Three Stars
ARC received for an honest review
This was a fun and cute read. I always like stories with the socially
awkward or underdog girl gets the hero.
Sue Green is definitely all the above.
She is basically on the shelf or will be soon and her mother pointedly
tells her that she will be shipped off to live with her aunt as her companion
if she does not find a husband this season.
Sue, although pretty, is not as gorgeous as her sister-Evangeline. She loves painting and really likes to be her
own person. She feels very restricted by
the rules of the ton and society. Lord
Holden Ellis is a handsome and your typical has-it-all guy. He meets “Suzanne”, who is really Sue, one
night when she is at a ball disguised.
He can’t get her out of his mind and tries to find her again. Sue knows who Holden is but knows that she
does not stand a chance with him. As Sue
and Holden are thrown together they develop a sweet friendship that eventually
escalates to a romantic relationship.
Although, I liked this story and found it pleasing,
I had some issues. First, the whole
disguised scenario, I think was not well played out. It seemed too unbelievable. I mean, Holden deduces that the only person
that seems like “Suzanne” is Sue but he is still searching for her like a
madman… This was a little too much… Then Sue’s cousins, who seemed very trivial
to the story are always setting Sue and Holden up to meet. They send him a note and she also receives a
note to meet in the library. He instantly knows it’s her, “Suzanne”, but it’s
too dark to see. This scene really
ruined the story for me because it was not believable. The other issue I had was Sue’s mother. She was so unkind and cruel that it bordered
on abusive. She was so degrading to Sue
it was sad and made me feel horrible for her.
The mother just cares about a title and getting a very wealthy husband
for her daughter Evangeline and really only directs her attention at Sue to
criticize her. Finally, Holden has a lot
of secrets. He is definitely not who he
appears and it was difficult to figure out if the story was light and funny
(like some of the light moments that Sue and Holden share) or if it was dark
(some of the secrets that are discovered).
As the story unravels there are many secrets that come to light that are
serious and really life threatening. In
my opinion, there was too much going on.
But I did enjoy the story and I did think that Sue and Holden eventually
made a good couple. I also really liked
Lillian and Devon Grey, the Mad Duke of Thornwood their stories seem to
intertwine with this one. I plan to read
“Must Love Dukes (Tricks of the Ton #2) as I saw how Lillian and Grey have a
great history and great chemistry.
Finally,
after Sue and Holden confess their love and find their way to each other, many
more layers to their relationship surface and I loved that Sue was able to
stand up for herself and be treated like she deserved! Also, I really liked
Evangeline and think there was more to her than was seen in this story. I’m hoping that the author will give her her
own time to find true love and we can learn who she really is aside from who
her mother is presenting her to be. As I mentioned, before this story really
does have a lot of different elements to it and it keeps the reader
engaged. There were many “surprises” I
was not expecting.
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