And, just that fast it’s over.
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Now, we come to the end of my tiny glom project with A Lady’s Guide to Skirting Scandal.
Since we are talking small glom, it is only fitting that we end with a novella which also happens to be part of the Worth series. If you have read I’ve Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm, you may recall the character of Viola Hextall. She is the sister of Heath Hextall and in that book she tried to trick the Duke of Worth into marrying her. When this story begins, she has evidently pushed all of Heath’s buttons. Not knowing what else to do with her, he has shipped her off to America, along with a set of draconian chaperones. When this story opens, she is on board a ship grumbling about her fate and how life has treated her badly.Having just read I’ve Got My Duke to Keep Me Warm, I found it interesting that Viola was the character who Ms. Bowen chose to write about. In my opinion Viola would be a hard character to reform. I thought she came off as a selfish, immature, spoiled brat who needed to be taken down a peg or two. Well, in this short story she doesn’t necessarily get taken down, but she does become a better person. Through the help and encouragement of Nathaniel Shaw she starts to find herself. She learns that she can be more than what she thought she could. Nathaniel taps into her potential and she becomes a perfect helpmate for him. She even likes herself in the end - and that's the important part.
Having said that I will also say I was not as impressed with this short story by Ms. Bowen as I was with The Lady in Red. I don’t think the two characters were given enough time to fully develop. Maybe it was the obligatory humpa-dumpa scene which took up some valuable character development, but I had a sense of rushed story line. I think Viola's character was too complicated for the short story format. Her voice deserved a larger platform.
While this story was a pleasant read, it had a rushed feel to it and even though I’m happy to have read it, A Lady’s Guide to Skirting Scandal felt like the short story it was. Too bad because I think Viola would have been the perfect complex character to give a bigger book to.
And, I have come to the close of my Kelly Bowen short glom and I have to say – it was a pleasure. I wish I could find more treasures in my TBR pile. There were just a few minor quibbles along the way - the treasure hunters and the too short of a story for Viola – but overall what a wonderful writer Kelly Bowen has become for me. She can now take her place among my auto-buys.
Time/Place: Regency Atlantic Ocean
Sensuality: Warm
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