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Comfort Reads – TBR Challenge 2017

My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway

March’s prompt for the TBR challenge is “comfort read”, which is defined as a book that uses a favourite trope or setting, or is by a favourite author.  I’ve chosen something from my TBR that everyone seems to have read except me – Connie Brockway’s My Dearest Enemy, which combines two of my favourite things, an enemies-to-lovers romance and a story in which letters play an important part (I do love an epistolary novel!).  It’s a gloriously romantic, character-driven story set at the end of the 19th century, in which our hero – a famous explorer – and heroine – an advocate of women’s suffrage – butt heads over the home they both love, sniping and pushing each other’s buttons as the attraction between them deepens.

Avery Thorne finds himself all but disinherited upon the death of his uncle Horatio, who, believing Avery to be a weakling and in need of discipline and humility, has granted stewardship of his home and lands to the illegitimate daughter of his late wife’s sister, nineteen-year-old Lilian Bede.  Miss Bede is to take possession of the property for a period of five years, and at the end of that time, if the farm and land are profitable, the house will belong to her fully.  Avery is furious, but he can do nothing, and opts to leave England rather than watch someone else take possession of the only home he has ever known.

Lily Bede is astonished to find herself the recipient of a house, and does worry that if she accepts the bequest, she will be doing the legitimate heir – whom she has never met – a bad turn.  But she doesn’t really have an alternative; with her parents both dead, she is living pretty much hand-to-mouth, and the prospect of having a real home – even one that might end up being temporary – is too much to resist.  And besides, the alternative, receiving a small income instead, but one she will lose unless she publicly denounces the Women’s Suffrage movement… well, that just isn’t going to happen.  Taking the house is, as far as Lily is concerned, the lesser of two evils.

During the five years of Avery’s absence, he and Lily exchange a series of letters, that are full of biting sarcasm (without being nasty), humorous banter and, sometimes, emotional honesty.  Avery has gained a reputation as an adventurer and explorer, and has also made himself a lot of money by writing up the stories of his exploits which are serialised in a popular newspaper.  Yet he still carries with him his ideal of home and is still determined to claim Mill House when he returns to England.

In that time, Lily has had some success in turning a profit, but she’s not in the clear yet. She’s economised considerably, reducing the staff to a bare minimum and doing a lot of the work herself; it’s her only chance to have a house and home of her own, as she doesn’t ever want to get married, so she’s worked hard and is determined to keep the house that has become her home.

Even though she and Avery have been corresponding for nearly five years by the time he returns home, Lily is in no way prepared for the way he affects her from their first meeting.  Having been led – by descriptions of those who knew him before, and from his portrait – to expect a rather scrawny and unprepossessing individual, she is stunned to come face to face with the most handsome man she’s ever seen, one who radiates confidence and masculinity to such an extent he nearly takes her breath away.

Avery is just as surprised to discover that instead of the dried up spinster he’d expected, Lily is an exotic, feminine beauty, albeit one that strides around the place in tweed bloomers.  Of course they’re both smitten – but we knew that from reading their letters and especially from Avery’s reaction to the one Lily sent him after the death of a close friend.

Their romance is beautifully written and developed as both of them try to get the upper hand in order to prove they have a right to the house while coming to appreciate each other’s sterling qualities.  Avery is a truly swoonworthy hero without being stereotypical; he’s handsome, competent and confident, but he’s more of a beta than an alpha.  He’s not vastly experienced with women, he loves his home and wants to marry and have a large family.  He’s protective without being suffocating, and I loved the way he treats Lily as an equal and lets her do things for herself whereas many men of the time would have attempted to step in and do things for her.  The way he – and the reader – is shown the extent of Lily’s care of the estate and the prejudice she has encountered on account of her gender and her illegitimacy, is masterfully done, with one moment in particular almost reducing me to a quivering wreck.  His insistence on being a gentleman is very sweet – especially as his view of what is gentlemanly tends to be somewhat fluid – but the subtle message, that the mark of a true gentleman lies in the truth and honour of his actions rather than in his manners and the adherence to convention is expertly and effectively conveyed.

