4.7

I admit that if I hadn't read much more of the book, I would have been left with the impression that the author was poking fun at a topic that is sensitive to others and it would have soured the whole book for me. As it is, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth for a period of time until I begin to see where the author was going with this(view spoiler)[ I don't think she is intending to make fun of Rupert or his mental state at all. In face she sites that Forrest Gump is the inspiration for Rupert. A man who overcomes his challenges to achieve something great and that everyone loved (hide spoiler)]

Most of the low rating comes comes from the treatment of a character named Rupert, the heroine's betrothed. At first he is introduced as a half-wit or a buffling-idiot or a touch soft in the head as the euphemisms go. I wished Olivia had been a smidge nicer to Rupert in the beginning but I could understand her point of view (before I realized the depth) as Olivia Lytton is the complete opposite. She is witty and full of life and at times can be a bit aggressive. You can see from the first fifteen pages that anyone that is paired with Olivia should be both intelligent, have a sense of humor and have a command of his faculties.

Until we meet Rupert. He's sweet in a puppy dog sort of way and as you begin to read more about him and read his dialogue things start to click. (view spoiler)[ He is mentally challenged. We find out later that Rupert had lost oxygen at birth and managed to survive but in with a mental capacity that is much lower than his eighteen years of age (hide spoiler)]. We find out the truth about Rupert right before a very strange (but to me it was very funny as it was so mechanical) but poignant moment between Olivia and Rupert in which they are both bullied into doing something that they both clearly don't want to do.

It's in this moment that Olivia, who made fun of Rupert behind his back to her sister (which is completely understandable when you realize she didn't quite know about his issues but felt that this person was foist upon her), shakes off her ignorance and starts to see Rupert as more than the caricature she has created.

That's about the only thing that Olivia matures on. She has a fierce loyalty to her sister and her betrothed after he goes off to war and after the night in the library. She doesn't love him but she cares for him and doesn't want to see him made fun of. So, the person who made fun of him becomes his protector and the way she takes down Amaryllis about this was priceless.

However, what I loved about Olivia is that she wasn't the typical romance novel heroine. She was strong and vulnerable and she hid it all beneath her words which could be either sharp or gentle. She could be funny or fierce. She could be warm or cold and she was perfect for the hero of the story. I don't think she sought out attention, not with how she felt about her body, but she liked to have a good time and didn't deny herself if it meant there was a chance she could laugh. It was clear that she was earthy and vulgar and didn't sit with the stuffy upper crust well but if anyone could make it she could.

Georgie her sister was also interesting. The complete and utter opposite of her twin (which you forget) she is intelligent, logical and demure. However (view spoiler)[ her suddenly developing a taste for academia felt a little too convenient even if it did make sense (hide spoiler)].

I didn't like that Olivia kept body snarking on herself. She was fat shaming and it made me raise a brow. I understood that Olivia was sensitive and vulnerable about her weight but it did make me a bit sad.

Quin the hero was cold and illogical and his story was tragic (view spoiler)[ the loss of a son by an asshole wife is pretty tragic in my book (hide spoiler)] but by the end he embraces his tulmultous emotions of love and possession and fully becomes the hero. (view spoiler)[ I loved that he was the one to say that he loved Olivia first. It was such a different approach to the historical romance 'I love you' scene. It was refreshing (hide spoiler)]. At first I was very leery of him as his mother seemed to be controlling his life. I don't like mama's boys.

The last thing that sort of bothered me was the weird Scarlet Pimpernel ending. (view spoiler)[ was it truly necessary to have Olivia get kidnapped by weird French people and then nearly die in a fire so that the hero can carry her to the boat and make love to her in a field of bluebells??? (hide spoiler)]. It was a bit much.

I very much enjoyed this book and there were parts that were laugh out loud funny (view spoiler)[ the scene where Olivia is making up insults with Justin was one of them (hide spoiler)]

I think it would be interesting to go back and visit Georgie's love life.

So despite some of it's flaws, this book was still damn good for me. I liked the uncharacteristic approach of creating an Olivia as the main character. I liked Rupert and his fragmented poems and was very glad that the character got what he deserved in the end. I liked both Georgie and Lucy and of course, I cared about Quin.

Perhaps not as amazing as " Beauty ..." but still an interesting and fast read.