Once Upon a Tower by Eloisa James | Audio Review

Series: Fairy Tales, #5
Traits & Tropes: virgin hero; lack of communication
Genre/Setting: Historical, Regency; London --> Scotland, 1824
Publication Date: 05.28.13
Heat Rating: 2.5/5
Rating: 1 star 😒

Gowan Stoughton, the powerful and much sought-after Duke of Kinross, as well a Scottish laird, could have any woman he’d wish.  But, surrounded by English ladies at glittering London balls, Gowan is unsure any could measure up to the hard-working lasses he’s used to in Scotland.  But when he meets Lady Edith Gilchrist, Gowan is instantly smitten and decides he must have the beauty as his wife.

Edie was so ill at her debut ball that she hardly recalls meeting Gowan, but she nonetheless accepts his proposal when he calls on her father the very next day.  Edie only has passion for her cello, but she can’t deny she finds her new husband attractive.  When the two attempt to fall into the rhythm of real life at Gowan’s Scottish castle, problems emerge and Gowan has his hands full convincing Edie she truly does belong with him, especially when she locks herself in a tower to get away from him.

SPOILERY RANT AHEAD- No need to read if you don’t want, I just needed to get my thoughts out.

Rarely do I have such a strong reaction, especially a negative one, to a book, but I absolutely hated this one.  Edie was quite possibly the least likable heroine I’ve ever read.  I see lots of criticism of Gowan in other reviews and yes, he was clueless and some of the things he said to Edit in the heat of an argument were a bit much, but I still couldn’t stop myself feeling sorry for him for having to endure a life with Edie.  His loneliness was palpable, especially after he’d tried to be open with her and give her everything she asked for.  Gowan wasn’t wrong when he pronounced Edie to be in love with her cello; the only passion or romance to be found in this book was in scenes in which Edit describes her music, scenes which grew old, repetitive, and annoying very quickly.  I found Edie to be extremely selfish and rather hypocritical.  She criticized Gowan for working too much and not spending enough time with her, yet while he was willing to make changes, at times drastic ones, to accommodate her, Edie was unwilling to make any concessions for him and consistently put her cello practice time above anything else.  I can certainly understand the need to indulge in playing, but the nearly eight hours a day she absolutely “needed” was excessive.  Edie’s dismissal of servants for trying to get her input too often also just made her seem more like a character we’re meant to dislike, rather than a heroine and I couldn’t root for her.

I was excited to read this because I think virgin heroes are such a sweet, rather rare find and with these two both being virgins I expected even more.  Which I did not get.  Their first time together being bad is totally understandable and realistic, even something that is interesting to explore.  However, this disconnect between them stemmed from nothing more than a lack of communication, mostly on Edie’s part, and was literally the only thing driving the plot.   I hated how Gowan was essentially shamed for his lack of experience, not only by Edie but also her stepmother, when this should’ve been a good thing and something to be treasured.  The idea that virgins have to have awful sex was just crass and unfair and certainly not something one wants in a romance.  This plot made scenes between Edie and Gowan a repetitive and boring chore and had me wishing I had it in me to DNF a book, which I probably would’ve done if I hadn’t been listening to an audiobook.

For his part, Gowan was very focused on his work, but this issue could’ve been easily overcome by communication since he made it clear more than once that he was perfectly willing to make time for Edie.  If anything, this should’ve signified that he was deserving of respect from her, but instead one of his “loyal” retainers even turns on him in the end in favor of Edie.  I did not like the scene in which Gowan went to a barmaid to learn how to please a woman.  No, he didn’t go through with anything and he didn’t cheat, but we don’t learn this until several chapters later and in the meantime, I was steadily growing to hate him, which wound up being quite unfair.  Gowan was just a clueless male trying his best, especially given the seriousness of his position and level of respect he commands, he deserved more respect from Edie, rather than having his hurt written off as him simply being prideful.  Not all the fault lies with her, but Edie definitely has most of the blame for not trying to communicate with Gowan and instead confiding all her issues in her stepmother.  This leads me to another character I hated, perhaps most of all: Edie’s stepmother, Layla.  There was this side story about the dysfunctions of Layla’s marriage to Edie’s father that was yet another example of failure to communicate and yet Edie thought this would be a suitable person to seek advice from.  Layla was like a third person in the marriage between Edie and Gowan and she did nothing to help, only created more problems.  Layla was a stupid, inconsiderate character and I didn’t like the storyline with her and Susanna as it was used to illustrate how Edie wasn’t motherly, then her lack of interest in raising a child was something that wound up being used against Gowan when he simply pointed out the obvious.  I think Gowan deserved more credit than he got and this had so much potential to be a sweet story about a couple learning to communicate and that’s just not what we got here.  We got a grand romantic gesture as a slight nod to Rapunzel, and then a rushed ending from flat characters who showed no growth.  Even in the epilogue, Gowan is giving more than Edie and this lopsidedness is just unsatisfying to me.

I have enjoyed other works by this author, so I’ll try something else, but this one was certainly not for me.