The Ex Hex (CBR14 #18)

When I started reading this book it wasn’t very far in before I was thinking to myself “hmm… I’m not sure he’s such a bad guy, ladies” as Vivienne is (accidentally) drunkenly hexing her ex, Rhys. This could be a function of any number of things including my age, my own romantic history, the fact that I waited three months on my library’s hold list for it, and the general state of the world. But it did affect my enjoyment because the thing I noticed by page five didn’t play out on page until about 85% in and kept scratching at the back of my mind. So… my 3.5 rounded up might resonate with you or leave you scratching your head – so fair warning.

The good news for me was that the vodka drunk hexing chapter is a prologue set nine years in the past, so we fast-forward from 19-year-old Vivi to 28-year-old Vivi and that version of her is much more put together, emotionally. She’s a lecturer at the university in town, back to living in her adopted hometown where her aunt and cousin run a witchy shop. Oh, and they’re all witches. The University even has a separate, hidden in plain sight, Witch program. Graves Glen, Georgia secretly houses a bunch of witches, was founded by witches, and has ley lines running through which help power the magic its witch resident use. Every year in October is Founder’s Day which features a huge fall festival and the tourists come to town following a decade long rebrand as a fall getaway by the town’s mayors. Unfortunately, this year’s festival is interrupted by the aforementioned accidental curse when Vivi’s ex and descendent of the town founder, Rhys Penhallow arrives from Wales to recharge the ley lines and attend Founder’s Day in his father’s place. Once Rhys is in town… the hex takes effect and magic begins to go haywire, eventually getting into the lay lines and effecting the entire town. But lifting the curse becomes a problem, and things get serious including a real threat to Rhys’ life.

There is a lot happening in this book, and the good news is that Sterling handles it well and is genuinely funny, writing characters with undeniable chemistry. The relationships between the characters, familial or romantic, all felt very real, as did the lingering hurt of young heartbreak. I struggled with the pacing a bit, there’s a lot of worldbuilding to lay in for both protagonists, their families, and the town itself before you get to Sterling’s version of magic (which I liked). It builds over the course of the first half in a imminently readable way (I devoured this book in one day) but we pay the price in the second half. The book is predominantly set between October 12 and October 31, we spend half the book leading up to October 13, and then the second half with the remaining two weeks, skipping over chunks of time and character development. We get it in passing, in reference to what happened off page, but with characters with such great chemistry who fell for each other intensely nearly a decade ago but broke up after three months on a blow up, and have been back in each other’s lives a matter of weeks… I felt we needed the time to see the new era of their relationship develop. Sterling sold it without, but it could have been so much better with even fifty additional pages (moving this book from 300 to 350, not uncommon in the Romance world).  

I’m interested to see what Sterling writes next under this pen name (she’s also Rachel Hawkins) as she continues in this universe and adult Romance.

A Lady by Midnight (CBR14 #4)

I can always trust Tessa Dare to bust a slump, and as exhaustion is one of my last remaining COVID symptoms, I’m not so much slumped as I am distractable. A Lady by Midnight took care of it either way, and I enjoyed my evening with it so much that I’m rating it five stars, and I know that I am one of the few around Cannonball Read to do so. I get it, but I’m also keeping my rating as is.

I am currently working my way through a large non-fiction tome where the author seems to be taking themselves a bit too seriously (Clement Knox’s Seduction review forthcoming eventually) and yesterday I just could not focus on it at all, and as it was a section on Casanova, I thought it best to just put it down and pick something else up. Lucky for present me, past me had ordered A Lady by Midnight before American Thanksgiving but the crush of books that needed reading in December in order to fulfill my reading challenges pushed it right off my to read pile for the month. But there it was calling to me from atop my bookcase.

It had been almost four years since my last time to Spindle Cove with A Week to be Wicked, but it mostly came back to me – certainly the town and its residents broadly if not the particulars of the books I had already read in the series (including A Night to Surrender and Any Duchess Will Do). I did remember though the two leads, who were introduced in the first novel and have been floating around in the periphery of the stories since. Kate Taylor is the town’s music instructor, she’s also an orphan who has been making her own way in the world since she was brought to a foundling school around age five. She’s managed to maintain an inner spark, and Spindle Cove as provided her with safety and friends, but she is still in search of family, and love. She’s certainly not expecting to find either of those things in Corporal Thorne, the militia commander in charge at Spindle Cove who arrived the year before and has seemingly made it his mission to ignore her at every turn. Thorne however has his own reasons for acting as he has, and with a family of aristocrats arriving claiming that Kate is their long-lost cousin he finds himself announcing that he is her fiancé, in order to keep her safe. It however complicates things tremendously.