Lily, too, is a great character, and I liked her very much even though there were times I wanted to shake some sense into her near the end of the book. For most of it though, she’s terrific – witty, clever, sarcastic and perfectly able to hold her own against Avery’s barbs; it’s much more difficult for her to conceal how strongly attracted to him she is than it is to find the words to get under his skin.  My main criticism of Lily is that while her reasons for not wanting to marry are sound and very well explained (her mother’s husband took away her children after she left him and she never saw them again – it’s a heartbreaking story), she has chained herself to a dead woman’s grievances and made a crusade of her mother’s pain to such an extent that she has blinded herself to the truth of what’s standing in front of her – a man who loves and respects her deeply and will never hurt her.

There is a small but very well-drawn cast of secondary characters, most intriguing of whom is Horatio’s unmarried sister, Francesca, a fading beauty who fills her life with frivolity and, it’s implied, men, but who is characterised by an underlying sadness.  Bernard, Avery’s twelve-year-old cousin is a delight; a boy becoming a man, intent on protecting his womenfolk while he also suffers from the severe asthma which affected Avery as a child (and continues to do so in certain circumstances). The relationship that evolves between the pair is just lovely.

My main criticism of the book as a whole is that the ending is very abrupt, and, given all the angst that has gone before it, the tiniest bit anticlimactic. There is an epilogue set around a decade afterwards, but I needed a little more closure on the original story rather than a glimpse into the future.

But even so, My Dearest Enemy is a gem of a book, and I’m really glad I finally got around to reading it.  It’s witty and clever, with some moments of true poignancy near the end which had me quite choked up – plus Avery is one of the most wonderfully romantic heroes I’ve ever read.

Grade: B+                            Sensuality: Warm

– Caz Owens

A/BN/iB/K


A Star Looks Down by Betty Neels

We’ve had a pretty mild winter here, but I could still use a few afternoons to curl up with a comfort read. This time around, I sought the comfort of a favorite author. I read a fair amount of category romance, but I’ve never found another author quite like Betty Neels. She wrote for Harlequin for decades, but somehow her books always have a fairytale feeling to them as the setting of her books seems anything but real or modern. If you like her world of fabulously rich – and probably Dutch – doctors and the practical women who sweep them off their feet, curl up in something comfortable (perhaps a jersey dress?) and read along.

I have a lot of Neels in the TBR pile, and this time around I chose a 1976 novel called A Star Looks Down.  As with many of Neels’ heroines, Elizabeth Partridge is a nurse – a very efficient and well-liked one at that. Beth had a privileged upbringing at Chifney House in the country but after the death of her parents, we learn that a hateful stepbrother inherited Chifney and Beth was exiled from her kingdom, along with her moderately feckless brother.

Beth and her brother now live in London. The brother, William, is constantly sponging money off of Beth, but since he is bright and gainfully employed as a medical student, he seems more immature than truly awful. The two are fond of each other, and one gets the feeling that William may someday get his act together. In the meantime, Beth seems to do the lion’s share of supporting the two of them on a rather meager nursing salary.

Into this existence strolls the rather large person  of Alexander van Zeust. Alexander is a Dutch doctor who is apparently quite brilliant.  Throughout the book, we are reminded often of his hugeness and brilliance. In spite of this, he’s actually somewhat likable. Unlike some of the Neels heroes I’ve encountered, he may be worldly and sophisticated  but he does have some awkward moments that make him seem a little more human. Something about his feelings for Beth seems to bring these out, and their courtship is at times kind of endearingly awkward because neither one knows quite what to say to the other.

However, I’m getting ahead of myself. So, how do these two find themselves thrown together for awkward moments in the first place? Well, Dr. van Zeust needs someone to care for his 4 nieces and nephews while his sister recuperates from an injury. William, of course, volunteers his doting sister and somehow Beth finds herself out in the countryside playing governess temporarily. Naturally, Beth ends up liking her charges – and developing feelings for their uncle.  There is some mild drama in the form of a child who decides to be unusually mischievous but this story is more sweet romance than high adventure.

I did get a little annoyed at the degree to which Beth allows her brother and his needs to dominate her like. Still, A Star Looks Down is really an adorable story overall. It features many items that Neels fans will recognize: wealthy Dutchmen, a sweet and sensible nurse, mentions of sensible clothing, and comfort food.  If you like Betty Neels, you will likely enjoy this book quite a bit. And if you’re in the mood for quiet, fairytale-ish medical romance, you may want to give this author a try.

Grade: B+                                                                Sensuality: Kisses

– Lynn Spencer

A/BN/iB/K

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