This is the second book in the Scandalous Sisters series, and the first Greenwood I’ve read. Elizabeth, the heroine, is one of those young women who had very little in the way of boundaries while she grew up, and uses the attention she got as a purveyor of ridiculous schemes as a substitute for parental love.
Caught up in this whirl of gaiety is Tommy Halifax, who, at the ripe old age of 23 decides that Lizzie is the woman for him, and publicly proposes to her. She freaks out, laughs in his face, and he stomps off to India for six years. She decides that she needs to grow the fuck up, marries a boring man who politely leaves her a widow after two years, and stops having fun. That’s what grown ups do, right?
Tommy comes back to find Eliza, as she now calls herself, as a respectable widow who, with her friend Meg, runs a house for poor girls to educate them and get them off the streets. She doesn’t wear the pretty colors she likes, and denies herself the pleasure of good, enjoyable food, all because indulgence in her youth led her to deeply hurt one person she cared for very much.
They end up together when Eliza goes undercover at a brothel and they accidently end up banging because of circumstances, and she gets pregnant, which results in a special license and a furious trot down the lane of “The Marriage of Reasons In Which No One Will Get Emotionally Involved, CERTAINLY NOT.”
I love that trope.
Toss in a plot moppet, some pirates, and a house in dire need of rehabbing, and we got ourselves a story.
There were many things I liked, and a few things I did not.
I liked how Eliza was trying very hard to figure out how to find a balance between the wild child she was, and her idea that in order to be a respectable person she needs to deny herself any pleasure or fun. Trying to figure out how to adult is is a constant theme in my own life, and I enjoy a well drawn character trying to do the same.
I did not like how Tommy kept assuming that Eliza was lying about everything. He believes she just WANTS everyone to think she’s respectable, but in reality she hasn’t changed. If he would just THINK for a few minutes about how stupid that sounds, and maybe HAVE AN ACTUAL CONVERSATION, then they could have saved themselves a bunch of heartache and frustration and me making disgusted noises in the middle of the Museum of Fine Arts (don’t judge my reading spaces). I also did not like how fucking high HANDED he was. He basically KIDNAPS HER OFF HER COACH TO GET MARRIED. WHO DOES THAT. WHY DID SHE NOT KICK HIM IN THE BALLS.
I need heroines to remember that throat-punching is an option sometimes.
I was kind of pleased? Impressed? not horrified? with the resolution of the pregnancy
There were other parts I enjoyed. I am always fond of “holy shit this house is a DUMP let me throw a bunch of money at it” plots. It’s why I watch lots of HGTV. I’m even more fond of “yes, wife, you can do what you want, don’t bother me with detail- WAIT WHY IS THE DRAWING ROOM PINK.” HA.
Tommy ends up saddled with a plot moppet (neglected son of BFF needs male role model, interested parties inquire within), and that plot wasn’t that necessary to anything so…. mostly I just ended up skimming over it.
The biggest weakness in this book is that the language is a touch too modern, and everyone refers to Tommy as “Sir Tommy.” No, he would be Sir Thomas. Just…no, that pulls me out. Please don’t do that.
PLEASE.
Anyway, I loved the premise and, like, 78% of the plot, and the heroine was great and the hero was okay when he wasn’t being a dick. So this is totally a good plane book.
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Lordie, I don’t know if I could read a whole book with a hero called Sir Tommy. Even in polite society? I mean the butler would announce ‘Sir Tommy’?I was totally with you, nodding my head, my finger all set to one click, but … that would drive me NUTS!
I recently read a trilogy by Tessa Dare where one of the characters was refered to as Sir Toby all along, and as Sir Tobias only once, in the first sentence of the book where he his the hero, which is the third. And I also found it strange, reading the first two, wondering if his name was actually Toby or if it was customary to use a nickname with the title. Just the one little detail…
I’d think I’d get this based solely on the cover.
It looks like a gender-flipped cover of any other historical, what with the man being all passive and admiring of the woman, and she’s the one who takes an active role of looking at the reader.
And, seriously, pirates?