Dare sticks with the things in her writing that I appreciate the most, this book has most of her standard features: in Kate we have an independent lady making her way in the world, the plot pretty closely aligns to a Marriage of Convenience, focusing on an engagement of convenience, the smolder and steamy sexy times are present (even if we’re about 2/3rds of the way through the book before Kate and Thorne get past kissing, there’s a lot happening in this story), sincere emotions are on display – specifically in actions, and Thorne might be her most wounded hero. These is a lot of heaviness to the plot of this one, but as its Tessa Dare it was also silly at time, funny, and sexy, which is what I am looking for when I pick up on of her books. Once all the pieces are on the board the narrative takes off and never really slows down, right through to the epilogue (and I really would have loved another chapter between the end and the epilogue). This one  is all about love, the shapes it takes, the ways we express it (or don’t), where we look for it… and it worked for me even when it shouldn’t have.

The Heart Principle (CBR13 #44)

The Heart Principle was delayed a year while its author Helen Hoang dealt with some personal traumas which she goes into in depth in the Author’s Note. Many of those traumas feed directly into the re-worked plot of this book. I’m firmly in the camp that this is a romance, even if the romance plotline finds itself uncentered through sections of the work, but this is certainly not a rom-com style book as its cover would want you to believe – in fact I have no idea who that woman is, but she certainly isn’t Anna Sun.

The story we are dealing with here is that of violinist Anna Sun, who accidentally achieved success with a viral YouTube video, and in the fallout of that is burned out from her attempts to live up to the expectations that moment created. When Anna’s long-term boyfriend announced he wanted an open relationship before making a final commitment, Anna copes with it by deciding (with the help of her girlfriends) to take the opportunity to expand her own sexual horizons with a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better. Enter tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep whom after two years of working through cancer treatments lets himself be convinced to slowly work his way back into the dating pool. After being matched on an app and a frankly delightful first digital interaction they decide to have a one-night stand.  The first attempt fails, as does their second, and their third, but because Quan sees and accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she has just started to understand herself through therapy, an emotional relationship develops, and the pair decide to give this relationship a real shot. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family, she takes on a role she is ill-suited for, until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.

The first part of this book is, to me, a note-perfect opposites attract romance novella. The second part is a devastatingly honest look at the cost of being a care giver and the struggles of maintaining a relationship when the partners aren’t able to be together as much as they would like. The third section is the story of the recovery from rock bottom burnout, and a look at love as action, accepting the person exactly as they are, caring through joyful times and painful times. The parts aren’t equal in their execution, and in fact there are a handful of problems lurking under the surface that are keeping this at four stars instead of five.

This isn’t a light read, it is in fact miles away from that and should have come with a litany of content warnings (see below). The author herself says that this is the book of hers to pick up when the reader needs a catharsis rather than a fun, feel-good experience. That is underselling it. This story is sad more often than it isn’t and it will likely make you feel those negative emotions as well, because Hoang is an excellent writer. But that isn’t really my problem, my problem is how dramatically underwritten section three is. It undermines the themes leading up to it (especially the burden of caregiving) in a substantial way.  Anna is essentially shut down for an entire year, and Quan takes the role of her primary carer. However, his perspective of that time is largely absent. Part Three just isn’t given the real estate it needs, page wise, to marry the previous two sections and that’s a damned shame because Hoang writes what she knows, and her books are always worth the time invested in them, even when they fall slightly short. Whenever Quan and Anna are together, it’s beautiful, I just wish Hoang had managed to find a better balance.

Content Warnings: suicidal ideation, body dysmorphia (male), gaslighting (particularly re: autism spectrum disorder diagnosis), severe anxiety/depression, ableism, creative burnout, cancer, sterility, death of a loved one, abuse and bullying from family members, emotional blackmail, going against a loved one’s wishes during end of life, caregiver burnout, autism burnout, over-exercising.

A Night to Surrender (CBR9 #59)

Following A Farewell to Arms, a trip to Romancelandia was in order.

Historical Romance was up next in my rotation, so off to Tessa Dare’s Spindle Cove I went. In the first book in the series we are introduced not only to the seaside locale, but to its resident mistress in charge. Susanna Finch has everything set up just so, she has created a safe haven for women and a schedule to keep them happy and mentally engaged. Unfortunately for her, Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff blasts his way (literally) into her life, and with some interference from her father, will be staying very much underfoot for the next month. All the worse, she is terribly attracted to him from the moment go.

