A review by sydapel
Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas

lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This is a little ranty so I apologize. This was legitimately going to be a solid 3 star read. I loved Amanda's character! I thought she was such a refreshing take on a regency woman! She was strong, she was independent, she didn't want to get married for solid reasons. Yes, she had self-image issues that the book exploits to a ridiculous amount but she was a good character and I liked her a lot. I was behind Jack too I thought he was a good foil for Amanda. CHOICES WERE MADE HOWEVER. Without getting into any spoilers, Jack exerts pressure on Amanda, assuming that her choices in the latter half of the book are not the correct ones and basically forcing her into the life that he thinks that she should have. And of course she comes around to it because duh. Which to me completely erases all of that independent woman stuff Lisa Kleypas set up at the beginning of the book. Not to mention there are so many instances in this book where Amanda says "no" to a sexual encounter and Jack just proceeds to keep going because of course he knows better.

I understand a lot of these tropes are common in regency romance novels, and to some degree I'm getting into them simply by reading the book but they've never bothered me as deeply as they did when I was reading this. 
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