So far, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Mimi Matthews. She tends to write clean, interesting romances that aren’t irritating.
Her books are perfect for when you want to drop a romance bomb on your reading life. Romance with a capital R. Her books are decently clean. For example, in this one, there are bedroom scenes between a husband and wife, and even though they’re steamy, they’re not spicy or explicit. In fact, it’s sweet to see the marital bed depicted in a positive light.
What I’m saying is that the romantic relationship is the point of the book. There are side characters and some light subplots, but the two main love interests get the spotlight. There’s a dab of suspense and intrigue. This keeps things interesting and allows external forces to put pressure on the romance and test it.
Most of the action, however, happens internally. Our main character, Philly, is great with wounded animals. That’s why she feels drawn to Captain Heyward (which made me think of Sanditon every time I heard it). The Captian was traumatized in battle and sustained injuries that resulted in lifelong handicaps. Philly is just the girl to make him feel safe. It’s your classic Beauty and the Beast setup—the beast isn’t lovable until he is loved. Philly has a less dramatic arc. She grows stronger and more confident in the face of the girl-bullies who try to cow her, and she becomes a tad more worldly wise to wicked people who hide their true selves.
What I appreciate most about Mimi Matthews is that she doesn’t throw unbelievable or exasperating things at her lovers to keep them apart. A pet peeve of mine is when an author overuses a misunderstanding or presumption to throw an obstacle in the way of love. If the two people would just talk about it, they’d resolve it in one beat. But no, this one unspoken belief keeps them apart for 30 chapters. That gets old fast. In this book, there are many misunderstandings, but the characters clear them up quickly and move on. This is much more satisfying.
Honestly, this all makes for a solid book. It’s not the most amazing story, but it WILL hit the spot if you need to satisfy a Jane Austen craving with some quick sugar.
Opposites attract. Big time. Romance Above All Else.
Oh, Mimi Matthews! She’s one of the queens of period romance. This is NOT what I’d call a naughty little nugget—it was clean—but the romance was laid thick.
I picked it because I needed a quick win after The Shell Seekers, and this came free with Audible Plus.
I will say this. The book is short, and it gets straight to the point. “You here for romance?” Mimi asks. You nod enthusiastically! She doesn’t make you wait even one page to get things started. Hero and heroine meet right away, and it’s off to the races from there. It’s one neat little package.
Besides romance, there’s not much here. Both Valentine (heroine) and St. Ashton (hero) have personal issues to deal with, but they play second fiddle to the romance.
Valentine is a vicar’s daughter, and she’s sweet and innocent, but she also has a blurry past. St. Ashton is a notorious ladies’ man with dubious morals. The morals praised by the book are (by and large) good. Some characters behave badly, but this is never condoned. I was happy with the standards the book set for female-male relationships and what’s okay and not.
How spicy is this, exactly? It’s a closed-door romance with 3/5 jalapeno peppers worth of spice. But I also wouldn’t call it chaste. There’s closeness and kissing, and a lot of it. Okay for a teenager? Yes, an older teen. How cringey is it? I’d say 3/5 on the cheese scale. One of the author’s strengths is that she can write these crazy romances without making you feel foolish for reading them.
A message of courage for kids who are too scared to reach for their dreams
What an incredible accomplishment for a teen author! This sweet story explores what it means to have hope when hope feels unrealistic and risky. The plot did not take the turns I expected, and what started as historical middle-grade took a turn into fantasyland.
Ashton Harper loves to dance. He secretly harbors hopes of attending a prestigious school of dance. But there’s no way he’ll get in, so why try? Why care?
Ashton and his two sisters DO get a shot at auditioning for the school…will they take it? The story follows Ashton as he figures out what he really wants from life, what’s truly important, and how to let go of his fears and insecurities.
This book is perfect for young readers who love the Regency era but want to read middle-grade (not adult romance, which tends to dominate).
Two sisters with wildly different temprements fall in love with men they can’t have
This book contains some of Austen’s all-time best dialogue. So many double meanings, so much dramatic irony. I will say, though, that this novel gets off to a rather slow start. I’d forgotten how long it takes for things to really get rolling. But the story just keeps getting better and better as it flows along.
I’m a total sucker for strong theme, and this book has it—it’s right there in the title. Just like Pride and Prejudice. You’ve got two sisters who embody two extremes of temperament. Eleanor is all sense, and Marianne is all sensibility. Austen shows us the upsides and downsides of each, ultimately praising both in moderation.
In the BBC miniseries from the 2000s, there is a very cringey scene in which Brandon and Willoughby duel with pistols on a foggy morning. I always mocked this scene up and down, saying, “That never happened in the book.” But I was so dead wrong! When Brandon confides in Eleanor, he mentions in veiled language that a duel did take place. So, there you go. Duels do happen in Austen.
What happens when a selfish lord decides to help a poor family get a foothold in London society? Rrrrrrrromance! (Roll the “R.”)
This was delightful. Georgette Heyer is often described as the inventor of the regency romance genre when she started publishing novels like this one back in the ’20s. This book is like Jane Austen with antics, haha.
