Scan barcode
A review by lassarina
Her Officer and Gentleman by Karen Hawkins
4.0
The basic setup for this novel is that our hero, Christian, who is formerly a highwayman, seeks revenge for his mother's death. He does this by pursuing Beth, the granddaughter of the man he believes responsible, so that he can gain entree to the family and find his conclusive proof.
This story ended up exceeding my expectations for it - there was no awkward dancing around lies and pretending not to notice weird things. As soon as Beth noticed that Christian wasn't really after her, he fessed up. This refreshing honesty continued throughout the book. I really liked the way they approached each other, the respect they had for each other's abilities, Beth's creative solution to "I have a massive fortune and don't want to marry but am required to Perform a Season," and the sexytimes were lovely.
What I didn't like was the motivation for the antagonist. I got the hints as to who was responsible quite early on, and I was really hoping for a clever and unique reason why the antagonist had acted as they did, but I feel rather let down by the eventual explanation. I think it used a convenient and easy crutch rather than go for more character development. Maybe this is a shortcoming of the genre, but I though that as well-rounded and well-drawn as everyone else was, this stood out as oddly slapped-together.
Still, it was a really enjoyable read and the main characters were incredibly engaging, as were most of the side characters. I would recommend it overall.
This story ended up exceeding my expectations for it - there was no awkward dancing around lies and pretending not to notice weird things. As soon as Beth noticed that Christian wasn't really after her, he fessed up. This refreshing honesty continued throughout the book. I really liked the way they approached each other, the respect they had for each other's abilities, Beth's creative solution to "I have a massive fortune and don't want to marry but am required to Perform a Season," and the sexytimes were lovely.
What I didn't like was the motivation for the antagonist. I got the hints as to who was responsible quite early on, and I was really hoping for a clever and unique reason why the antagonist had acted as they did, but I feel rather let down by the eventual explanation. I think it used a convenient and easy crutch rather than go for more character development. Maybe this is a shortcoming of the genre, but I though that as well-rounded and well-drawn as everyone else was, this stood out as oddly slapped-together.
Still, it was a really enjoyable read and the main characters were incredibly engaging, as were most of the side characters. I would recommend it overall.