Print Length: 300 pages
Publisher: Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter (January 10, 2025)
From Goodreads.com: ‘I don’t pretend to know the details of your private life, Miss Fairfax, but you might do better to embrace the fortunate position into which you were born, rather than regret the one that only exists between the covers of a novel’
Miss Phoebe Fairfax dreams of being as free as her four brothers. When she discovers she is to be wed to a repugnant earl who is old enough to be her grandfather, she decides to embark on a real adventure…
Enter the insufferable – and insufferably gorgeous – Viscount Damerel.
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My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
I had a really hard time with this one for a few reasons, both with the author's writing techniques, and with the characters and story itself.
Let me start with the author/story as this one is the hardest for me. The author definitely has a solid idea and a strong writing style. However, the repetition starts to wear on a reader after awhile. For example (and out of sheer curiosity), I wonder how many times the words "bourgeois" and "droll" appear as it seems to me as though they were definitely overused.
Also, I get it. The highway man was disappointing, and Phoebe wishes she had the same freedom as her brothers. It did not need to be repeated over and over again. In addition to these instances, I also grew tired of reading the same passages over and over again. Seriously, there were several times throughout the novel where Phoebe (granted in her own thoughts) not only recounted all of her unfortunate adventures up until that point, but also remembered things that had been said to her by the Viscount, word-for-word. And while I will admit these things could have worked if they were used sparingly, they weren't. In fact, during a moment near the end of the book when all of Phoebe's attention should have been on what was happening in the moment, she was too busy remembering word-for-word, nearly every encounter she had ever had with the Viscount.
To be fair, I think it was the author's intention with that to show just how over time the Viscount had come to fall in love with Phoebe and vice versa, however, I never bought into it. The Viscount (aka Alexander) is so hot and cold with Phoebe that I found myself rooting for his brother over him. Seriously, most of the time he's berating her for her (admittedly) stupid choices, then he's nice to her, then he pretends she doesn't exist. It gave me whiplash to be honest. I had started to like him a little bit during the garden scene, but that was quickly ruined by their very next meeting when he was once again yelling at her instead of listening to her.
Moving on to the characters, I really didn't like any of the main ones (except maybe Alexander's brother Elliot, and the other Fairfax girls). As I said previously Alex gave me whiplash with his hot and cold behavior towards Phoebe, and she was just so darn stupid at times that I almost wished she would be ruined. Honestly, how many times do her plans have to go awry before she starts to realize that she is the problem?
Her brother Thomas was absolutely insufferable, never once questioning why his father wanted Phoebe to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather (and the reason was dumb to the point I literally rolled my eyes). He just forced his will upon everyone, which made him an easily dislikeable tyrant. Aurelia however (the resident society mean girl), was probably the biggest let down character wise as there were moments when you got a glimpse of the person she could be if only she would find a way to let go of all that mean spiritedness. I kept hoping there would be some sort of redemption for her, although I am curious what she thinks of her new arrangements that we are told of at the end of the story. Is she still claiming to be playing the game, or does she now see what Phoebe was trying to tell her all along?
Despite the issues I had with this one, I feel like this author has a lot of potential to become one of my favorites, so I would read more from them in the future.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.
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