Series: Hazards of Dukes, #5
Traits & Tropes: inheritance issues; fake engagement; forced proximity
Publication Date: 06.28.22
Genre/Setting; Historical; Victorian; London/Greensett (fic), England
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 3/5
After receiving word of her estranged father’s death, Octavia Holton takes off for the village of Greensett and her childhood home with the intention of claiming an inheritance. She cannot fathom that her father would’ve done anything but leave the property to her and her sister. Octavia needs to fix up the place and sell it as quickly as possible so she can repay the ruthless moneylender she borrowed from. She doesn’t count on the fact that the exceedingly handsome Gabriel Fallon also has a claim on the house.
Gabriel’s father won the house in a bet, but seeing how unprepared Octavia is for a trip, Gabriel can’t bring himself to turn her out. He makes a deal with her instead; they each have four weeks to live in the house and hunt for any documentation of the house’s ownership. The only catch is, given the impropriety of the two of them sharing a roof, they must pretend to be engaged. These circumstances mean Gabriel and Octavia wind up spending quite a bit of time together, but the animosity between them quickly leads to sparks of a different nature and soon four weeks together doesn’t seem like nearly long enough.
There’s a lot to like in this story. The small country village setting was utterly charming, and I liked the found family aspect immensely. Sure, there was plenty of meddling from these characters, but they also wound up being more supportive and ultimately helpful than Octavia’s actual sister did. I really liked the fact that none of our main characters are part of the aristocracy. They’re just regular, middle-class sorts of people trying to get by and that’s definitely relatable. I also really liked Gabriel as a hero. He was just such a good guy, and he definitely had an immense well of patience, but without being a total cinnamon roll; he still had enough alpha in him to deal with Octavia, which he certainly needed.
Now, on to the things that just didn’t do it for me, the main one being Octavia. Gabriel is nothing but honest with her from the start and she is full of nothing but disdain for him even though he’s done absolutely nothing to her to warrant this behavior. She definitely had some nerve demanding that Gabriel help her search for proof that he doesn’t own the disputed house. Octavia was incredibly immature and eager to play games and I just struggled to see what Gabriel saw in her.
I loved this concept with the forced proximity and slight enemies to lovers’ aspect, but I was not a fan of Octavia’s personality or her attitude. She was also pretty oblivious to her own behavior and how she affected others at first, often wondering why Gabriel has a warm look for everyone but her, unable to understand that she’s always snapping and sniping at him and not giving him any reason to look warmly upon her. She tosses her head so much I began to wonder if she was a horse, and I could’ve made a drinking game out of the number of times she lifts her chin. She knows she’s impulsive and doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions, but it is quite a long time before we see her attempt to curb that recklessness in any way. She insists on doing things her own way when she’s clearly over her head and therefore just digs a bigger hole for herself. She does nothing but take from Gabriel, planning this elaborate event and hiring people and arranging food and never seems to wonder about how to pay for it so I’m just left to wonder if poor Gabriel had to cover that too. She always believes herself to be correct and even when she realizes she’s made a mistake, she’s too stubborn to ever admit to it. There were definite sparks of chemistry between these two, but the steamy scenes between them always seemed to love something on the table or feel a bit half-baked. I think them falling in love would've been more believable to me if there had been some deep emotional connection in their steamy scenes, but I didn't really get that and so I was still left wondering how Gabriel had fallen in love with her and unable to really make sense of it.
Octavia is inherently selfish but does have a good heart in there somewhere, even if it does take quite a bit for her to realize she should change and begin to work towards that goal. Gabriel is to be admired for wanting to look beneath Octavia’s layers and consider how her upbringing shaped the person she is. It’s just a real pity that she doesn’t bother to do that with him even though he had similar childhood trauma with a gambler for a father. Gabriel spends most of his time cleaning and improving the house for the good of himself and those around him while Octavia spends hers searching for a will or something to prove the house is hers and benefit basically just her. I think her frequent inner monologues about the consequences of her failing to repay the moneylender were meant to remind us of her reasons for being so single-minded in this search, but they just got a bit repetitive and didn’t make her any more likable. I did like the fact that Gabriel made Octavia want to be better because at least she was beginning to recognize her worst traits and want to do something about them. This was also refreshing because it’s usually the hero who feels the need to improve to be with the heroine, so I enjoyed that role reversal. I do think Gabriel let Octavia walk over him a bit too much, but I loved his protectiveness and acceptance. I still don’t get how he fell in love with her when she was so condescending towards him. All in all, there was quite a lot to like here, but the heroine definitely pulled it down for me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1208923825
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4699529386
Comments
Post a Comment