*I got this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
“The Unlikely Lady” is the 3rd novel in the “Playful Brides” series by Valerie Bowman. I think I read already something by her but cannot think of the title, maybe it was something shorter or just online.
This story is the 3rd and I am sure not the last part in this series. You do not need to know book one or two but it would eventually be easier to understand the connections. In my opinion it is a pretty easy storyline to follow even not knowing the other books.
This book is a mixture of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado Nothing” and Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest” in my opinion. The two main leads are from Shakespeare, the story behind it involves Wilde and eventually is part of the other books.
April 1816. The leads are named Miss Jane Lowndes, a real bluestocking, and Lord Garrett Upton. Jane doesn’t want to marry because she is a wallflower with her high neck dresses, her top knotted hair and glasses. Without the later one she is more or less blind. Wherever she goes, she has a book with her. Her mother wants nothing more than a wedding, so she has to attend several social events. To be able to sneak out of those she has invented Mrs. Bunbury, her chaperon. Her mother has never met him but her two best friends, Cassie and Lucie helped Jane to make her sound real.
Whenever Jane meets Garrett they have a duel but not with weapons but words – like Benedick and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”. Garrett, being a former soldier, confirmed bachelor and rake, is the good friend to one of Jane’s friends. He loves those word wars they always play.
What she doesn’t know is that they have more in common than Jane thinks. When they attend a pre wedding house party, Jane needs Mrs. Bunbury to attend it without her mother and when this works, she has to face the fact that a masquerade takes place. Jane never attended one. Her friends borrow her a dress and a domino – more revealing than her usual dresses and she has to leave her glasses upstairs because they didn’t fit with the domino. She is only able to see schemes.
By mistake they kiss on the masquerade and within the next day her girlfriends hat worked out a scheme – typical “Much Ado About Nothing” style – to make them enamored. They tell both that the other one is madly in love with him/her.
It would work if there wouldn’t be Isabelle, the widow of one of Garrett’s friends from the war, somebody who through himself in front of him and saved Upton’s life but lost his. For the last couple of years he had sent Isabelle a huge amount of money because he blames himself. Isabelle invited herself to the house party and the wedding without knowing the couple-to-be. She throws herself at Garrett and make Jane very insecure about her feelings because she is not used to get attention by any men. Nevertheless she’s the plump little wallflower, wearing glasses with her nose in the books.
Can “Miss Blue” win Garrett over?
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“Much Ado About Nothing” is my favorite Shakespeare play. I love those word wars between Benedick and Beatrice. Valerie does a good job to rebuilt them but in my personal opinion only succeeds partly because not one of those “fights” can be really compared to Shakespeare’s, they are much better. The nice thing is that there are more connections to the play e.g. the wedding – Garrett going to church not knowing who the bride is. This also happens to Claudio in the original play.
Bunbury on the contrary is differently used in this book. Everybody who knows this amazing Wilde play “The Importance of Being Ernest” knows that John Worthing has a dual life – he’s John on the countryside and Ernest in London. One of Jane friend’s invented the Bunbury name the year before but in a completely different way and for another use, more the Bunbury-style. Nevertheless I really think that it was a nice thing.
But and unfortunately there is a but – the book is very predictable. I mean this whole thing about Isabelle wasn’t really worth the story. I mean if you but a bad character into it, and probably she should be the Don Juan part from Shakespeare, you have to give her more badness, make her a badass, in my opinion. She doesn’t give up, that’s what I like, but she doesn’t really fight. It is easy to see through her schemes.
Another thing I liked that didn’t play a big part in the book but could have a bigger one was Mrs. Cat. In Jane’s house she usually feeds a cat who has kittens. In the end she takes the cat with her but if I put an animal character like that into the book I’d give it a bigger role. And it would have fit because Garrett has two dogs – Dogberry and Verges, named after “Much Ado About Nothing”. To use the names is fine but they didn’t fit the original characters – I love Dogberry and Verges (in German named: Holzapfel und Schlehwein). Those two characters are perfect in the play and to name dogs like that without giving them a similar connection to the storyline … I don’t know.
Something I really didn’t like was the constant repetition of words. I read that in English people don’t care about it. I teach German, studied German Literature and Philology and in German it’s a big issue. We usually give students a worse mark in the expression part of the text. I am a stickler if it comes to it.
One think I really have to say in the end – that’s why I give 3.5 stars here – Bowman really made me download the Wollstonecroft book on female rights on my kindle and to order a book on her this afternoon. And I really want to read into this idea of giving solder widows a kind of pension and see how long it took the UK to realize it.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
PS: I really like the cover of the book. It fits the story.
Who doesn’t like Valerie Bowman’s books? This is kind of a fairytale. “The Unforgettable Hero: A Playful Brides story” , part #4,5 of the “Playful Brides” series is a wonderful rather short story.
des“ by Valerie Bowman but I loved this one. Daphne is about to give an engagement ball without being offered for yet but she counts on Fitzwills need for her money. She didn’t think of Rafe, Captain Cavendish, till he stands in front of her – her husband. Months ago the Swift’s, Daphne’s family, lost their oldest brother to the French, now Rafe asks for Daphne’s help in exchange for their annulment. But Rafe isn’t simply a Captain, he’s a spy.
Buck is reading .... 