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A review by mdalida
His at Night by Sherry Thomas
5.0
I was only looking for a quick, pass-the-time kind of romance, and I should've known that Sherry Thomas would've delivered more!
I know I'm a fickle romance reader. One trope that I love will be the one I hate in the next book because it's overdone. I just finished Duran's Written on Your Skin about both MCs hiding behind masks with intrigue and the heroine's family and background consisting of danger and physical abuse. I was less than impressed, sadly, and almost shut this book down when I realized it was very nearly the same premise...
I'm so glad I didn't!
Vere is a spy, but also a very public Marquess. In order to hide his spy ruse, he has adopted a sweetly dim-witted personality after a conveniently timed horse accident that supposedly knocked his brain around - 13 years ago. Talk about dedication to the craft.
Elissande (a mix of Eleanore and Cassandra, turns out, and is now my new favorite name) is trapped under her uncle's roof, mainly because her physically abusive uncle is keeping the aunt drugged up, and Ellie refuses to leave her aunt out of fear of what the uncle will do.
The uncle is the lure - he's potentially, probably, a criminal mastermind.. hence what brings in the spies. Once the spies infiltrate the house as supposed house guests, Elissande grabs for her chance at freedom and creates a typical caught-in-the-act scandal to induce marriage.
I picked this book after doing a Goodreads search for "aggressive heroines" or "alpha heroines" ... oddly, it doesn't fit those categories, but I still loved it.
Ellie isn't aggressive or alpha. She's desperate, which makes her appear emboldened and forthright. She creates the ruse to make Vere marry her. She pushes for marital sex. She seeks him out. She touches him first. She wants the marriage with all the goods. He is reluctant because he's perpetually alone due to spyhood, but also intensely lonely because of the same. I loved Elissande because her background was perfectly characterized by Vere - she's a survivor, even better than someone who just exists through pain; she lived through it and it didn't twist her. She still retains gratitude and hope and love. I found that powerful. A true alpha heroine of Thomas' would've been in her Not Quite a Husband novel...
Vere - sigh :-) some hated his idiot act because they felt it diminished him as a man. To me, that didn't bother me at all. I know that spies led double lives, and I had grown tired of the Batman thing where the double life is the Batman vs the hedonistic playboy. I saw this as kinda comical, really. I loved that Ellie figured it out before he told her :-) I loved that the author had her hero feeling emotion - most especially, tenderness and tears at certain parts.
There's a secondary romance in here that I also enjoyed! Secondary romances rarely detract from the storyline for me (UGH, Except you, Kleypas' Again the Magic...), so this one was sweet and spicy :-)
I know I'm a fickle romance reader. One trope that I love will be the one I hate in the next book because it's overdone. I just finished Duran's Written on Your Skin about both MCs hiding behind masks with intrigue and the heroine's family and background consisting of danger and physical abuse. I was less than impressed, sadly, and almost shut this book down when I realized it was very nearly the same premise...
I'm so glad I didn't!
Vere is a spy, but also a very public Marquess. In order to hide his spy ruse, he has adopted a sweetly dim-witted personality after a conveniently timed horse accident that supposedly knocked his brain around - 13 years ago. Talk about dedication to the craft.
Elissande (a mix of Eleanore and Cassandra, turns out, and is now my new favorite name) is trapped under her uncle's roof, mainly because her physically abusive uncle is keeping the aunt drugged up, and Ellie refuses to leave her aunt out of fear of what the uncle will do.
The uncle is the lure - he's potentially, probably, a criminal mastermind.. hence what brings in the spies. Once the spies infiltrate the house as supposed house guests, Elissande grabs for her chance at freedom and creates a typical caught-in-the-act scandal to induce marriage.
I picked this book after doing a Goodreads search for "aggressive heroines" or "alpha heroines" ... oddly, it doesn't fit those categories, but I still loved it.
Ellie isn't aggressive or alpha. She's desperate, which makes her appear emboldened and forthright. She creates the ruse to make Vere marry her. She pushes for marital sex. She seeks him out. She touches him first. She wants the marriage with all the goods. He is reluctant because he's perpetually alone due to spyhood, but also intensely lonely because of the same. I loved Elissande because her background was perfectly characterized by Vere - she's a survivor, even better than someone who just exists through pain; she lived through it and it didn't twist her. She still retains gratitude and hope and love. I found that powerful. A true alpha heroine of Thomas' would've been in her Not Quite a Husband novel...
Vere - sigh :-) some hated his idiot act because they felt it diminished him as a man. To me, that didn't bother me at all. I know that spies led double lives, and I had grown tired of the Batman thing where the double life is the Batman vs the hedonistic playboy. I saw this as kinda comical, really. I loved that Ellie figured it out before he told her :-) I loved that the author had her hero feeling emotion - most especially, tenderness and tears at certain parts.
There's a secondary romance in here that I also enjoyed! Secondary romances rarely detract from the storyline for me (UGH, Except you, Kleypas' Again the Magic...), so this one was sweet and spicy :-)