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A review by lassarina
Blame It on Bath by Caroline Linden
4.0
I picked this up on a whim despite it being the middle of a series because the description on a Smart Bitches, Trashy Books sale post looked intriguing. I am so pleased that I did. I devoured this book as fast as I could, because I just loved the relationship dynamic and the writing so much.
Gerard de Lacey is the youngest son of the Duke of Durham, whose sons discover after his death that he was married in secret before he wed his duchess, their mother. It is unknown what became of the duke's first wife, which puts the sons' inheritance at risk: if she did not predecease the duke's second marriage, then he was a bigamist and his sons are not legitimate heirs. This plot starts in the first book of the series and isn't resolved here, but this book (largely concurrent with the first book) follows Gerard's efforts to resolve it, mostly by chasing down what he can in direct action.
As a youngest son, Gerard bought himself a commission in the army, where he has served with pleasure since. He is sometimes reckless, quite brave, and a man of action above all else.
Enter Katherine Howe, a young widow who has a substantial dower portion coming to her from her deceased husband's estate. There's just one problem: the new holder of her husband's title wants to marry her to keep the money in the family, since without it he'd be reduced to penury. Katherine isn't thrilled at this, and she learns of the scandal facing Gerard and his brothers and makes him an offer: her hand in marriage, along with her money, in exchange for getting her away from Viscount Howe. With the uncertainty over his inheritance, it's a good offer for Gerard. He takes it, and they remove to Bath for him to investigate the matter of his father's marriage.
My heart hurt for Katherine a lot in this book, since her deceased husband was abusive and her mother is a narcissistic asshole who has done her best to convince Katherine that she's ugly and will never do better than she has. I know some other reviewers have commented on the dichotomy between Katherine's spirit in other venues and her quiet acquiescence to her mother, but to me that seems perfectly reasonable, in that she has some sense of her own abilities at this point in her life but many of us know that our parents can still make us feel small and young and inexperienced with just a word.
One thing I really liked about Gerard was that he actively wanted to encourage Katherine's spirit; yes, he explicitly marries her for financial gain (as had always been his plan, as a youngest son with a decent inheritance but not an outrageous one) but he's not cruel. He treats her very well most of the time, though he's wary of sharing his family situation with her any more than he has to (then again, given what happened with his brother in the previous book, I really can't blame him). I like that he takes one look at her family situation and just reacts with "nope."
I loved the way the love story grew in this one; it felt real to me in a lot of ways, and it just made me grin because it was so delightful. Also, A+ steamy scenes, would read again.
Gerard de Lacey is the youngest son of the Duke of Durham, whose sons discover after his death that he was married in secret before he wed his duchess, their mother. It is unknown what became of the duke's first wife, which puts the sons' inheritance at risk: if she did not predecease the duke's second marriage, then he was a bigamist and his sons are not legitimate heirs. This plot starts in the first book of the series and isn't resolved here, but this book (largely concurrent with the first book) follows Gerard's efforts to resolve it, mostly by chasing down what he can in direct action.
As a youngest son, Gerard bought himself a commission in the army, where he has served with pleasure since. He is sometimes reckless, quite brave, and a man of action above all else.
Enter Katherine Howe, a young widow who has a substantial dower portion coming to her from her deceased husband's estate. There's just one problem: the new holder of her husband's title wants to marry her to keep the money in the family, since without it he'd be reduced to penury. Katherine isn't thrilled at this, and she learns of the scandal facing Gerard and his brothers and makes him an offer: her hand in marriage, along with her money, in exchange for getting her away from Viscount Howe. With the uncertainty over his inheritance, it's a good offer for Gerard. He takes it, and they remove to Bath for him to investigate the matter of his father's marriage.
My heart hurt for Katherine a lot in this book, since her deceased husband was abusive and her mother is a narcissistic asshole who has done her best to convince Katherine that she's ugly and will never do better than she has. I know some other reviewers have commented on the dichotomy between Katherine's spirit in other venues and her quiet acquiescence to her mother, but to me that seems perfectly reasonable, in that she has some sense of her own abilities at this point in her life but many of us know that our parents can still make us feel small and young and inexperienced with just a word.
One thing I really liked about Gerard was that he actively wanted to encourage Katherine's spirit; yes, he explicitly marries her for financial gain (as had always been his plan, as a youngest son with a decent inheritance but not an outrageous one) but he's not cruel. He treats her very well most of the time, though he's wary of sharing his family situation with her any more than he has to (then again, given what happened with his brother in the previous book, I really can't blame him). I like that he takes one look at her family situation and just reacts with "nope."
I loved the way the love story grew in this one; it felt real to me in a lot of ways, and it just made me grin because it was so delightful. Also, A+ steamy scenes, would read again.