A review by cheri95
Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas

adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I knew that Charlotte Holmes would appear to die in this book as Sherlock Holmes did appear to die while defeating Moriarty. So I wasn’t terribly worried when she did die. However, the scenes proving her death were sad and gruesome, and I was already having a bad day. That made finishing this book somewhat of a chore. My relief when at last the books reveals that Ms Baxter and Ms Holmes planned the fake deaths was much higher than it would have been if my day hadn’t been a so rotten. I thoroughly enjoy a “the rest of the story” explanation so this was fantastic.
 
This was an excellent story for its explanations of inexplicable behavior after the fact (as Ms Uokmes always delivers). I also loved the glimpses of Lord Ingram and Ms Holmes’ relationship. Although not incredibly explicit, Sherry Thomas finds ways to make their relationship just terribly sweet.  Once in another book in the series Charlotte told Lord Ingram that her brother feeds her better and in this book there are so many instances where Lord Ingram shows his love for Charlotte by bringing her food. For example, after a cold, rainy night spying in an occult commune, Lord Ingram wakes up to discover that Mrs Watson and Ms Holmes are out investigating. He walks to the kitchen and comes back laden with food stuffs and draws hot water for the ladies when they get back so they can bathe. Ingram does this all so matter-of-factly that it seems part of his nature to think of others in this way. As a person who seems to always be nurturing the people in my house but rarely being nurtured in return, I can’t even imagine how amazing that must have felt. Huge points to Ingram, I hope nothing but good things happen to him all his life.
This book also deals with divorce as Ingram struggles to find words to tell his children their mother won’t be living with them ever again. In the end, Lady Ingram tells the children in the most effective and kind way. My heart was warmed by how she and Lord Ingram despite their differences seem to be finding some way to respect each other in divorce.
Lastly, a huge part of the Lady Homes series is eating delicious pastries. In the very first book, Charlotte learns that her good looks are her only currency in a world run by men, and therefore stops eating as much cake as she would like so to maintain a figure best serving her position in society. I like several things about this addition to the story:
1) Thomas substitutes Sherlock’s drug addiction for Charlotte’s cake addiction I think in purpose. Women aren’t supposed to relish eating as much as Charlotte absolutely does. She fully enjoys what she eats and remains plump, although not so plump as to offend society. As a plump person, Charlotte propositions Ingram several times and in this book is sexual with him several times - but never once worries that she is less sexually attractive due to her plumpness. While Thomas goes out of her way to mention Charlotte as adorable etc (so this is still a novel where the MC isn’t just a plain Jane), it is still counter cultural to paint a plump, cake enjoying woman as desirable and happy.
2) I was both unsettled and pleased to find Charlotte’s ongoing battle against her double chins. I feel unsettled because I am a person in recovery from an eating disorder who can easily fall back into patterns of thinking regards food restriction. I feel pleased because Thomas set the stage for all this food restriction as something Charlotte would not be doing if it weren’t for her understanding that fat women in her society don’t fare well. Charlotte is purposefully restricting her eating because otherwise she can’t get what she wants in life. That’s not how it should be!!!! We should all be able to eat what we want when we want and feel fabulous in our bodies of all shapes and sizes. But the culture then and now makes only a certain type of body acceptable and  desirable, and I’m glad Thomas wrote Charlotte’s food restrictions as honestly as possible rather than cloaking it as something we all should be doing.
All that said, this book ended much too soon, and the next doesn’t come out for a few month. I wasn’t prepared to be left wondering what comes next. 
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