I got this book for free for an honest review – thanks to Netgalley.
After reading the description at Netgalley I really had my hopes up that I may get some naughty Victorian romance with a heroine who isn’t that typical. But well the heroine wasn’t but the book wasn’t naughty at all. It was rather boring. But why?
“What a Woman Desires” is a book by Rachel Brimble.
The story is easy. Monica Danes ran away from her family home to be an actress in Bath 5 years ago. During the story we get to know why and it’s a story of its own. When her father dies she gets a letter from her sister informing her that she may come home for the funeral and that she needs help with their mother and the estate.
She comes back and on her way she meets Thomas, a man her age she was in love with when she was a teen. He kind of rescues her and Stephanie. Thomas was the right hand of her dad and helped managing the estate but he was only a helping hand, nobody with a title. He grew up there and that was it.
The problem is that Monica hasn’t had any contact to her family because they thought she ruined herself by becoming an actress. Thomas doesn’t judge her but want her back in Biddlestone but she made carrier and doesn’t plan to stay. She wants back to Bath and on the stage as soon as possible.
On the other hand there is Monica’s mom who isn’t a nice person on the one side but turning crazy on the other. She has her good moments but mostly she isn’t herself anymore. And Jane, Monica’s sister, who doesn’t want to be alone with all those problems. But the question is who will manage the estate and who will inherit it at all.
Well if you think that something may happen within the first half of the book – you cannot be more wrong. Little dialogues, little we really get to know. The only thing I read over and over again is her need to go back to Bath. The rest was unimportant. I think I was about 56% into the book when I started to skip long descriptions and searched for dialogues. That’s not a good sign.
There is a twist with the doctor in the book but I am not sure if it’s really matching the time to be honest. If somebody would talk so open to a foreigner about something that big. But you have to find out yourself about it.
I think it was a boring book, not thrilling but maybe it’s just her style. I really missed lots of dialogues, cloth descriptions and yes, passion and lust. A plus point is to be given for the lovely Monica. I liked her. Not that she was thrilling or anything but nice. I still do not get a picture in front of me when I now write about her which is kind of sad because usually I always get a very clear image of the main characters because of the great descriptions.
For me it was 2.5*** book and I probably will not read anything of this writer again.
Buck is reading .... 