Wendy's brother-in-law, Lord Menrod, was an arrogant, high-handed, albeit dashing, tyrant who was no more fit to be the guardian of children than a dancing bear. So Wendy thought. The children in question were orphans. Nephew and niece to both Wendy and Menrod. But Lord Menrod was wealthy and Wendy was not. Even so, she decided to fight for custody with every means at her disposal. Oh how she hated him. Feelings ran high on both sides. And then something strange happened. Wendy stopped hating her enemy.
I was not sure what to make of this traditional Regency as told by the heroine. Jennie Gallant aka Joan Smith writes her characters as 'dry' for a better word. I have given up on a few of her stories and the one that I managed to finished I rated as okay. But this turned out to be very pleasant to read.
Wendy Harris was a twenty-five year old vicar's daughter who lived with her mother. Her older sister was the pretty one, married to Lord Peter, the younger brother of Lord Nimrod Menrod. Pursued by a bragging but rich forty-something Mr. Everett whom made his monies from lumber, Wendy initially came across as priggish. She had no interest in the man and yet he always seemed to come to visit.
She told her story of trying to avoid the neighbor while learning of her sister's and brother-in-law's deaths in India. She believed she was best suited to become their children's guardian with the help of Lord Menrod. Related by marriage, they have had little to do with each other but now she needed his financial assistance. She assumed she would get custody of young Ralph and little Gwen. Little did she know.....
Menrod. He was tall and thin. With thin lips. And thin eyebrows. "I have never met such a cold, ruthlessly determined man." Before the early afternoon was over, he accused her of using the children as a 'bread ticket' and she reminded him that he thought they were a nuisance.
This strong-willed couple went back and forth with insults about each other's ability to manage the children. They each hired a man of the law. I often thought, when they were in the same room, of Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy from Pride And Prejudice. He was lofty placing great expectations on cultural refinement. Or the lack thereof. Rather than let him constantly belittle or needle her for lack of character or monies, she threw every comment back in his face.
"When Menrod said in a reluctant way that he supposed he ought to be getting home, I hopped swiftly to my feet to see him out. 'You will want to get to the Manor before the storm breaks', I encouraged.
'As long as I am safely out the door before you start ranting, I shall be satisfied', he replied, with a knowing smile.
'I referred to the weather.'
'I misunderstood, but a storm is brewing inside too, I think. It must be unpleasant for you to go against her wishes'. (Referring to her mother wanting Wendy to marry rich Mr. Everett.)
'Don't measure me for a halo. I am not particular dutiful'.
'Don't disillusion me just when I feel I am beginning to understand you.'
'I didn't realize I was such a riddle.'
And so it goes on. Back and Forth. Snarky humor, Regency-style. And slowly. Oh, so slowly, there was 'the turn'. They went from enemies to friends.
Yes, there was some slow reading. But the story moves along at a faster pace in the second half. Though I would have preferred that Ms. Gallant write the romance in third person. Menrod came across as unlikable until later in the book; it may have been because all you are getting was Wendy's POV. But Wendy was a sharp cookie and I loved her strength. She was the Yin to Menrod's Yang. "I have a theory"......
Wendy and her mother lives quietly in an old elizabethan cottage rented to them by her toplofty brother in law Lord Menrod.Despite the fact that they are related they dont see much of him as Wendys sister marriage to Lord Menrods brother was seen as a bit of a mesalliance and the couple moved to India.
Now the both of them have died and left behind two children who are being brought back to England.Wendy not trusting that Menrod will be relied on to fetch the children in person and will probably just hand them over to servants to be raised decides that the children will cone and live with her. Of course Menrod doesnt think this is a good idea.Of course the children will be allowed to visit
All this is not helped by the fact that Wendys admirer a rich cit "Mr Everett) turned squire has started renovating the cottage staircase something that is sure to enrage Menrod. Wich he does find out no matter how much Wendy tries to distract him.
Not till he was actually into the hall did I recall the surprise awaiting him there. I heard an anguished howl, not unlike the squeal emitted by a stuck pig. It was Menrod, catching his first glimpse of the brass railing, the white paint, the gold rosettes. “What have you done? What is this—abhorrence?” he demanded.
Things between the couple go a bit wrong when Menrod thinks Wendy is only after to be supported through her niece and nephew and Wendy thinks he on the other hand is spoiling the Children by giving them sweets and things but no emotion.
