I am pretty certain that Leigh wrote this as RHG Bait, because she knew very well that I would be suffering just a liiiiiiiittle Poldark Withdrawl, so a Cornish heroine that is also the ringleader of a local smuggling ring is basically just what the doctor ordered.
Kit is okay, too.
We meet Kit, the hero, as he’s living a dissolute life. He’s a former soldier who was given an earldom, but an earldom without income. He has debts and he has dreams. He wants to build a pleasure garden, to keep the dark memories of Waterloo away. A mentor of his passes away, and Kit stand to inherit a lot a money…but he needs to marry. Within 30 days.
Tamsyn is the daughter of a baron in Cornwall, and when her parents died, she found herself as the sole person concerned with the welfare of a nearby fishing village. After bad harvests and bad fishing, she spearheaded a smuggling operation to keep everyone afloat. When complications cause a buyer for one of her shipments to fall through, she finds herself in need of a husband with money. Fast.
They meet at a ball, immediately have a lot of pants feelings, and each determine that the other one is perfect for their respective needs. One of the things I really appreciated is that Kit didn’t hide the ball: “I need to marry, and fast, because if I do not I lose this money.” “That’s fine with me, because I need a man with money (and you are cute).” He does hide the ball on his desire for a pleasure garden, because he’s worried that Tamsyn will think it’s dumb. Tamsyn also hides the ball on why SHE needs the money, because Kit is super “I fought and killed and men died for king and country and I like law abiding-ness (and also smugglers are the wooooooorst)” so she can’t tell him what she’s really up to.
But, in a fine example of a story structure that goes “Introduce main characters. Have them climb a tree. SET THE TREE ON FIRE,” there’s another complication: there’s a provision in the will, which did not get unsealed until Kit had gotten married, that gives Tamsyn control over the money. Kit, after a couple of nights of sulking and processing (he can multi-task) decides that he must charm his wife to get the money he needs.
I love Tamsyn. She’s a worthy compatriot to Poldark’s Demelza. She’s determined to take care of her people, and she’s perfectly willing to break a stupid law to do it. It’s just a little lace and French brandy – it’s not even really GOOD French brandy. It’s fine! She just can’t tell Kit about it, because he will LOSE HIS SHIT. She also had no affection from the aunt and uncle who became her guardians after her parents died, so she formed a supportive family for herself from her village. I’m a big fan of found families.
What I like about Kit (and Leigh’s heroes in general) is that they have actual motivations for their actions. Kit used the planning of the pleasure garden to cope with the horrors of war while he was living them. It was a future to look forward to when he wasn’t sure a future was really in the cards. He was a commander who was very good at his job, but that still meant that a lot of men died under his command. He has a lot to cope with.
I was not sure what the resolution was going to be since the ideal ending has both our hero and heroine getting some version of what they want and also each other. What Tamsyn and Kit want, based on the resources they have, is so diametrically opposed. Like Courtney Milan’s Unveiled, ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) I had faith that Leigh was going to find a resolution that was both logical and emotionally satisfying, but I didn’t know what it was. (There is one, it works, trust in the HEA.)
If you, like me, have a desire for more Poldark, but more Poldark isn’t forthcoming as of yet, you’ll find a fix here. Like Demelza and Ross, here we have a strong heroine who won’t take any shit, and a hero who is a little bit up his own ass but means well. We also have wild Cornish shores, with some swashbuckling and a touch of derring-do, and some reasonably okay French brandy.
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I’m old enough to remember the original Poldark aired on PBS in the ’70s. I hated it. Then again, I was under 10, but still. And Ross doesn’t seem any smarter this time around either, so the comparison doesn’t really work for me. So maybe this will read better than the show to me which left me unimpressed. *sorry, not sorry*
I stayed up too late finishing this book. Way too late. Extremely too late. There may have been coffee gifs involved on Twitter. No regrets.
There is an Eva Leigh mainstay I love, love, love in this book that I can’t say without spoiling the epilogue. But it’s consistent and makes people like me extremely happy.
And to also try and prevent another spoiler, I love the very candid talk that Kit has with Tamsyn about a specific area of sexuality that is so often glossed over in historicals. This ranks up there with how Courtney Milan’s Duchess War treats said issue.
I love how the book tackles Kit’s PTSD and that it isn’t solved via magic vagina. I also love how a certain situation in the book is resolved because Kit actually sits and thinks through things like the military commander that he was. His mentor would be very proud of him.
This book gives me all the happy, squishy feels. And can we please tie Tamsyn’s aunt and uncle to the tree before setting it on fire, please? Thanks.
This sounds great!! Ordered from my library. Thanks, RHG!
“Trust in the HEA” should be on a pillow or sign, if it isn’t already.
And onto the list it goes.
You had me at ‘hero wants to build a garden.’ And bonus points for library carrying it.
I’m next on the list at my local library. After reading RHG’s review and the comments here, hope the reader in line before me reads fast!
Spoilery comments:
The premise of why she marries him seems flawed. There is no guarantee that even if she marries a wealthy man that he would he would buy the house for her, especially a man who is marrying her to secure funds.
I think the “solution” far fetched what I understand about travel times and climate.