B
Genre: Historical: European, Romance
Book 2 of the Romance of the Turf series!
I HAVE BEEN WAITING (mostly) patiently for this book for (checks calendar) FOR OVER A YEAR.
The heroine of this book is Kate, a daughter of the Chandler family. We met them in the series intro novella, The Sport of Baronets ( A | BN | K | AB ). She’s been widowed for two years, and the marriage wasn’t great. Her husband, an Irish earl, spent money like there was no tomorrow, and also fucked around.
The hero is Evan Rhys, a Welsh archeologist who specializes in spotting forgeries. Also, he was Kate’s husband’s best friend, but also has been in love with Kate since the beginning.
Things I liked: I liked Evan. I liked how excited he was about digging up old artifacts and how he would notice things, like, “I know that this is forgery just by looking at it, but I need a second to process why I know that.” My mind works like that sometimes, and it’s fun to see specific aspects of yourself in a book.
I also liked that he clearly had some low-key depression. It didn’t prevent him from living his life, but he described it as this grayness that just is there all the time. And Magic Va-JayJay doesn’t fix it; it’s part of him. It’s not the most important part of him, but it’s been there his entire life.
I liked Kate and how she is clearly in the later stages of navigating grief, learning how to define her life now that her official mourning is over. Her husband died in a riding accident, so her relationship with horses – especially as pertains to her children – is now a lot more complex. She also has a very difficult mother-in-law and I was very entertained at her tactics for dealing with her.
Things I liked a lot less: the hero has been in love with the heroine for as long as he’s known her. I think Romain took a lot of care to make sure that Evan was mostly in a que-sera-sera state of mind, especially when Kate was married to his BFF. He also didn’t really spend his time hoping after she was widowed that if he put enough kindness coins in, the sex would fall out. Hell, he avoided her for years because he didn’t want to fall into that trap, and even after they reconnect, he’s a little hesitant about the subject.
Personally, I find that “I’ve loved you the WHOLE TIME” is a difficult subset of the friends to lovers trope for me. Even when it’s handled delicately, I get uncomfortable. It’s too easy to fall into “I deserve to be let out of the Friendzone!” with it. Your milage, of course, may vary.
Horse racing, both on the flat and as a steeplechase, did not factor in as much as I wanted. But there is a very silly horse who likes playing games!
This is one of those series that does have a C-plot that weaves through the books, so it does help to have read the previous book. The stand-alone novella introduces the families, and A Gentleman’s Game introduces the the C-plot. It’s been over a year since I read A Gentleman’s Game (and kind of a LOT has happened in that year), so I had some trouble remembering exactly what was going on and what I should already know about this particular thing. While you can enjoy the main crux of this book without the background knowledge, I do suggest reading these in order (and not just because I adored A Gentleman’s Game but I DID).
This is another offering from one of my favorite authors, with one of my favorite topics, and one of my least favorite sub-tropes. In the saga of the families of the Romance of the Turf, though, it’s solid.
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This review has good and bad news for me.
The good: I’m not particularly into horses or horse races, so this aspect not figuring so prominently is a plus for me.
The neutral: I think my mileage does vary on the sub-trope you dislike. 😉
The bad: I haven’t read the first book in the series, nor am I inclined to. Now I wonder if I should still read this or better return it for a refund…
It’s also good news bad news for me, @Katty.
I like horses but not racing. However, I haven’t read book one and I wanted to read this. I think I’ll try it and, um, true confession, skim over the parts that have plot C.
Because Imma LOVE the “he’s loved her the WHOLE TIME” trope. See my fangirling over Phillip the dark and irresistible environmental crusader who says things like “I reckon I could wait my whole life for you to happen to me and you’d never even notice. So I should tell you that I intend to happen to you.” Aw hell yeah. Also, it’s great as a STANDALONE ( I read the first book later)
https://www.amazon.com/Princess-Royal-Romances-Book-ebook/dp/B01BOBWY8Y
Now i have to go buy this Theresa Romain book and ignore the subplot cause I’m a rebel like that
Has anyone noticed that the covers of this book and Susannah and the Scot are nearly the same — layout, pose of the models, color scheme, typefaces… At first glance I thought it was two reviews of the same book. I’m imagining the models in a variety of costumes being asked to carefully pose in exactly this position so that they can be slotted into the standard layout.
As much as I love Theresa Romain, I can’t say the same for horse racing…stuff…so this book was not on my radar. And while I am pretty weary of the whole Deserving Nice Guy problem, I am a big fan of “he’s loved her the whole time” and nuanced treatments of mental health issues. Obviously, I need to go read this right now.
Side note: The plot immediately reminded me of one of my all-time favorites, Scandal by Carolyn Jewel. God, I hated that book so hard the first time I tried to read it. You have to be in the right mood, I think. And there are a ton of things about the hero that could be a turn off for people. I wonder, was there ever a SBTB review of that? On second thought, I don’t want to mess with my delicate state of appreciation. If if turns out the hero is actually an asshole I don’t think I’m ready to realize that. Coming full circle, yay for authors like Theresa Romain, who write quality nice guys! (I’ve been retracing her backlist.)
I recently listened to the podcast where you interviewed Theresa Romain. I was so excited to hear the town of Newmarket mentioned (I live in a small village 3 miles outside and cross the ‘Gallops’ where the horses are exercised to get to town). So despite the fact that racing generally leaves me cold, I am looking forward to reading this series where the town plays a part.
What gives me pause is not the “he’s secretly loved her the whole time” aspect but rather the “he was best friends with a guy who was a shit husband that slept around” thing. I just get a lot of squicks from that. We’re not responsible for the actions of our friends, but at the same time, did he know about these actions/assist in keeping them secret? Doesn’t who your friends are say some things about who you are even when you’re not involved in their specific actions?
I just finished this book yesterday, and (grain of salt, imo, ymmv, etc) I think the narrative balanced the hero’s secret love with his knowledge and regrets about the dead husband having been something of a selfish, impulsive shit. When the book opens, the hero and heroine haven’t seen or spoken in the two years since the earl died, and the hero has a lot of complicated reasons why he stayed away, the last conversation he had with the earl being a major one of them. (I hope that isn’t too spoilery. I don’t think it is, but I’ve got jet lag.)
Long-term unrequited friends-to-lovers romance is such a huge catnip for me that if Theresa Romain wasn’t already an insta-buy, that would do it for me. Especially when it’s obvious the guy is trying very not to be “that guy” when it comes to dealing with his feelings, Courtney Milan’s “Countess Conspiracy” and Julia Quinn’s “When He Was Wicked” are other really good examples of this.
Finally finished Scandalous Ever After yesterday as making a living got in the way. I agree with SB Sarah … the narrative balanced Evan’s secret love with his knowledge of Kate’s late husband well. Meg, you beat me to the punch, mentioning both The Countess Conspiracy and When He Was Wicked.
Lady Alix the Welsh Cob stole the show for me. After following “Horse & Hound” for years, I am entirely enchanted by Cobs.