More Than A Mistress and No Man's Mistress by Mary Balogh
This is a duology about two brothers who…eventually make the heroines their mistresses. Before marrying them, of course. Balogh has a mistress kink? Thankfully, neither brother comes across as a creepy user or has particular possession issues.
In More Than a Mistress, Jocelyn, the Duke of Tresham is about to fight a duel when a young woman, Jane, yells at the duelists to stop (because only suicidal idiots duel), resulting in his getting shot in the leg, and her losing her job because the commotion makes her late. When Jane demands he compensate her for the loss, he hires her as his nurse. Sadly, it quickly becomes clear that there won’t actually be any class barriers being crossed, as Jane is obviously Gentility In Disguise. This reminded me of a lot of Jo Beverley books, with a different take on a common plot, and a hero who saves himself from being an annoying character type by actually being a nice guy underneath. Sadly, it was also like a number of Beverleys by almost completely derailing (particularly in the hero’s behavior) in the tail end.
In No Man’s Mistress, Tresham’s younger brother, Ferdie, wins an estate in a bet, only to find that it’s already occupied, and that the occupant, Viola Thornhill, believes that she is the owner. Pretty entertaining, despite both characters needing to be smacked upside the head (Viola for her conviction that “nonono it has to be mine even though I never saw the will and the other guy did,” and Ferdie for his highhandedness and dismissive attitude) and it had that rare switcheroo of a virgin hero and experienced heroine, but it also lost me in the tail end.
But, interesting plots, mostly nice heroes, and mostly practical, pragmatic heroines (Viola’s stubbornness re: ownership is pretty much in opposition to her attitudes the rest of the time). I’m also rather fond of the brothers’ sister, Angeline, who is a flighty chatterbox with frightening fashion sense, and her husband, Hayward, who is an overly conscientious stick-in-the-mud. They are ridiculously besotted with each other and no one can understand it. Based on Angeline’s comments about their courtship, I sincerely hope that there is an absurdly entertaining book about them somewhere.
In More Than a Mistress, Jocelyn, the Duke of Tresham is about to fight a duel when a young woman, Jane, yells at the duelists to stop (because only suicidal idiots duel), resulting in his getting shot in the leg, and her losing her job because the commotion makes her late. When Jane demands he compensate her for the loss, he hires her as his nurse. Sadly, it quickly becomes clear that there won’t actually be any class barriers being crossed, as Jane is obviously Gentility In Disguise. This reminded me of a lot of Jo Beverley books, with a different take on a common plot, and a hero who saves himself from being an annoying character type by actually being a nice guy underneath. Sadly, it was also like a number of Beverleys by almost completely derailing (particularly in the hero’s behavior) in the tail end.
In No Man’s Mistress, Tresham’s younger brother, Ferdie, wins an estate in a bet, only to find that it’s already occupied, and that the occupant, Viola Thornhill, believes that she is the owner. Pretty entertaining, despite both characters needing to be smacked upside the head (Viola for her conviction that “nonono it has to be mine even though I never saw the will and the other guy did,” and Ferdie for his highhandedness and dismissive attitude) and it had that rare switcheroo of a virgin hero and experienced heroine, but it also lost me in the tail end.
But, interesting plots, mostly nice heroes, and mostly practical, pragmatic heroines (Viola’s stubbornness re: ownership is pretty much in opposition to her attitudes the rest of the time). I’m also rather fond of the brothers’ sister, Angeline, who is a flighty chatterbox with frightening fashion sense, and her husband, Hayward, who is an overly conscientious stick-in-the-mud. They are ridiculously besotted with each other and no one can understand it. Based on Angeline’s comments about their courtship, I sincerely hope that there is an absurdly entertaining book about them somewhere.