This is a Tessa Dare book, and she writes charming, whimsical stories with characters that have great emotional chemistry. She also writes great side characters, even if she is a bit clumsy in introducing the next couple in her series (the chapter with Minerva and Colin stood out in the worst possible way). There was by far much less quirk than in the Castles Ever After books, which is a blessing, and more historical accuracy – as much as Dare is ever accurate. Dare does wacky like no one else, and like my other foray into the realms of Spindle Cove, was all-in with these wacky people (refreshingly not young) and their shenanigans. Where else am I likely to read about a pet lamb named Dinner?

It was silly, funny, and sexy, which is what I am looking for when I pick up a Tessa Dare book. The rest of the story had some pep in its step, and once the introduction of Spindle Cove itself was out of the way the narrative takes off and never really slows down. This book struck me as a more refined and more expertly executed version of One Dance with a Duke, another series introducer. It is in some ways burdened with world creation, but once that work is done Dare plays with two characters that are in equal measure true to their historical contexts, but also struggling with issues of gender roles and pride. It was all quite well done, and didn’t shy away from delivering very good sex scenes. All in all, you should all pack your bags for Spindle Cove, it is quite restorative.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read, where we read what we want, review it as we see fit (with a few guidelines), and raise money for the American Cancer Society in the name of a fallen friend.

When Life Happened (CBR9 #41)

This is the story of a book.

This was a book which I would never have found on my own, but Cannonball Read‘s dynamic reviewing duo PattyKates located it in their literary travels and recommended, nay demanded, that we citizens of Romancelandia experience.

But alas, it was not available to me via library or Nook and I thought I would perhaps be left out of the reading and the discussion. But, our very own Prolixity Julien procured the book for me via Kindle and once more I was back in the game. Read over the course of thirty hours while I was fighting off a migraine, my thoughts are scattered and a bit fevered.

This book should not work. It simply should not be able to pull you in based on what happens in the first half of the story. Cheating is not something one expects to encounter in a book that purports to be a romance. There are some who have tried to read When Life Happened who could not get through it, and I cannot fault them. I wonder if the fact that I knew there was a twist kept me involved long enough that I was won over by the characters themselves, not their actions. I also wonder how much of my programming as a reader had me accepting things I would not otherwise. I was simply along for a story, and what if this one fell a little more along something that would be found in the regular literary fiction aisle, but with a romance feel?

With that feeling in mind, Jewel E. Ann (that has got to be someone named Julianne using a pen name, right?) weaves in larger philosophical discussion about the gray areas in life and desire versus love. Somehow, it all came together to form a story I enjoyed.

Some overview thoughts:

1. Even though I knew there was a twist coming I didn’t guess that was it. I actually backed up and read it again to be sure I read it correctly. This is not the first book I’ve read that employed this twist, so there was a moment of “oh, THIS” but I kept right on going.
2. I am struggling with not hating the cheating that happened in the first half of the book. This should have pissed me off. But the author did a darn good job of laying out the emotions and reservations and guilt all around. She didn’t make all parties likeable, but she did a decent job of laying in the emotional lives of her characters.
3. The female lead doesn’t have a job in the second half of the book, and it’s just a bit squicky given the other aspects of the plot.
4. There is ridiculous wealth, but the character with it is just as interesting as his counterpart, if not more so, and that was very important to my overall enjoyment of the book.
5. The plotting and timelines are intricate; this book could easily have been twice as long. I feel or this books editor.

I don’t know that I would suggest reading this to any of you, but there is an interesting perspective to be gained if you feel like giving it a chance.

This book was read and reviewed as a part of the charitable Cannonball Read. We read what we want, we review as we see fit (with a few guidelines), and raise money for the American Cancer Society in the name of a fallen friend.

Lord of Scoundrels (CBR9 #16)

This friends, is why you review books right away. Because I don’t really remember a darn thing about this audio book I finished it last Monday.

You see, I’ve been packing, and moving, and generally trying to survive work. While not the best time to try to read and review, let’s see if I can’t give this book a fair shake. You’ll be getting review in bullet point format.

Overall impressions: it was good. I cranked up the audio speed though because the narrator was a bit laconic in her delivery, but her vocal differentiation worked well. The heroine, Jessica Trent, is the draw here. She has everyone’s number and will bend events to her will.

