Alex Radley, Marquess of Brooke, rules the ton like a god, but even gods are known to fall for mere mortals. With his wealth and title, wooing Millie should be an easy task. But when his passionate love letter to her goes astray, Alex’s life becomes more than a little complicated.
I'm sorry, but I just couldn't justify wasting any more time on this novel when I have an entire to-be-read pile sitting there with, hopefully, much better books waiting for me.
I could have dealt with not liking the characters. I could have dealt with the occasional historical inaccuracy. What I couldn't deal with was trying to contend with both of those things at the same time, which was unfortunately the case here.
Let's start with the characters, shall we? Granted, I didn't spend a whole lot of time with them, but what I saw was more than enough.
Millie has to be one of the most ungrateful (and naive) characters I've encountered in a while. She spends practically the entire time complaining about having to move back to England with her parents after being born and raised in Calcutta. And yes, I understand that leaving the only home you've ever known would be difficult. But here's the thing, both of her parents are English. She even acknowledges that they must have been miserable being so far away from their families, yet instead of making any attempt to settle into London or appreciate being closer to her extended family, Millie spends her time complaining and plotting on how she's going to find a way back to Calcutta. Then there's her older brother, Charles, who I never really got much of a feel for other than the fact that he seemed to be something of a pushover.
Then we have Millie's one and only friend Lucy who is the daughter of a Duke and apparently spends most of her time crying. Seriously. She cries when her brothers argue. She cries when Millie asks her to slow down because she's talking too quickly. She cries over just about everything. And finally, we have her two brothers. David fades into the background, while Alex made me roll my eyes so hard I nearly lost them. We're told he's basically "God-like," but the moment he sees Millie, he gets an erection that apparently takes over his entire existence. He can't be around her without getting one. Um...Okay.
To recap, our characters are ungrateful brat & her brother. Crying girl and her brothers, some random dude & hard-on boy.
Now let's move on to the historical inaccuracies, because oh boy, there were a lot. Let's start with a relatively minor ones shall we?
Millie's nose stud. No. Just...no. It doesn't matter that she was born and raised in Calcutta. A nose stud wasn't going to be accepted by the ton simply because it made her "exotic." And honestly, the entire thing felt strange considering Millie isn't Indian. She was born in Calcutta, yes, but she was born to English parents so I was confused why the author tried more than once to make her seem like she was not English. Then there's Lucy's constant crying, particularly in public. Again, this isn't something that would have been considered acceptable behavior, especially for the daughter of a Duke. She would have been raised with considerably more decorum than this book gives her.
Next, we get into the characters behaving in ways that are simply far too modern.
When Millie and her family arrive at a ball, her uncle puts her father in a headlock and they start roughhousing "like they always did." Before a ball. In Regency society. Then later on Lucy, an unmarried lady, hugs her own brother at the same ball, and he responds by ruffling her hair. You know, during a time when a gentleman could have his reputation called into question and find himself leg shackled simply because a lady was seen with a single hair out of place? But by all means, go ahead and muss up your unmarried sister's hair. Those same unmarried male characters then go on to introduce themselves to an unmarried female character. Something that absolutely would not have been done. And the kicker? Their sister is right there. She could have made the introductions.
And now we get to the biggest problem I had with the historical accuracy, and ultimately the thing that caused me to DNF this book. Lucy’s eldest brother introduces himself as Mr. Radley and then introduces his younger brother, the SECOND son, as the Marquess of Brooke. No. Absolutely not. The younger son of a Duke would not be referred to as a marquess as that title would be reserved for his brother, you know the actual heir. This isn't some obscure historical detail buried in a footnote somewhere. This is basic information that should have been established if you're going to attempt to write a Regency romance.
And that's where I finally called it. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the author to understand the very basic rules surrounding the titles they're using. And if said author isn't going to take the time to learn the bare minimum about how titles, introductions, and basic social etiquette worked during the period they're writing about, then I'm not going to take the time to finish their novel.
It's as simple as that.
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