Series: Wallflowers vs. Rogues, #1
Tropes & Traits: bluestocking heroine; class difference
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; England, 1830
Publication Date: 10.27.20
Heat Level: 3/5, mostly sensual
Rating: 3/5
Lady Beatrice Bentley has no interest in society events or in making a good match as her overbearing mother insists she should. Beatrice merely wishes to become a spinster and live quietly on her brother’s ducal estate in Cornwall where she can work on her etymological dictionary in peace. Too bad she only has the summer to enjoy this seclusion and her quiet tranquility is interrupted by the noise of construction being done on the estate by the handsome distraction of a carpenter.
Stamford Wright is a Navy ship’s carpenter and soon to be officer helping his injured father complete the work that needed doing on the duke’s estate until he recovers. Ford knows he’s miles apart from the lady he admires in the library’s window each day, plus he’s leaving for London soon and then on to parts unknown when his new ship is ready. But when he crosses paths with Beatrice again in London, Ford can’t resist offering his skills at renovating the bookshop she’s inherited from an unknown aunt. Not only will he earn enough money to finally purchase land of his own, but this project will also spoil his greedy estranged grandfather’s hopes of buying the building and turning the block it occupies into a factory. Ford just has to make sure his relationship with Beatrice remains strictly professional and he refrains from turning their passionate arguments into anything more.
I enjoyed this couple, but the heroine really had to grow on me. I found Ford to be a charming hero and his protectiveness over Beatrice was endearing. I think he got a bad rap and it was unfair how much Beatrice referred to him as a rogue despite his not doing anything to earn the appellation. For much of the story Beatrice was just downright rude to Ford. They seemed a rather odd couple and for a while there I wasn’t sure why Ford kept sticking around for it. Beatrice’s character was drawn with an extremely heavy hand and she almost felt like a very misplaced caricature of modern feminism. At the same time, despite professing all this independence, Beatrice was utterly and so easily cowed by her mother time and again. She also displayed an extremely rigid and much too short-sighted plan for her future. These characteristics just didn’t seem to jive with her fierce determination to be her own person. Also, I too adore books (obviously), but the way Beatrice talks to them just made her seem like even more of a ridiculous caricature when we were meant to be taking her more seriously. In many instances, Beatrice just came off as rude and entitled, for instance in her attempts to tell Ford how to do his job, despite knowing nothing about it herself.
I didn’t wind up liking this heroine until the last quarter of the book or so when she finally started standing up for herself and being her own person in truth. The ending for this odd couple did feel a bit rushed to me, with all obstacles falling away with shocking ease and very little recompense or apology from Ford’s greedy grandfather or Beatrice’s awful mother, who deserved to be put in her place at the very least. All that said, Ford became one of my most memorable heroes thanks to one scene in which, after a misunderstanding, an angry Beatrice tells him to leave and instead he goes to her and explains everything and they work things out through communication like mature adults. I loved that particular scene and the fact that these two chose to be together and make it work no matter the differences standing between them. Despite my mixed feelings, this was an interesting start to a new series, and I look forward to the next book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2003024035
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3275416288
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