General Thoughts about this Romance Offering:

• Our hero, Sebastian Ballister, Marquess of Dain is a tough character to root for. He’s the damaged sort of male who is going to make the world suffer for his lot in life but when Loretta Chase is on, she can make this Alphahole type work. I begrudgingly found myself liking him and rolling my eyes at him the same way that his ladylove did.
  • He also has ISSUES with women, and that can make for a difficult read, be warned.
• Jessica Trent is the type of sterner stuff you want to see a romance lead be made of. Yes, the various plot points surrounding here can feel far-fetched for even Regency romance reading, but I love her. She starts the book as a spinster bluestocking of no consequence by choice, she’s intelligent, sharp, quick witted, perceptive, and she has interests and (shockingly) a career plan. She grounds the otherwise audacious plot offerings.
• In the second half of the book Chase does the unfortunately unexpected for the genre and has her characters establish an honest relationship beyond the physical, and its one of the books many strengths.
• The always present but often unwelcome subplot problem: A note to authors from your very own faintingviolet – you do not have to string the McGuffin that was your meet cute item all the way through the story and have some sort of terrible calamity around it. There was enough calamity with the secondary plot of the by-blow son.
• When the big reveal about the son happens we aren’t subjected to pages upon pages of misunderstandings, but instead the characters have grown and developed their relationship and instead we get a chapter about dealing with the problem head on. Like grownups.

I’m going to end this review by quoting Mrs. Julien, because she sums up the overall feeling of the book better than I’m going to be able to today.

“ He takes one look at Jessica and wants to lick her from head to toe. She takes one look at Dain and wants to rip all his clothes off. LET THE GAMES BEGIN! It’s beauty and the beast meets reformed rakes make the best husbands meets tortured hero, with a side of moustache twirling by minor characters trying to ruin everyone’s day. “

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read. Come on over and see what everyone’s reading and reviewing, you never know what you’ll find.

Mine Till Midnight (CBR9 #7)

I said in my review last year of Lisa Kleypas’ Devil in Winter that I was particularly interested in seeing the character of Cam Rohan given his own book since Kleypas had taken the time to develop his character in an interesting way. Mine Till Midnight is that book, and the pairing of Cam and Amelia Hathaway five years after the events of Devil in Winter delivers on the promise, but falters a little in the overall package. It is much closer to the kind of check-in story I was hoping to find in A Wallflowers Christmas.

Mine Till Midnight (ugh with that title – its grammatically incorrect. House Grammarian takes issue) is Cam and Amelia’s story, and it works well: he knows he needs change in his life, so wants to finally abandon his gadjo ways and go back to being a Rom. Instead, the change he needs turns out to be a life with Amelia and taking on the various aspects of the life of her family as she tries to pull them up to respectability but will accept survival without embarrassing themselves. She is take charge and family focused, often to her own detriment.

Amelia’s family is a mess. Her older brother Leo is in a serious depression following an illness and the death of his fiancée, sister Win also suffered the same bout of scarlet fever and is physically diminished, Poppy is in need of a proper debut but they cannot provide one for her, and youngest Beatrix has a slight kleptomania problem in addition to any number of other things. Add in de facto brother Merripen, a gypsy who was adopted by the Hathaway parents following his abandonment and who is desperately in love with Win but won’t say anything about it because of propriety you’ve got one hell of a mess. When the Hathaways inherit, Amelia thinks things will improve, but instead things deteriorate.

Amelia is, to me, a standard eldest sister. Perhaps that is why I was drawn to her: I see some of myself in the way Kleypas builds the character of Amelia. She puts family first, worries over the details that others are only partially aware of, and does not want to let herself love after a heartbreak. Cam is taken with her looks and personality, and finds within himself the desire to put all the various Hathaway troubles to rights especially if that means binding himself to Amelia for good.

