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A review by meezcarrie
Caught by Surprise by Jen Turano
4.0
“How is it possible I forgot what an interesting place your mind is?”
Rounding out this series of wallflowers who find their own voice - and a happily-ever-after in the process - is Caught By Surprise and we finally get Temperance's story. And what a story it is! In fact, it's almost like Turano pulled out all the stops for this final book of the series and threw in several tropes at once. Friends-to-more. Impending marriage-of-convenience. Destitute, orphaned heiress. Noble hero. Mistaken identity. Bumbling henchmen. Nefarious villains. Miss Snook's School for the Education of the Feminine Mind. Almost Oscar Wilde-ish in its mayhem and hilarity. At one point it's almost farfetched but you're having too much fun with these characters to care, and you happily suspend disbelief when needed.
Bottom Line: The strength of Caught By Surprise lies in its supporting characters this time around, though Temperance and Gilbert are certainly delightful protagonists. I loved watching their childhood friendship reconnect, their genuine affection and love for each other developing into romantic love much as we saw with Harrison & Gertrude in Out of the Ordinary. I also loved watching Temperance blossom into who she was always created to be. Still, it's the ragamuffin pack of secondary characters that made this story so enjoyable for me - Miss Henrietta, Miss Mabel, Miss Snook, Mr. Barclay, and most definitely the brother-sister team of Eugene and Mercy. Hilarious and endearing, they add further dimension and emotion to the story, and I would love hanging out with them all again sometime.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I bought for my own collection.)
Rounding out this series of wallflowers who find their own voice - and a happily-ever-after in the process - is Caught By Surprise and we finally get Temperance's story. And what a story it is! In fact, it's almost like Turano pulled out all the stops for this final book of the series and threw in several tropes at once. Friends-to-more. Impending marriage-of-convenience. Destitute, orphaned heiress. Noble hero. Mistaken identity. Bumbling henchmen. Nefarious villains. Miss Snook's School for the Education of the Feminine Mind. Almost Oscar Wilde-ish in its mayhem and hilarity. At one point it's almost farfetched but you're having too much fun with these characters to care, and you happily suspend disbelief when needed.
Bottom Line: The strength of Caught By Surprise lies in its supporting characters this time around, though Temperance and Gilbert are certainly delightful protagonists. I loved watching their childhood friendship reconnect, their genuine affection and love for each other developing into romantic love much as we saw with Harrison & Gertrude in Out of the Ordinary. I also loved watching Temperance blossom into who she was always created to be. Still, it's the ragamuffin pack of secondary characters that made this story so enjoyable for me - Miss Henrietta, Miss Mabel, Miss Snook, Mr. Barclay, and most definitely the brother-sister team of Eugene and Mercy. Hilarious and endearing, they add further dimension and emotion to the story, and I would love hanging out with them all again sometime.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I bought for my own collection.)