Scan barcode
A review by reader_fictions
A Lady of Persuasion by Tessa Dare
1.0
Oh dear lord. Here I am again. A Lady of Persuasion is officially my least favorite Tessa Dare book, and hopefully that will remain the case. There are still some awesome, unique things for a historical romance, but also I unship the main ship, which is sort of hard to get around.
Here’s the problem: I don’t like Toby much. He puts women on a pedestal and he’s a flirt, which is fine, except that he’s a smarmy flirt. Also, he sets out for Isabel because she’s dancing with Gray and he wants to get one up on Gray. Serious ew. Why would I ship him with her?
Setting that aside, the two are a horrible match. She agrees to marry him because he promises to be something he’s not and doesn’t plan to be: an MP. He marries her because she’s hot and he can get his own back with Gray, who married Sophia, his former fiancee. The two go on absolutely horrid dates and don’t share any of the same interests, aside from banging each other. I felt that connection in the other books in this series, but I really don’t see it here. All they have is sex, and that’s not enough. It’s not even as enjoyable to read about because I don’t like them.
I wish I liked Isabel, but the way that she’s treated in the text is truly awful. She ought to be this strong character, who cares fiercely about helping the poor and has fierce morals. However, she’s treated as more of a comical figure, alternating between a serious but slightly dumb angel and a fiery Latin beauty. People win arguments with her by saying things to her that make no sense, and she gets confused and goes along with their plans.
However, I did enjoy the fact that the other characters from the series get a fair amount of camera time. One of my favorites scenes was actually Lucy giving birth and giving Jeremy hell, because they were my favorite ship of the series.
Though actually they might not have been my favorite ship if the ship from this book that I actually loved had been the focal point, rather than shunted off to the side. Hetta and Joss only get a few scenes together, and their relationship building takes a lot of sudden leaps because they don’t get a lot of time together. That book, though, I would have LOVED because they understand each other in a very real way, since they both work hard to be respected in roles society doesn’t want them to have, her as a lady doctor and him as a black gentleman. I love that Dare put this in at all, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a historical romance with a black character before, let alone one who gets a ship. If only it had been THEIR book.
Dare does some really great stuff in this book, but you have to struggle through the heinously bad main ship to get to it.
Here’s the problem: I don’t like Toby much. He puts women on a pedestal and he’s a flirt, which is fine, except that he’s a smarmy flirt. Also, he sets out for Isabel because she’s dancing with Gray and he wants to get one up on Gray. Serious ew. Why would I ship him with her?
Setting that aside, the two are a horrible match. She agrees to marry him because he promises to be something he’s not and doesn’t plan to be: an MP. He marries her because she’s hot and he can get his own back with Gray, who married Sophia, his former fiancee. The two go on absolutely horrid dates and don’t share any of the same interests, aside from banging each other. I felt that connection in the other books in this series, but I really don’t see it here. All they have is sex, and that’s not enough. It’s not even as enjoyable to read about because I don’t like them.
I wish I liked Isabel, but the way that she’s treated in the text is truly awful. She ought to be this strong character, who cares fiercely about helping the poor and has fierce morals. However, she’s treated as more of a comical figure, alternating between a serious but slightly dumb angel and a fiery Latin beauty. People win arguments with her by saying things to her that make no sense, and she gets confused and goes along with their plans.
However, I did enjoy the fact that the other characters from the series get a fair amount of camera time. One of my favorites scenes was actually Lucy giving birth and giving Jeremy hell, because they were my favorite ship of the series.
Though actually they might not have been my favorite ship if the ship from this book that I actually loved had been the focal point, rather than shunted off to the side. Hetta and Joss only get a few scenes together, and their relationship building takes a lot of sudden leaps because they don’t get a lot of time together. That book, though, I would have LOVED because they understand each other in a very real way, since they both work hard to be respected in roles society doesn’t want them to have, her as a lady doctor and him as a black gentleman. I love that Dare put this in at all, because I don’t think I’ve ever read a historical romance with a black character before, let alone one who gets a ship. If only it had been THEIR book.
Dare does some really great stuff in this book, but you have to struggle through the heinously bad main ship to get to it.