Series: The Mating Habits of Scoundrels, #5
Traits & Tropes: mistaken identity; titled hero; secret baby/unplanned pregnancy; scholar hero
Publication Date: 02.21.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Somerset, England/Paris, France/Italy
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 3/5
Since the man she loved married someone else, Margaret Stredwick has decided marriage isn’t for her. To nurse her wounded heart, Meg goes on holiday and after meeting a surprisingly intriguing man, she wonders if she should have one grand flirtation whose memories will carry her through her spinsterhood.
Lucien Ambrose, the Duke of Merleton, is instantly suspicious when he encounters an unknown woman in his ancient home. When a family heirloom turns up stolen on the same day as the stranger’s visit, Lucien immediately suspects her. He may find her inconveniently tempting, but he’s not about to let her get away, even if it means following her on a tour of the continent.
Meg never dreamed she might be mistaken for a scandalous thief and seductress, but she’s thrilled enough to play along, up until she realizes she’s falling in love with a man who doesn’t know her true identity. Unfortunately, when the holiday is over and Meg is settling back into her routine, it quickly becomes apparent that she’s brought something back from Italy that means she won’t be able to keep her flirtation a secret for long.
There is so much going on with this book that I don’t quite know where to begin, but I did appreciate the completely bonkers plot and found the continental road trip setting of the first half of the book to be quite interesting. The aunts, Maeve and Myrtle completely stole the show for me with their matchmaking, recipe thieving antics as well. I’ve been looking forward to Meg’s story for quite some time and this was just not quite what I was expecting/hoping for her.
I’m pretty torn about this book because there were a lot of aspects that I liked but also tons of things that annoyed me to no end. Firstly, this story was extremely long and began to just feel drawn out. There were a couple of places that seemed like natural conclusions for the story and then I’d look down at the percentage on my kindle and realize I still had lots of book left to go. I think for me there was a bit too much detail about Meg and the aunts’ travels and interactions during them between Meg and Lucien in which their relationship doesn’t really change. It’s mostly a lot of Lucien accusing Meg of theft and refusing to see her beyond the assumptions he presupposed. Meg’s reasons for not being wholly truthful with Lucien and allowing his misapprehension to continue were pretty flimsy and this part of the book just felt drawn out and didn’t hold my attention well. There just seemed to be a lot of superfluous book here and lost opportunities for this to be so romantic if Lucien had abandoned his wrongful assumptions and set out in a genuine pursuit of Meg.
Our poor hero, Lucien, bless him, is so erudite that he winds up being completely obtuse most of the time. He spends all this time with Meg, getting to know her despite this pseudo secret between them, though it’s only even a secret because he refuses to believe her, and yet much of these interactions and quality time between them occurs off page. I was also a bit thrown off by the two year jump forward in the timeline. This seemed like a very unnecessarily long separation, especially a few months would’ve sufficed just as well for the plot. It was also frustrating that despite this separation, once Lucien and Meg are reunited, he almost immediately goes right back to accusing her of thieving the book. It’s as if no time has passed, but not really in a good way and it made me feel a bit like I was rereading something I’d already seen in previous chapters, just with the addition of the secret baby element, which only made for another secret that was drawn out longer than necessary. That last frustration, however, could also just be because I’m not a fan of the secret baby trope.
Lucien just cannot see the forest for the trees, and it takes him entirely too long to figure it out so when they do come back together, the story is still plagued with frustrating miscommunication and there’s still way too much being left unsaid. Lucien’s persistent refusal to listen to reason just made him seem like a petulant child after a while. Though the villain was a bit obvious, I did like that aspect, though I wish this plot device had been enacted sooner.
Despite the length of this book, the ending somehow felt simultaneously drawn out and rushed. Lucien could’ve done much more apologizing to Meg for how much time was wasted thanks to his willful obliviousness. The villain was dealt with quickly and the ultimate resolution there was never revealed on the page, leaving it as a loose end I remain curious about even now. However, for all my complaints and frustrations, I did absolutely adore Meg’s family and their treatment of her. They gave her nothing but support and didn’t try to force her into anything she wasn’t ready for or that would possibly bring her unhappiness. It was especially refreshing to see this supporting dynamic from her brother even after he’d learned who had fathered Meg’s child. Though some logistics were left a bit open for interpretation as far as their daughter, I did like seeing Meg and Lucien finally come together to create their own family, as well as him and his family being welcomed into the fold by hers. I found that aspect of the story to be quite heart warming and I’m glad to have read this story and seen a satisfying conclusion to this utterly unique series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/23711760
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4832487091
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