Awk...Ward!
The Merry Viscount (Widow's Brew #2) by Sally MacKenzie
So what happens when it's nearing Christmas Eve, you've caught the last coach out of town and then, some drunken youthful peers take the reins? You get Trouble, with a capital T!
For Miss Caroline Anderson it was Double Trouble. Caro is "the brewster at the Benevolent Home for the Maintenance and Support of Spinsters, Widows, and Abandoned Women and their Unfortunate Children in Little Puddledon.” Quite a mouthful ! The coach has floundered outside the country residence of Nicholas St. John, Viscount Oakland, or, as some called him, Lord Devil, a onetime childhood friend of Caro's.
For Nick it's also double trouble. Firstly he's rebelliously planned a Christmas orgy to rid the house of the memory of his late Uncle Leon's censorious voice, thumbing "his nose at everyone...by celebrating the Roman Saturnalia in place of Christmas" and secondly, he's having considerable trouble orgy-ing, and now a houseful of dubious travellers have landed on his doorstep including Caro!
I loved the feistiness of Caro, I was saddened by her victim mentality, something that Nick talks to her about. A high point for the novel and for these two people! I was confused as to why Caro had to go into service. I was amazed at the coincidences that kept cropping up but then if truth is stranger than fiction, then fiction is allowed to be a bit strange.
A lighthearted Christmas story, with serious undertones. Nick's childhood past and him being not quite the thing due to having an Italian mother is one of them. Caro's story is another.
I have my favourite Sally MacKenzie books, and although Nick and Caro's story is different and brought a smile to my face, it hasn't joined that list.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
***
For Miss Caroline Anderson it was Double Trouble. Caro is "the brewster at the Benevolent Home for the Maintenance and Support of Spinsters, Widows, and Abandoned Women and their Unfortunate Children in Little Puddledon.” Quite a mouthful ! The coach has floundered outside the country residence of Nicholas St. John, Viscount Oakland, or, as some called him, Lord Devil, a onetime childhood friend of Caro's.
For Nick it's also double trouble. Firstly he's rebelliously planned a Christmas orgy to rid the house of the memory of his late Uncle Leon's censorious voice, thumbing "his nose at everyone...by celebrating the Roman Saturnalia in place of Christmas" and secondly, he's having considerable trouble orgy-ing, and now a houseful of dubious travellers have landed on his doorstep including Caro!
I loved the feistiness of Caro, I was saddened by her victim mentality, something that Nick talks to her about. A high point for the novel and for these two people! I was confused as to why Caro had to go into service. I was amazed at the coincidences that kept cropping up but then if truth is stranger than fiction, then fiction is allowed to be a bit strange.
A lighthearted Christmas story, with serious undertones. Nick's childhood past and him being not quite the thing due to having an Italian mother is one of them. Caro's story is another.
I have my favourite Sally MacKenzie books, and although Nick and Caro's story is different and brought a smile to my face, it hasn't joined that list.
A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley
***
Comments
Post a Comment