Frederica is determined to see her drop-dead gorgeous younger sister, Charis, have one London season. That’s all she needs to make a comfortable match with a gentleman. Since Frederica lost both her parents and has long been in charge of her younger siblings, it’s up to her to make this happen for Charis.
Frederica appeals to a distant cousin, Lord Alverstroke, who agrees to help her (at first) only to needle his bothersome sisters. But then, Alverstroke realizes that Frederica might just be his kind of gal. Romance ensues.
This book is CUTE. Clean romance. Regency period. Sparkling morals. Sweet to the bone. But, unlike Jane Austen, this isn’t all quiet action in parlor rooms and gardens and country estates. Here, we mix with people of all classes. We have adventures—barking dogs, hot air balloons, steamers!
The only critique I have (and it’s a small one) is that the writing can be clumsy to read at times. It’s not seamless. I found myself halting through some passages, especially those thick with period slang and colloquialisms. Also, Heyer uses exclamation marks with zero hesitation!!! Haha.
The next time I read a Heyer novel, I’d like to listen on audio. I bet that would be even better.
Side note: I can’t believe that filmmakers haven’t picked up on Heyer yet. Instead of making bad adaptations of Jane Austen, they could pick ANY Georgette Heyer novel and run with it.
Content warnings: None. The romance is as clean as it gets.
Oh boy, I’m a sucker for a Regency romance, and this one came on my radar when I learned that Sarah Eden crowdfunded enough money to have this made into a film. That’s impressive. My library had it, so I thought I’d read it.
This is a loose retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth. You’ve got Adam, a duke, who is fearsome and solitary and self-conscious about his scarred face. Then, you have Persephone, who is young and lively and completely devoted to her father and siblings. The result is a classic Opposites Attract story with heavy Beauty and the Beast overtones.
Adam and Persephone agree to marry, sight unseen, each for their own reasons, and they have a bear of a time getting along.
There were times when the Hades and Persephone myth was too on the nose for my taste, but it was neat to see how Eden translated different elements of the myth into the Regency era.
These stories rely on misunderstandings in order to keep the lovers apart, and there were plenty of them here. Adam and Persephone are strangers when they marry, and neither of them will speak plainly or open up. This book almost reached my personal threshold of tolerance for miscommunications, but it wasn’t bad.
In fact, I devoured this book in just a couple of days. It was a quick, wholesome and enjoyable read.
How spicy is the romance? Like three out of five jalapeno peppers. I thought the romance was one of the most tasteful I’ve read. It didn’t feel cheesy, which is impressive. I truly believed that they were falling in love because they wanted to—not because the author told them to. 😊
When a young woman in regency-era England is forced to flee home, where will she turn?
This is the second Julie Klassen book that I’ve DNFed since the beginning of the year. I tried listening to Castaway in Cornwall on audio first, and then I got bored at the 35 percent mark. I decided to start this one, and I find that I’m forcing myself to go back to the audiobook…I have no desire to continue, so I’m going to just stop.
I don’t know if it’s the audio format or if it’s just not the right time for a regency romance. The books aren’t bad, but I think they’re lacking the conflict and emotion that I’m craving right now.
There are times when a relatively sedate and buttoned-up story is just the ticket. But, that’s falling flat for me at the moment.
Not giving up on you, Jules! I’ll be back.
Content warnings: Nothing graphic, but there was one scene when a man made unwanted advances toward the protagonist, and she got away.
This is my second Georgette Heyer novel, and I went into it blind. I enjoyed this old-timey Regency romance for the most part, although there was a saggy bit in the beginning-middle, which I pushed through, and I’m glad I did. This book illustrates the age-old truth: you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.
The first few chapters race along because the setup is superfun: A rich, young, and hunky lord decides (on a whim) to marry a childhood friend of his. She’s young, like 16, and he’s not much older, like early 20s. They don’t love each other, but they’re chums. They’re marrying for convenience. The Viscount Sherry gets his full inheritance bestowed upon him when he marries, and our sweet young heroine (aptly named Hero) agrees to be his wife to avoid the woeful fate of becoming a governess.
After they get married, Hero proves that she has no idea how to be a proper lady, but Sherry can’t be bothered to teach her. They are both so young, and they just wanna have fu-un. Sherry is a bit of a wild boy, flirting and gaming. Hero is a fun-loving, ready-for-anything teenager.
The beginning-middle of the book shows Sherry having to clean up after Hero’s many social fumbles—taking the grownup role for the first time in his life. Hero realizes how much she loves Sherry, but Sherry is oblivious to this. Hero wonders if he regrets marrying her, and she never asks him, so she’s left to stress over it.
The book title probably comes from the traditional poem “Monday’s Child.” According to the poem, Friday’s child is “loving and giving,” and that is exactly what Hero is. She is not an Amazon or a Matriarch or any power-archetype. She’s entirely at Sherry’s mercy, yet, through her love and goodness, she saves him.
Sherry is not—ahem—politically correct, shall we say. This whole book, in fact, is delightfully incorrect in so many ways. Sherry is flawed. He doesn’t appreciate Hero and treats her like a possession. His nickname for her is “Kitten”—barf! Even after his transformation, he’s not exactly fighting for her right to be prime minister or anything like that. But he does teach her to drive, so there’s that.