This is a Joan Smith book I had been waiting for Regencyreads to release as I am a great fan of many of her books. Some more than others admittedly and sadly this one turned out to be not so great as I had hoped.
True there are some nice Little scenes between Wendy and Lord Menrod and while I love this subtetly in books like Reluctant Bride but have enough scenes together to make you realize that yes they do like each other.
LIKE like each other.
FaL shows the like but there arent enough of those significant scenes to make the last minute confession seem credible.. I say if you like me like the books of JS and want to read her whole backlist ,then this is preferable to lets say Talk of the Town but its not one of my top ten favorites.
You ever have a book that is not the author's best and yet you find it a re-read? This is that book for me.
To begin, I loved the H's name. Menrod. I can honestly say that's a new one for me.
Second, I loved that the h really wanted to care for her very young niece and nephew but finds the niece a horribly spoiled brat that she just can't warm up to but dotes on the quiet and loving nephew. Of course she feels guilty about it and continues to harbor dreams of what it would be like to raise children. Only to watch it slowly disintegrate as she realizes taking care of children is hard work with little reward at times. I am so used to reading how an h will come into the picture and suddenly become Mary Poppins. I think it's so much more realistic to realize that you're in way over your head and unable to handle 2 small kids both financially, emotionally and honestly energetically. I also loved how her mother just rolled with it because she's already raised 2 kids so wasn't really surprised or put out by them because of her experience.
I loved her suitor Mr. Everett, a man that she has never seen bend his knees (even when he walks). At the end, when he rushes out of her house, she notices that he can indeed bend his legs as he hotfoots it out.
I loved the snark between the H and h. The H does some crazy things to the h that defies reasoning but it's kind of in keeping with his social...I hate to say awkwardness. He's not suave or charming.
And finally, I did love the dialogue between them. (Though my favorite exchanges were in Letters to a Lady). In fact, one that never fails to crack me up is when Menrod falls through the roof at one point. The h goes up to the roof to see if he's hurt (he's stuck halfway in the roof). He looks at her and asks "Where am I?" She looks at him strangely wondering if he's in shock and responds "On the roof." He snaps back that he wanted to know what was under him in relation to the house.
Ultimately, you're either a Joan Smith fan or not. I adore Joan Smith. I love her and Barbara Metzger. My sense of humor is in line with their writing style... :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
What a little gem this is! Very brief and quick to read. It is in the form of first person narration, but not as a memoir. None of Wendy’s initial impressions are remodeled by her later thoughts before being committed to the page — the reader receives them with immediacy, as if they were being confided to a diary. It is almost like an epistolary novel, if the letters were coming from only one person and the recipient were her extremely close and completely non judgmental friend to whom she could say anything. The humor of rich landlord Menrod being so enamored of the historical perfection of the Elizabethan cottage — only up to the point at which he spent any time in it, is only one of several reverses of opinion made by the characters in this novel. Is it a Regency Romance? Well, it feels very Regency and just a little bit Romance. Perhaps a Comedy of Manners more than a Romance. A very charming use of a couple hours, though.
This book infuriated me. I think it was meant to be whimsical and amusing, but I just found it weird. I slogged through the first half purely to see how on earth the author was going to bring about a romantic ending for two characters who rarely met and seemed to hate each other with a passion. Somewhere around the midpoint it livened up a bit and became genuinely funny, only to fall flat again at the end. It managed three stars only because I laughed so much at the roof incident. There were few other redeeming features.
Here’s the premise: Wendy Harris… no, let’s pause there, because I hate this name so much. I suppose the author gets away with it since it’s short for Gwendolyn, but the name Wendy was officially invented in 1904 for Peter Pan. Ugh. Anyway, Wendy Harris lives in genteel poverty with her widowed mother in a grace and favour cottage owned by Wendy’s brother-in-law, Lord Menrod (another horrible name; I actually wondered whether the author had originally given him a sensible name, then found out at the last minute there was a real lord by that name and had to change it. But I digress). His lordship insists on them keeping everything in their cottage exactly as it is, with no changes, no matter how inconvenient, since it’s historical. They are all awaiting the arrival from India of Wendy’s orphaned niece and nephew, whom she hopes to raise herself, but Lord Menrod decides he’s going to raise them. Wendy thinks he’s unfit, on account of the string of mistresses, the constant travelling around and the fact that he’s arrogant and tyrannical. Lord Menrod gets interim custody, so Wendy engages an attorney to fight the case.
