Series: The London Jewels, #3
Traits & Tropes: titled hero; unconventional heroine; second chance; age-gap; reformed rake
Publication Date: 01.26.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; London, England
Heat Level: 3/5
Rating: 2.5/5
Petra Rutherford is surprised when her brother's goals in his House of Commons legislation bring her face to face with the man she fell head over heels for as a young girl, only to have him leave without even a goodbye. Now she's determined she'll do the same to Guy Granville, now Baron Ashton, by getting him interested and then humiliating him with her lack of interest. Unfortunately, her plan is threatened by the fact that she's still very susceptible to his charms.
Guy completely loses himself in Petra's pursuit, forgetting all about the face that he's never considered love and certainly not marriage or commitment. Now he must work to make Petra see that he's sincere in his affections this time around.
I finished this a few days ago but I've struggled with writing the review because I have such mixed feelings. I think this story is probably the strongest in the series but that doesn't come without several issues. There's a 10 year age gape here, which doesn't bother me as my own parents have the same age difference. However, Petra and Guy first met when she's just 14 and he's 24 and he actively leads her on and then doesn't understand why she's still upset by his leaving when they meet again another ten years later. This was a very formative pain for her and he doesn't even remember it. The whole thing felt sleazy and I think it set the tone for him always being the dominant figure in their relationship and her always being slightly on the back foot. Guy's competence was nice but he was too arrogant and his need to control absolutely everything got old fast. Though there were a great many love scenes, they were fairly lukewarm and I never really felt like Guy and Petra had much chemistry or real connection beyond lust. I'm not sure he ever actually said "I love you" to her. Even after their marriage, everyone keeps warning her about him and basically how he'll never be loyal and that really took away from the romance for me because I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Though I think it was meant to show just how special Petra was to him, it just didn't feel very romantic to me.
Nonetheless, I still almost excused this and liked Guy a bit anyway up until he still wholeheartedly wanted Petra to wear the new and fashionable style of corset even after a doctor explained the harm it does to the body. He supposedly fell in love with Petra for marching to her own drum and then actively set about trying to change her. Petra was a staunch suffragette from the beginning and yet Guy still seems surprised at how strong she is in her convictions. I also desperately wanted to see him give his mistress a well-deserved set down, but when he supposedly did, it was all off page so who knows if he redeemed himself that way or not. Otherwise, our characters didn't really do much besides drink lots of alcohol and eat lavish dinners. Though this was actually the strongest story of the series for me, it was still not a favorite and I thought the ending was rather abrupt. I think it would've been well-served by an epilogue, but I did enjoy seeing Diana and Rupert as well as Edward and Fenella together and doing well. I also liked the side characters of Charlie and Jonathan, perhaps in fact more than the main characters. Overall, Petra and Guy were both extremely stubborn and I was glad to see them at least try for a compromise, especially Guy who was so used to having his own way. The flow was a bit jerky and quite slow in parts, but those who like the lavish Victorian setting and a rather tumultuous age-gap relationship will enjoy this.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Comments
Post a Comment