Synopsis

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry.

From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will Marianne be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.

(via Amazon)

Review

I rated this book 3 stars on Goodreads, mainly because I thought the story would have been a lot more interesting if Cecily was the focal love interest. To see her go from her superficial, marrying for wealth and power, to figuring out what real love is would have been great. Being an obnoxious character fueled by her elevated ego, her journey with humility would have felt much more rewarding and genuine than Marianne’s story. To me at least.

The background of this book was beautiful as I pretty much feel about any regency book I read. I love jumping into these classic worlds where people ride in horse drawn carriages and fill their time going horseback riding on the beautiful estate grounds. Where the women wear gorgeous gowns for pretty much any occasion and the men always look strapping in their suits. The manor of Edenbrooke reminded me a whole lot of Mr. Darcy’s estate of Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice. I do wish we could have gotten a more detailed look of the estate outside of the library, Marianne’s room, and outside though but it was enough to enjoy the full splendor of the property.

Marianne feels down on her luck basically the entire book. She has felt as though she has been playing second fiddle to her older and more beautiful twin sister Cecily. On top of her feelings of isolation from her father, she believes to be the black sheep of the family. One thing that threw me off about her was how she was treating the ‘unwanted suitor’ from the very first scene in the book. She was tearing him a new one with her extremely rude inner thoughts about his appearance and general ridiculous way he presents himself. Her judgmental nature made it hard for me to feel sorry for her plights. Also, after the highwayman incident, she decides to get into the carriage of a total stranger who was paid to bring her to Edenbrooke, even if he had to drag her into the carriage. Like, how are you so willing to trust like that after a supposed traumatic event that took place mere hours before? Anyways, she makes a whole lot of assumptions throughout the story of which fuels her own victim status in her mind. I do tire of reading woe-is-me characters after a while especially when misunderstandings are fueling it. Also, for someone who apparently loves twirling, she sure does not know how to do it without almost drowning herself, or getting her hair snagged on tree limbs. Either figure it out or grow up lol

Phillip was an interesting character as well. His first interaction with Marianne was extremely rude and very unlike his personality and character. I understand you get some more background information later as to why he was even there to begin with, but that does not excuse or clear up his initial bad attitude to someone who clearly needed help. He made some interesting choices to keep his true identity as the heir to Edenbrooke away from Marianne. I appreciated this since it showed how wary he was to be married solely for his title and wealth. He had been obviously attracted to Marianne from their first meeting but his initial obsession with taking care of everything for her was a bit over the top. From paying for their stay, paying for a nurse for the coachman and even sending another coach to bring them to Edenbrooke, without giving his name or anything was sketchy to me. That being said, I thought Phillip did end up a good suitor for Marianne. I particularly enjoyed his protectiveness of her during the main conflict of the book. He consistently came off as someone who cared about her wellbeing and desires, minus the social side to things in which I will go further into down below.

The relationship between Marianne and Phillip was at times, too slow-paced. Mainly due to Marianne not understanding how he could love her when Cecily and half the female population seem to be chomping at the bit to marry him. Phillip was not being too subtle with his attractions and feelings towards Marianne, so I was getting a bit impatient at times. Luckily, they do share some tender moments that are quite swoon worthy. They have a very similar sense of humor that was plain as day during their first sit down conversation at the Inn. I was left chuckling multiple times at their banter throughout the book so that was entertaining to read. There were also several moments in which Phillip and Marianne would be alone together. Granted, the door would be left open, but I am pretty sure back in the early 1800’s, that would not fly. Reputation was everything back then and if people were caught in those situations, they could both be socially ruined, particularly the woman.

Speaking of reputation, Cecily could and should have had her reputation ruined multiple times throughout this book. I figured she would be quite a prideful and shallow person based on Marianne’s description. She has had the pleasure of staying at Edenbrooke with Phillip’s family while Marianne was sent to live with their overbearing grandmother in the less scenic Bath. The majority of the book, she is gallivanting in London taking full advantage of her first season of looking presentable for the available rich bachelors. Even though she apparently has her eyes set on Phillip. There are multiple times in which she is seen sneaking away with a distant male relative or coming out of the woods with the same gentleman. She makes it obvious to Marianne the activities the two of them were partaking in during these secret rendezvous. This is surprising to me since she is constantly surrounding herself with the gossipiest women imaginable, so I was consistently surprised how she was still welcomed at any of these social events. Surely someone has notice her sneaking around and looking disheveled after the private company of the opposite sex. She does eventually concede with Philip’s true interest and is totally okay with it, even though the book felt like it was being set up for some dramatic love triangle moment between Cecily, Marianne and Phillip. That was probably the most disappointing facet about this book.

All in all, while I did have some negative things to say about this book, it is in my opinion, a good mid-tiered regency romance story. I did find out that this was actually Julianne Donaldson’s first book, so I did give her some grace. Ultimately, there were other reviews out there that were pointing out the inaccuracies and the things that just did not make too much sense, but I still enjoyed reading it for the most part. I actually had no issue getting through this book in a timely manner, so the overall pacing was not bad and the ending when Marianne figures out how loved she truly is, was beautiful in my opinion. If you are into these types of cozy period books, I recommend giving it a shot.