As I said, this is a good historical romance. Nevertheless, I’m rounding from 3.5 down to three stars so there must be a reason. There are a couple:

1. The supernatural stuff. Cold rooms, ghostly presences, a change in the eyes. It was unwelcome, to me, in this continuing of the Wallflowers universe.
2. All plot threads are left dangling to the last 50+ pages to be resolved. Something could have been resolved earlier, and some receive just a single sentence.
3. Consent issues. Several times Amelia tells Cam that she does not want to sleep with him wherever they are (often a potentially public or unsecure location) and he goes right about moving things along regardless of her wishes. This is a historical, and in many ways I’m able to make the mental divide between the realities of then and now (particularly with Kleypas since she tends to do a better job than most of sticking with historical accuracies), but given the climate of the world around me right now the idea that Amelia’s bodily autonomy was not respected more often than not left a bad taste in my mouth. Sure, readers love a take charge lead, but taking charge doesn’t mean ignoring your partners input.
4. Too much story set up for the next books. We spend a lot of time with the fall and redemption of Leo, and many pages are spent with Merripen and Win setting up their book (which is the one I avoid, right?). Some of Kleypas’ best writing is in these scenes, but in combination with the Leo and treasure hunt (seriously, WTF?) it was all too much.

I am looking forward to checking in with the Hathaways during the year, and hopeful for continued sightings of the various Wallflowers.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read. Come join us and say fuck you to cancer.

The Shameless Hour (CBR7 #89)

In trying to review this book I now know why some of my fellow cannonballers wait to review these series in one fell swoop instead of individually. In praising this effort from Bowen I find myself tempted to just repeat myself from previous reviews. In the fourth book in the series, Sarina Bowen has found her sweet spot and is continuing to write feminist bent romance and in many ways appears to be gunning to be the Courtney Milan of the contemporary new adult genre (as much as I love Milan, I was disappointed in her effort in this genre, Trade Me and if I had been more honest probably would’ve rounded down to a 2 star rating. I have hope for her next work in the series Hold Me next year).

What does Bowen continue to do well in this work? Well, she’s got fleshed out leads. We met Bella in the previous book in the series, The Understatement of the Year and she’s still dealing with the fallout from that book’s events as she starts her senior year at Harkness. We are introduced to Rafe, sophomore at Harkness, and are plunged into his world. Bowen also does my favorite trick that Milan also did in her Brothers Sinister series, she gender-swaps the tropes. In this book Rafe is the wallflower – he’s the quiet, respectful, occasional doormat guy who is trying to figure out how to be him, and also a gentlemen, and perhaps a relationship that works for him. If it’s with Bella, all the better. And Bella is the rake. It’s reinforced in this book, but we learn of her sexual appetite and casual promiscuity. If she wants to get naked with someone, and they return the sentiment, then she is all about it. While this attitude can make it difficult for her to interact with other women who are concerned about Bella’s possible interactions with their boyfriends, Bella owns her choices and builds her life the way she wants it. This is all good.

Rafe and Bella end up having a one night stand when Bella finds him sitting on the stairs in their dorm (can I just mention I drool whenever Bowen writes about the architecture of fictional Harkness? I would have killed to go to school at a campus like this) drinking champagne he is supposed to be having with his now ex for their birthdays. Bella sees someone in need of (platonic) company and takes him upstairs where they each share their tales of woe and the bottle of champagne. Then, because this is a romance novel, things get a lot less platonic.

There’s a LOT of story that follows that moment, the awkwardness from Rafe since he doesn’t do casual, and he certainly didn’t mean to lose his virginity to Bella that night. Rafe’s home life, their class project, and finally Bella’s victimization by a fraternity on campus and its aftermath (note, she is NOT sexually assaulted, but that doesn’t make reading what she went through any easier). Here however, is where the wheels came off a little for me, and while I did enjoy this book quite a bit (you’ll notice a four star rating of this book) it was my least favorite of the series so far. I have not yet read the final book of the series The Fifteenth Minute but it was just released and a lot of the cannonball ladies who have already read it have pointed out some concerns with how Bowen handles that book’s plot fulcrum and I knew about it before I read the final 100 pages of this one. And I can’t help but admit that it colored how I viewed the actions and reactions of Bella and Rafe.

When Bella finally starts to get back to herself following her attack, her neighbor Lianne (Hollywood teen star and computer hacker type) helps her get her revenge. Bella doesn’t want to report her attack officially, but she does want to exact some vengeance. The plot they concoct, and eventually deploy only works for me by halves. The part with the models and the signs, and the pictures – grrr. The part with handing out mugs to everyone in the stands with a warning about being possibly drugged at that particular fraternity and what the code words are for an unsafe drink? Brava!  Normally I would also moan and groan about how the laziest plot device is not having your two characters just talk about their issue or misunderstanding, but Bowen subverts that by having Rafe plan to talk to Bella before things go haywire, and then when things do there really isn’t a moment – until there is and they do talk. Then things fall a little too easily into place, one of the frat members finally reports the rest of the guys for their activities following Bella’s prank, Bella and Rafe are called into the dean to testify, and Bella’s fairy godmother nurse practitioner gives her career and grad school advice which means that she gets to stay at Harkness.

