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Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Theme: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Proximity
The blurb promised me a Regency Bachelorette (like the TV show). What I found was a bit different, but nonetheless a great time.
It has been decreed by the powers that be (yes, I’m being vague on purpose) that Charlotte should marry by the end of the summer. She has her own reasons for marrying and can’t see her way out of this ‘decree’ anyway, so her gran invites a series of eligible suitors to their family estate in Kent for a house party.
The suitors’ stays are consecutive rather than concurrent so we only deal with one suitor at a time. There are, however, some guests that are there for the full duration: the neighbouring family who Charlotte and her gran are very close to and Wolfgang, a duke who has been tasked with ‘keeping an eye’ while Charlotte’s brother is out of the country.
So far this isn’t sounding that interesting, I know. But I promise it is! What makes Just for the Season feel so fresh and original are the women’s personalities.
Charlotte loves courting scandal. She’s unapologetically herself and doesn’t have much time for the dictates of proper society. So far that’s also sounding pretty standard for a recently written Regency, but this book takes it a step further. Charlotte isn’t fighting her corner alone. She has her grandmother’s backing. Feminist principles are discussed openly and not merely as thoughts but as facts that describe the lives around them. It’s truly a case of burning down the patriarchy.
One of my favourite feminist (and also pragmatic) moments was when Charlotte’s gran advocated for always accepting jewels when they are given to you and also never to return them to the giver. The reason? Jewels can be the personal property of women and can serve as her financial reserve in case she needs to escape a bad situation.
Even Wolfgang gets involved. When reflecting on what he wants for his life, he thinks the following: “Especially because, God help him, he wanted her free even more than he wanted her his.”
If you need your historical romances to hew closely to recorded history, then this might not be the book for you. This is ‘historical as fantasy’ at its finest. The characters say the kind of things that I wish I’d said in moments of confrontation or conflict – especially Charlotte.
In fact, I cheered for her throughout as she faced down all who would doubt or challenge her. By the time I reached the epilogue I felt the same as I did after I finished watching Legally Blonde for the first time – utterly incandescent with joy.
Wolfgang is, of course, the love interest. He lost his brother to a long illness and that devastated him. He also had a misunderstanding with Charlotte around the same time that hurt deeply, and he’d just left the army after surviving the war. A trifecta of terrible things in a short period of time. This has left a mark on him and he’s become stiff and grumpy. During the house party, we see a different side to him – more and more he becomes more like the person he was prior to these bad things happening and that’s largely down to his love for Charlotte.
Charlotte might be a delight already but she does have some emotional growth to tackle for that HEA to happen and it centres around being the product of an unhappy marriage.
Part of the dedication of the book really caught my attention: “For anyone who ever experienced the horror/hilarity of dating in New York City. Charlotte is our revenge”. My mind would return to it intermittently while reading. Some of these stories had to be based on real life experiences.
Is there anything I didn’t like about Just for the Season? Yes, one thing. Sometimes scenes would end rather abruptly and there’d be a gap in the action between its end and the start of the next scene. This can sometimes be quite jarring and pushed me out of the story as I tried to imagine how that scene ended after a shocking event at the end of the scene.
For example, Wolfgang and Charlotte are making out in (redacted location) when the scene ends. The next scene starts with Charlotte putting her clothes back on. Was it a closed door romance? Judging by the other intimate scenes, no. So why did they stop kissing? What was it that prompted them to separate their mouths? Why was she wearing no clothing and what happened?
Ed. note: Justice for Lara!
Despite that, I had a wonderful time with this book and I happily recommend it to anyone in need of a cheering read. Especially if in moments of conflict or tension in your own life, like me, you clam up and only think of what to say once the moment has passed!
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