Series: Designing Debutantes, #2
Traits & Tropes: soldiers; widow; titled hero; misunderstandings/secrets
Publication Date: 03.28.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, April 1812
Heat Level: 2
Rating: 3/5
Eliza Pierce is beginning to enjoy the bit of freedom that comes with being that young widow of a soldier, as well as the financial success of Elegant Occasions, the party planning business she started with her two sisters. When Nathaniel Stanton, the Earl of Foxstead, her late husband’s best friend, hires her to help him bring another young military widow out into society, Eliza questions his motives. She’s suspicious of who the woman and her adorable young son really are, and of why Nathaniel keeps singling out Eliza herself.
Nathaniel’s family is complicated and makes marriage a difficult proposition for him, so his undeniable attraction to his best friend’s widow is inconvenient to say the least. Flagging under the weight of secrets from his family and his former commanding officer, Nathaniel sets aside his own feelings to do his duty, even though it means being tempted to break his own rules each time he encounters Eliza. He can’t help but want a future with her but fears she’ll never want him once she knows all his truths.
I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I wanted to like this one much more than I did. It was fine, but not all that memorable for me and the heroine grew rather irritating after a while. To be fair, Eliza was incredibly judgmental from the start and her sisters, Verity and Diana didn’t come off all that well either; what was meant to be a charming interplay between the sisters was just a rather annoying distraction to me. Eliza’s insistence on believing Jocelin must be Nathaniel’s mistress or basically so was just crass and did not reflect well on Eliza. I found her to be too snappish with Nathaniel and too quick to accuse him of still being a rake despite his having given her every reason to believe he had changed. Eliza just kept bringing up old issues and refusing to let them go, a stubbornness that was just unnecessary and impeded the relationship development between herself and Nathaniel.
I’m not a fan of the secret-keeping trope in general because I spent the entire book knowing it would cause a rift because Eliza had made it very clear to Nathaniel that she wasn’t interested in listening to him. The whole secret-revelation-rift could’ve been avoided if she’d been more open and less judgmental from the start. Instead, Eliza was consistently mean to Nathaniel, even telling him at one point that she wouldn’t let him spoil a day by being him. Excuse me, what. I would loathe a hero for saying this to a heroine, so it goes both ways here as yet another facet that, for me, reflected poorly on Eliza. Also, she knew her husband was a liar and yet was quick to believe every foul thing he ever told her about Nathaniel. She made tons of excuses for not trusting Nathaniel, but none of them quite washed for me. Yes, he had secrets, but they weren’t truly his and it seemed very unfair for her to hold them against him, even for a short time. Later, Eliza claims to have spent all this time with Nathaniel and forgotten about her sisters, but they literally shared one afternoon, one dinner, and one night together, so once again, another Eliza complaint that didn’t wash. Her jealousy over his ward also grew old and just seemed petty after a while. There just wasn't sufficient relationship development for me and it seemed that Eliza’s character could basically be boiled down to jealousy and making assumptions.
I was also annoyed by Verity’s belittling of Eliza for no reason and happy to see Eliza stand up for herself against that behavior eventually. This makes me a bit nervous for Verity’s book but also gives me some hope, though thus far this series hasn’t been one I’ve loved the way I usually do with this author. None of the sisters’ behavior reflected all that well on any of them in this book but the drama and twists embedded in this premise were enjoyable, just not what I’d hoped because I didn’t click with this heroine. I’m sure most readers won’t have the issues that I did with Eliza and will love this one, and while it wasn’t all that I’d hoped for, I will look forward to the next book from a much-loved author.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2244476127
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5420336129
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