Now, written out like this, you’d imagine that Wendy… no, I can’t keep writing that. Let’s call her Miss Harris. Anyway, you’d imagine that Miss Harris would be a sympathetic character, a put-upon spinster only wanting the best for her nephew and niece. But no, she’s a pretty horrible person, actually, who’s determined not to give Lord Menrod any credit for proper feeling, or admit that actually the children will be better off with him, on account of the whole rich lord thing. She’s also incredibly rude about Mr Everett, a rich lumber merchant with a vast mansion stuffed with expensive but tasteless Stuff, who is simply an easy-going guy who wants to marry her.
Lord Menrod is also a pretty unpleasant character in the early part of the book, being just as tyrannical as described. It’s only when the children arrive and he is forced to spend more time at the Harris’s cottage that he begins to mellow a bit. In fact, he becomes the most sensible character in the book, still determined to have the children, but prepared to adjust his lifestyle accordingly. And he never tries to cut the Harris ladies out of their lives. In fact, he is all sweet reason, if a little grumpy when Miss Harris continues to be obnoxious.
He also discovers for himself all the deficiencies of the Cottage That Must Not Be Changed, with unusable fire irons, a dangerously dark stair, a smoking chimney and a decaying thatch roof. By the time he’s burned himself, been smoked out of the house and fallen through the roof (a glorious scene!), he’s become rather a fun character, especially when he lounges around the cottage all day to avoid a persistent lady admirer.
The ending is sadly typical of this era, that is, there are one or two oblique hints of a change of heart on his part, a reference to hate and love being two sides to the same coin, after which he sweeps her into his manly arms and kisses her, whereupon she says: oh, all right then. The end. Very, very annoying. I confess, though, that the biggest problem I had throughout the book (apart from obnoxious Miss Harris, who never does redeem herself - run away, Lord M!) is that I never worked out Lord M’s age. He’s described in such terms early on that I imagined he must be an elderly man, or at least middle aged, but it only gradually dawned on me that he’s possibly only meant to be thirty-something. It’s quite an adjustment to make.
So this really didn’t work at all for me. Nevertheless, if you don’t mind the old-fashioned and rather dry approach to romance that was standard at the time, and are brighter than I was in working out Lord M’s age, it’s a well-written tale with some fun characters (I particularly liked Mr Everett and the mother, and the children were amusing too; oh, and Lady Whotsit who was pursuing Lord M; and the attorney was funny; in fact, in retrospect it seems far more fun than it was when I was reading it). But for me it’s only three stars.
I started this after reading three hilarious Joan smith novels back to back Unfortunately this was not funny at all. The first third just made me think everyone was so stupid. Some more than others. Like the grandma seems to have cotton candy in her head. The only not stupid person is the MC. The FMC starts off as decent and wants to love the kids but partway through becomes stubborn and just wants custody of the kids to have custody I’d imagine she’d want the best for the kids as their aunt but nope, she doesn’t think they should be able to go to school, starts fighting for custody before even meeting them a second time. Continues to not meet them, actively dislikes the niece, and expects the MC to pay for everything and picks fights with the MC just because he irritates her. Just really baffling behaviour.
At one point he asks her to tell her lawyer to stop slandering him, which she had already told the lawyer not to do in a private meeting with him but instead of apologising and telling MC that first she doubles down on it and only recants when he asks if she’d like him making stories to malign her character. Ugh. Whyyyyy
Least favorite Joan smith heroine. By far. Like the other three I’ve read are in the stratosphere and this dumdum is in the Mariana Trench
The Hero and heroine are NOT friends and definitely not lovers at the start of the book. Although they are somewhat in-laws since the heroine’s sister was married to the Hero’s brother. Now they both want to take charge of their orphaned niece and nephew.
This situation causes a lot of tension and animosity between the two of them. This soon turns into bantering and a humorous kind of repartee between the couple, that leads to a tentative friendship.
A refreshing and delightful enemies to lovers romance! Less silly and outrageous as many of her others but with a riotous premise as usual. Great chemistry between the protagonists and a quirky but reasonable cast of characters. Signature banter and a very satisfying slow burn romance.
As one reviewer put it - 'this isn't one of her good books, but not one of her horrible ones, either. Kind of in the middle'. This is, of course, generous. The heroine - humorless, out for herself and blind to her own faults - is at best not likeable. The hero is a caricature. Clearly this put Friends & Lovers closer to horrible and there it must stay.