I've finally found a romance novel to obsess over
After a sting of dreadful disappointments (I have finally decided to accept that the one Gaelen Foley book I loved was a fluke as the rest of them did not work for me at all), I finally found a romance book I am genuinely obsessed with - Suzanne Enoch's England's Perfect Hero.
Lucinda Barrett, the commonsense daughter of Gen. Barrett has decided on a life plan. With her two best friends married, she thinks it's time for her to settle down as well. She wants a peaceful life and a husband who is someone who is of the right rank, socially popular, and is also a military man who gets along well with her army-obsessed father. All of this leaves out Robert Carroway, brother-in-law of her best friend. Robert used to be a socially popular and liked army officer but that was before he returned from the Napoleonic Wars almost dead. Even though it's been three years since Waterloo, he never comes into society, barely interacting even with his loving an anxious family. He has never mentioned what happened to him, but seeing his awful PTSD, it couldn't have been good. But somehow, he strikes a conversation, of sorts, with Lucinda and the story goes from there...
Both the heroine and hero are pretty unusual - heroine is full of common-sense (no silly misunderstandings for her) and knows what she wants. She is so very practical - even when she falls for the hero she takes time to think whether he is the one she wants to marry because she needs to make sure the life with him will be the kind she wants. A heroine who actually thinks things through *gasp*! Hero is someone who suffers from horrible PTSD (a potential trigger warning here - while I have never had PTSD, I used to be prone to panic attacks when I was much younger and both the symptoms and the ways of coping so you won't start screaming in public that Enoch describes are very very accurate for my experience - it brought back some unpleasant memories) but there is no wallowing in what caused it (I think there is about a half-a-page explanation - unlike other authors - coughKenyoncough - Enoch sees no need to lovingly describe torture type stuff) and it's quite lovely to read about him climbing out of the pit slowly and realistically. Plus, he is just such a good person. I think romance novels are dreadfully bereft of heroes who are just good people, not someone in need of any reform. The love story is just so satisfying and with a slow steady progression and lovely. Nothing gets magically fixed but it does get better. I wanted to squish my Kindle to me by the end.
In fact, I loved it so much, I decided to check out another book of hers, despite the fact that both the title (The Rake - ugh) and the set-up (heroine seeks revenge on hero for seducing her out of her virginity as a result of a bet 6 yrs earlier to get her stockings - don't ask it's sort of complicated - short version is the bet wasn't for him to sleep with her) would normally send me screaming in the other direction. But the thing is - the characters of TR were secondary characters in EPH and I loved them to bits - she was burgling places and holding off gunmen at 8months pregnant and he was just so laid-back and a really good brother, so I decided to risk it. I am about halfway in and I love it. While the synopsis is not innacurate, it is misleading. Whatever happened 6 years ago (and it seems pretty clear hero was basically a young idiot who didn't think things through and he really did like her. He had no intention of sleeping with her either but they got a bit too into it. Also, nobody knows he won the wager except for the two of them - he claimed he lost it in public), inheriting an estate deeply in dept and a whole family to care for years and years ago has certainly matured the hero. In fact, he is in no need of reform - he's quite a lovely family person, laid-back, genuinely sorry to the heroine, and just generally a nice guy (I hate hate 'bad guy reforms for love of woman' plots - how long do you think it would stick?). And heroine is awesome and pushy and great. So I am not sorry I got it.
Lucinda Barrett, the commonsense daughter of Gen. Barrett has decided on a life plan. With her two best friends married, she thinks it's time for her to settle down as well. She wants a peaceful life and a husband who is someone who is of the right rank, socially popular, and is also a military man who gets along well with her army-obsessed father. All of this leaves out Robert Carroway, brother-in-law of her best friend. Robert used to be a socially popular and liked army officer but that was before he returned from the Napoleonic Wars almost dead. Even though it's been three years since Waterloo, he never comes into society, barely interacting even with his loving an anxious family. He has never mentioned what happened to him, but seeing his awful PTSD, it couldn't have been good. But somehow, he strikes a conversation, of sorts, with Lucinda and the story goes from there...
Both the heroine and hero are pretty unusual - heroine is full of common-sense (no silly misunderstandings for her) and knows what she wants. She is so very practical - even when she falls for the hero she takes time to think whether he is the one she wants to marry because she needs to make sure the life with him will be the kind she wants. A heroine who actually thinks things through *gasp*! Hero is someone who suffers from horrible PTSD (a potential trigger warning here - while I have never had PTSD, I used to be prone to panic attacks when I was much younger and both the symptoms and the ways of coping so you won't start screaming in public that Enoch describes are very very accurate for my experience - it brought back some unpleasant memories) but there is no wallowing in what caused it (I think there is about a half-a-page explanation - unlike other authors - coughKenyoncough - Enoch sees no need to lovingly describe torture type stuff) and it's quite lovely to read about him climbing out of the pit slowly and realistically. Plus, he is just such a good person. I think romance novels are dreadfully bereft of heroes who are just good people, not someone in need of any reform. The love story is just so satisfying and with a slow steady progression and lovely. Nothing gets magically fixed but it does get better. I wanted to squish my Kindle to me by the end.
In fact, I loved it so much, I decided to check out another book of hers, despite the fact that both the title (The Rake - ugh) and the set-up (heroine seeks revenge on hero for seducing her out of her virginity as a result of a bet 6 yrs earlier to get her stockings - don't ask it's sort of complicated - short version is the bet wasn't for him to sleep with her) would normally send me screaming in the other direction. But the thing is - the characters of TR were secondary characters in EPH and I loved them to bits - she was burgling places and holding off gunmen at 8months pregnant and he was just so laid-back and a really good brother, so I decided to risk it. I am about halfway in and I love it. While the synopsis is not innacurate, it is misleading. Whatever happened 6 years ago (and it seems pretty clear hero was basically a young idiot who didn't think things through and he really did like her. He had no intention of sleeping with her either but they got a bit too into it. Also, nobody knows he won the wager except for the two of them - he claimed he lost it in public), inheriting an estate deeply in dept and a whole family to care for years and years ago has certainly matured the hero. In fact, he is in no need of reform - he's quite a lovely family person, laid-back, genuinely sorry to the heroine, and just generally a nice guy (I hate hate 'bad guy reforms for love of woman' plots - how long do you think it would stick?). And heroine is awesome and pushy and great. So I am not sorry I got it.