew what they wanted in a regency world operated by men. But what I loved even more...well actually hated even more...was the pure rage of injustice that just came from these women about their situation, that translated into the rage of injustice I often feel today.
This book managed to be lighthearted and fun, while also timely and relevant at the same time. Loved!
This one is a novella that follows the same story arch, except there are two heroines, they fall in love, and they are in their 70s. And I loved so much both of these strong, older women who knew what they wanted in a regency world operated by men. But what I loved even more...well actually hated even more...was the pure rage of injustice that just came from these women about their situation, that translated into the rage of injustice I often feel today.
This book managed to be lighthearted and fun, while also timely and relevant at the same time. Loved!