September 7, 2021
Yes, it's possible for female friendship in Romanceland!
https://www.annegracie.com/The Scoundrel’s Daughter, by Anne Gracie, is the opening book in the Brides of Bellaire Gardens series. While not quite as delightful as The Perfect Rake, it’s still a nice read. We even have two romances in this book, a mature one, and a not mature one. We also have a horrible father, who just might be a creepy villain. The premise of this story revolves around blackmail. The person being blackmailed is Alice, Lady Charlton. Poor Alice, luck just hasn’t been her friend. She’s a widow, which is probably the only thing good to ever happen to her. Her husband was an emotionally abusive man, kept a mistress, and left Alice destitute. The only one in Alice’s family she has any fondness for is her nephew, Gerald. He is one of the nice guys in a book full of man-slugs. As luck would have it, Alice’s husband happened to leave a number of love letter’s laying around. The problem with those love letter’s is that her husband did not write them to Alice, but to his mistress. They have also fallen into the hands of a nefarious con-artist, Octavius Bamber. Octavius Bamber will not win the father of the year award.
Let’s talk about women. There are two romance stories in this book. The main romance is between Alice, Lady Charlton and James, Lord Tarrant. A secondary romance blossoms between Lucy Bamber and Alice’s nephew Gerald. For the most part, those romances had some interesting interaction, but let’s talk about the real chemistry in the story. The relationship between Alice and Lucy. Alice is being blackmailed into launching a reluctant Lucy into society. The blackmailer is the winner of the worst father of the year award, Octavius Bamber. At first, when sulky, stubborn Lucy is introduced to Alice, I thought: oh boy another horrible spoiled woman. But it turned out I was wrong. First of all, Alice and Lucy talk to each other, they find a common enemy – Octavius. Not only do they find a common goal, they develop a friendship. They both have been emotionally abused by the men in their lives. They see the world through less than innocent eyes. Do they always agree with each other? No. But they do talk to each other, and they accept each other short-falls. It was relaxing to view two women characters who actually worked together, and liked each other.
The relationship between Lucy and Gerald was fun. They irritate each other. When Gerald is given the assignment of finding a suitable husband for Lucy, his candidates are atrocious. Lucy turns the tables on Gerald, and seemingly enjoys his matchmaking attempts, which in turn annoys him. It was all great fun.
Now on to Alice and James. As mentioned before, Alice’s husband was real dog-doo. Until Octavius came along with his blackmail, Alice was happy with her widowhood. When James enters her life, she is attracted to him, but not trusting of men. She is willing to be a friend to James. James on the other hand is a tad bit manipulative. He wants Alice, and he isn’t above using “friendship” as a means to keep her. Once again…how do you “keep” someone? He even uses his three charming daughters as a weapon. It would have been nice if Alice could have had a HEA with a man who didn’t use “friendship” as a means to his end. I wish Alice had been given the opportunity to decide to marry James without being manipulated.
Bye the way, the villain/father Octavius vanishes somewhere on the Island of Misplaced Villains.
Overall, I loved the relationship between Alice and Lucy. I also thought the chemistry between Lucy and Gerald was fun. The issue I had with this story was James being a I-know-what’s-best guy. Alice was a mature woman who could think for herself. I just wish that James would have allowed her to be her own person. While there were parts of this story I liked a lot, this was not my favorite Anne Gracie book…that would be The Perfect Rake.
Time/Place: Regency England
Let’s talk about women. There are two romance stories in this book. The main romance is between Alice, Lady Charlton and James, Lord Tarrant. A secondary romance blossoms between Lucy Bamber and Alice’s nephew Gerald. For the most part, those romances had some interesting interaction, but let’s talk about the real chemistry in the story. The relationship between Alice and Lucy. Alice is being blackmailed into launching a reluctant Lucy into society. The blackmailer is the winner of the worst father of the year award, Octavius Bamber. At first, when sulky, stubborn Lucy is introduced to Alice, I thought: oh boy another horrible spoiled woman. But it turned out I was wrong. First of all, Alice and Lucy talk to each other, they find a common enemy – Octavius. Not only do they find a common goal, they develop a friendship. They both have been emotionally abused by the men in their lives. They see the world through less than innocent eyes. Do they always agree with each other? No. But they do talk to each other, and they accept each other short-falls. It was relaxing to view two women characters who actually worked together, and liked each other.
The relationship between Lucy and Gerald was fun. They irritate each other. When Gerald is given the assignment of finding a suitable husband for Lucy, his candidates are atrocious. Lucy turns the tables on Gerald, and seemingly enjoys his matchmaking attempts, which in turn annoys him. It was all great fun.
Now on to Alice and James. As mentioned before, Alice’s husband was real dog-doo. Until Octavius came along with his blackmail, Alice was happy with her widowhood. When James enters her life, she is attracted to him, but not trusting of men. She is willing to be a friend to James. James on the other hand is a tad bit manipulative. He wants Alice, and he isn’t above using “friendship” as a means to keep her. Once again…how do you “keep” someone? He even uses his three charming daughters as a weapon. It would have been nice if Alice could have had a HEA with a man who didn’t use “friendship” as a means to his end. I wish Alice had been given the opportunity to decide to marry James without being manipulated.
Bye the way, the villain/father Octavius vanishes somewhere on the Island of Misplaced Villains.
Overall, I loved the relationship between Alice and Lucy. I also thought the chemistry between Lucy and Gerald was fun. The issue I had with this story was James being a I-know-what’s-best guy. Alice was a mature woman who could think for herself. I just wish that James would have allowed her to be her own person. While there were parts of this story I liked a lot, this was not my favorite Anne Gracie book…that would be The Perfect Rake.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Warm
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