Kindle marked this as read, but I didn't actually finish it. Got to 52% in, but I just couldn't get interested. Arabella's personality wasn't consistent. I didn't care for the guy at all - he actually annoyed me quite a bit with how conceited he was thinking he was such a great inventor. The kids annoyed me, too, especially the oldest. So... knowing that I couldn't possibly fall in love myself while reading this book, I gave up. Time to move on! It might have been an interesting story if I had kept up with it, but when I don't the characters, I don't want to spend the time on it.3 s Pauline RossAuthor 10 books326

Sofi Laporte is an interesting addition to the company of Regency authors. Her work is refreshingly different and very funny. It’s not a wildly authentic evocation of the Regency, but so well written that I forgive it.

Here’s the premise: Lady Arabella Astley, the sister of the Duke of Ashmore, has run away from her home, all the way to Cornwall in answer to an advertisement for a governess, calling herself Miss Weston. It’s not immediately clear why she felt the need to do this, since there’s no lead in and the first chapter opens with Arabella being interviewed, after a fashion, by the fourteen year old daughter of the house. But it doesn’t really matter, since the three children are delightfully eccentric (and very funny), and then Arabella meets their father… Philip Merivale is a blacksmith and inventor, prone to working shirtless, and devilishly handsome. The family lives in ramshackle style in a cottage, and Arabella finds herself forced to help with the household chores - even cooking! When she’s never even been in a kitchen before! It’s all very educational for a duke’s sister, and Arabella shows her independence and determination in spades when it’s her day to cook. Philip immediately works out that she’s of noble blood, but his secret takes longer to reveal itself.

Given the title, it’s not much of a spoiler to say that Philip is the very unwilling heir to a dukedom. He is the Earl of Threthewick (which is a horrible name, by the way, and impossible to pronounce). I’m not sure why he’s an earl, since a duke’s heir apparent has the rank of a marquess, but let that pass. His son should have a title too (he has the rank of an earl), but let that pass, too. Anyway, Philip has fallen out with his grandfather, the duke, for understandable reasons, and s to pretend that he’s just a humble blacksmith and the dukedom is nothing to do with him. Which just makes him daft, frankly. He’s going to be the duke one day, whether he s it or not, and his son after him, and the fact that his son has to point that out to him shows which of the two is the most sensible.

But then, Arabella’s not exactly the most sensible person ever, either. Running away to Cornwall without even so much as a change of clothes and not thinking that her very loving brother might be frantic with worry is also pretty daft. I can admire her pluck, and her brother is definitely over-protective, but still, a little more planning wouldn’t have gone amiss. And then, when she discovers exactly who Philip is, and realises that he’s been berating her for keeping the secret of her noble origins from him, when he’s been doing exactly the same, she doesn’t storm back to the cottage and yell at him, as any normal person would do. She doesn’t tackle him about it at all, she just carries on as if nothing very much had happened. Which doesn’t make much sense to me. I was looking forward to the explosion and it just didn’t happen.

But the romance… ah, the romance! I can forgive all sorts of questionable plot deviousness for a romance this. Arabella’s journey from oh-my-goodness-a-man-without-a-shirt to despairing love is beautifully drawn, and there were some wonderful moments along the way. Philip’s journey is a little more uneven, and I wanted to slap him upside the head sometimes for not acknowledging what he was feeling, but then a ducal heir who can convince himself that he’s nothing but a humble blacksmith is not a man of great self-knowledge or introspection. At least he got there in the end, if a little bit late and overly melodramatic.

I mentioned above that this is not a particularly convincing version of the Regency. Every author creates his or her own evocation of the era, of course, and since none of us lived through it, they’re all equally valid. But this one feels a little bit off, to me. Arabella teaches Philip how to behave amongst his peers and at formal dinners, and while this is all very funny, it’s more Victorian than Regency. The serving of each separate dish as a course (soup, fish, meat, etc) by footmen, the array of cutlery (oyster forks! When oysters were so abundant and cheap that they were exclusively a dish of the poor until late in the Victorian era; the upper classes only cooked with them), the raised pinkie when drinking tea - please, no! There are also a lot of Americanisms in the writing, so if this bothers you, Laporte is best avoided. But this is one of those cases where I was enjoying the story so much that I merely smiled at these little bumps in the smooth path of my reading.

If you’re not too bothered about these minor details, this is a fun read, with two lovely characters falling very believably in love, a fine array of entertaining minor characters and a nice glimpse at the married life of the couple from the previous book. Four stars.4-star genre-regency price-borrowed ...more2 s Jenni188 3

This is book 2 in the series and I rate this 3 stars. Arabella is a Duke's sister posing as a governess. Philip is living life as an impoverished blacksmith and inventor rather than accepting the fact that he is heir to a dukedom and a current Earl. Far-fetched but I'll buy. Let's continue...

Philip knows Arabella is of quality but doesn't really call her on it. Arabella learns about Philip's family history but doesn't really call him out on it either so that got annoying. Arabella had never cooked, cleaned, or anything before so the fact that she could travel unchaperoned to answer an advertisement for a governess, let alone navigate the teachings of three children is hardly plausible. Yet she makes efforts and the kids love her.

There were some sweet moments with Philip and Arabella but I couldn't really buy the love thing. I'm a sucker for moments when other people have to point out the chemistry the lovebirds don't see yet and twice Arabella is put on the spot so it does feel a bit one-sided. Although I enjoyed when Arabella kept invading Philip's thoughts. The scene where the one little cloud in the sky spelled imminent thunderstorm so he had to go check on her was cute. But there needed to be more of those moments for Philip to really come to love her.

It was inevitable that Philip would need to finally acknowledge his place in society but I felt bad that the grandfather never got to see the grandkids one more time before dying. Philip robbed him of that even after learning the truth about his parents, which was a shame. Also the whole thing about his grandfather buying the patents was left unresolved.

Overall, the book was good, not great, but it was kinda fun and I wanted to know how it all shook out. I would to continue the series. I'll keep an eye out for the other books.

Steam was 1/5.
Autor del comentario:
=================================