Review: A Lady of Persuasion
A Lady of Persuasion
Tessa Dare
3/5
This is the third (and final) book in the trilogy (Goddess of the Hunt, Surrender of a Siren). They don't have to be read in order, but it helps explain some of the minor characters. I really enjoy Ms. Dare's writing - the prose is very smooth and her characters are interesting with considerable depth (especially for a romance novel). Out of the three books in the trilogy, though, this was my least favorite. The characters are pretty non-traditional, and it didn't quite work for me.
From the author's website: "Isabel is determined to marry a wealthy, powerful lord and become a lady of influence, using her rank and fortune to fight social injustice. Sir Toby, with his paltry title and infamous reputation, is unsuitable husband material-but he makes her blood race, her heart pound, and her long-buried passions come to the surface. If she can reform the charming devil, she’ll get exactly what she craves: society’s respect. But it’s a dangerous gamble. For if Toby wins this battle of persuasion, Isabel could lose her heart."
First of all, Isabel's character. All three of the heroines in the trilogy have had drastically different personalities. Lucy and Sophia are more-or-less normal wealthy ladies of their time (more outspoken, passionate, etc but still normal). Isabel is not. She was raised in the West Indies, is not as familiar with London society, and has some emotional baggage. Her sole passion in life (prior to meeting Toby) was reforming the horrible conditions of slaves, the poor, chimney sweeps, etc. And here's where real life starts conflicting with fiction. In real life, I would want someone who cared for the lives of the less fortunate. In fiction, however, someone who refuses to eat ice cream because the sugar was farmed by slaves, doesn't want to buy a walking stick because it's not necessary, and so on, gets a little tiresome.
By the second half, her character improved - but it happened because she was sacrificing her charity work for her love for Toby. The book addressed this point several times, but I never felt like it came to a good conclusion. Isabel was worried that falling in love would mean that she wouldn't really care for charity any more, and that seems to be what happened. I wish there had been a little less at the beginning and a little more at the end.
She also had trouble with allowing herself to be passionate, admitting she loved others, and worrying she would go mad (it fits in context). One or two of these issues would have been good - but all of them? It felt like Ms. Dare stretched herself too thin trying to develop all the problems.
In another real life versus fiction conflict, most of the middle of the book I kept thinking, "This is why the divorce rate is 50%." This is not something I want to be thinking while reading a romance novel. They got married very quickly (about two months after they met), before either really got to know the other person. This meant there was a lot of lying/concealing of true characters that in real life leads to a divorce but in fiction just results in dramatic revelations and HEA.
The book was still very well written and very sexy, but it was a miss for me. I had trouble with the characters and real life connections - but I think if you can identify with the characters, it'll flow as smoothly as the first two. This is it for this trilogy, but I'm looking forward to starting The Stud Club with One Dance with a Duke soon.
The covers on all these books are gorgeous. I don't like this one quite as much as the last, but it's still very good.