This book is good, and my issues with the back third, which I’m having trouble putting into words (but are mostly focused on Bella’s initial reaction to Rafe’s not wanting to be casual and how she phrases her argument to him), aren’t actually that big. I will be reading The Fifteenth Minute soon and I’m sure I’ll have lots of thoughts on that, but for now I’m done writing because my word count is healthily over 900.

The Year We Fell Down (CBR7 #67)

I rely wholeheartedly on the advice of fellow Romance readers as I continue to broaden my reading horizons. There is simply too much good stuff available to waste time with the bad stuff. Cannonball Read has been hit with a couple of reviews for Sarina Bowen’s The Ivy Years series, a Contemporary/New Adult romance series set at a prestigious university in Connecticut. The reviews have been nearly unanimously positive. I of course downloaded the first one to my Nook and when trapped without my copy of Persepolis I started reading this on my phone. It is a testament to how good it was that I continued to read it on my phone (which I don’t like to do, but emergencies happen) until I finished it today.

While The Year We Fell Down fits itself in with almost all good genre romance novels out there right now by following the pacing and tropes we’re expecting, it also dunks us into a portion of the world we might not be expecting and is unflinchingly honest about it, or as much as it can be in 200 short pages. You see, our protagonists have their meet cute in the accessible dorm on their college campus. Corey Callahan suffered a spinal cord injury which has left her unable to walk unaided or have sensation in her legs and Adam Hartley broke his leg in two places and will spend the next several months healing. Both were meant to be playing for their school’s hockey team, neither will do so.

Each character also brings other baggage to the table, and in perhaps my favorite saying these characters share, they get to shoveling the shit. They are a believable pair, dealing with mostly believable issues in a completely believable way. This is good storytelling. There are a few dings against the book, focused heavily on the fact that for the life of me I often couldn’t remember the first names of our two main characters (they refer to each other almost exclusively by last name, which itself doesn’t bother me).  I’m excited to see how the stories continue and am excited that Hartley’s best friend Bridger is the protagonist in the next in the series.  While the dating stuff was cute, I really fell for these characters when they all went to Hartley’s mom’s house for Thanksgiving and I’m excited to dig more deeply into the character of Bridger that we were given a glimpse of. I’ll be ordering the rest of the series immediately, and suggest you probably just buy the whole set like Mrs. Julien suggests.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read.

Persuasion (CBR7 #49)

I finally finished my reread of Persuasion as part of the Go Fug Yourself Bookclub on Goodreads. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was nice to visit a known favorite and bring some new understandings to why this book works for me.

As expected, I loved it. It’s probably unfair really since Persuasion has such a particular place in my literary heart. It’s the first Austen that I read of my own choosing and reminds me of a specific place and time. We read both Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility in high school and I fell a little in love with Austen from the get go (I’ve chronicled my love of Austen elsewhere).  So, on a study abroad trip to Oxford I picked up copies of all the Austen works I could find. Persuasion became the first I read of that collection and the one I love the most as a complete work.

Jane Austen has stronger heroines, and more overtly or dashing romantic heroes, but there is something so honest, real, and relatable about the tale of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth. There are bigger, more grand moments in other novels, and Austen plays with literary devices and satirizes the novels of her day in her other works. But in Persuasion I’ve always felt that she is telling the most honest story she embarks on. We all know these characters – we have our own Marys, our own Sir Walters, our own Lady Russells, and our own Crofts. While Wentworth is the sort of romantic lead who works for me, and that letter, and his revelations of the last couple of chapters make me feel for him even more, I am more invested in this novel for the slice of life it offers on display than for the romance (even though I would list this in my top 50 romance reads if I ever get around to making such a list).

And in approaching this novel at this time in my life, no longer the young girl who pines artfully, but as the woman who still hopes and struggles to find her place, I have even more affection for Anne. She is both an injured party and the injurer. Yet, she takes no offense and shirks no blame. She doesn’t expect others to be more than they are capable of being, and owns the errors she has made and expects only what life has to bring her. Austen uses her narrator to skewer the rest of Anne’s family, but never Anne. Not because she is without sin, but because she is a fully actualized human aware of the foibles of the world.  We should all be so lucky to be an Anne Elliot and loved by a Captain Wentworth.

This book was read and reviewed as part of the charitable Cannonball Read.