Jolie Beaumont: Jericho’s Child

Sophie Moore has neither title nor fortune, but she hopes her talent for music will come to her aid, now that she is an orphan and must make her way in the world. But when she finds temporary shelter at the Mayfair home of a friend of her deceased father, she finds her practical plans being waylaid by the family’s dashing eldest son, Arthur Wentworth. Arthur, however, is too in love with his cousin, Lady Harrington, to give Sophie more than a glance—until a series of mishaps and misfortunes open his eyes, in the sparkling tradition of a Cozy Regency Romance.

I must advise this review contains spoilers. I usually try to carefully skirt spoiling too much of the plot, which isn’t always easy and frankly is a bit silly since most Regencies are pretty formulaic and headed for the HEA. But as much as I enjoyed this traditional Regency from an author new to me, there were some fatal flaws that needs must point out, particularly for those endeavoring to write their own traditional Regency tale.

We have a reserved but nearly perfect Corinthian hero, who all the ladies are madly after. Its no surprise then that the heroine, orphaned Sophie Moore, falls headlong for him. What was more mysterious, at least to me, is exactly what gives her the immediate impression that there is more wounded animal than peacock behind Mr. Wentworth’s cool gaze. Inexplicably, she weaves a whole history for him and while reminding herself at one point that she actually knows nothing about him, it doesn’t stop her from falling in love with this paper man and then being rewarded with a HEA in the end. Honestly, I was so confused. I had thought the author was setting up the scales to fall from Sophie’s eyes, but after I realized she wasn’t introducing a rival, I went from confused to befuddled.

Generally, both the H/h were fairly typical traditional Regency characters. The cool, indifferent but handsome, rich and mannered hero and the sweet, kind and a little spunky/funky heroine. I mean, the girl fences. How is that for quirky, right?! (I actually love the library fencing scene. The brother steals every scene, honestly!) But I never got how they fit together. I guess she lusted after him and he admired her unique qualities? (Chime in here if you have read and have a better interpretation).

There are lots of the elements of the traditional Reg Rom: historical details including Gunthers(!) and Gentleman Jackson’s(!), references to the ton, foil characters, obligatory shopping scene, marriages of convenience, travelling, kisses only, HEA, and lots of runaway matches. Like, more than one. Which was funny in a roll your eyes sort of way. I think readers who are new to the genre will enjoy these elements as fresh and fun, and feel immersed in the era. Those of us who read Regencies religiously will find the details and tone certainly appropriate, if not a little safe.

The foil characters were fairly interesting. Honestly, I wanted to read more about Lady Harrington. There was a character who appeared to have hidden depths. I also enjoyed the two debutantes. I enjoyed their friendship based on competition.

Some of the other characters were more difficult to understand.

We are almost immediately introduced to the Aunt, Dorothea Wentworth, who is a shrew of the first order. Apparently, her sole purpose for being a super jerk is just that. Granted, I have lots of days where I feel equally as bitchy and ready to snub little upstarts for daring to be too cheerful when I am in a mood (okay, this all transpires in my head), but honestly there is usually an explanation for my moodiness. By the end of the book, I didn’t understand this character’s inclusion at all. In fact, it sort of operated like a red herring. I thought she was going to reveal some deep trauma explaining her royal bitch out factor. But nope.

So there were a few choices the author made that did not make sense to me. However, the book was generally entertaining, well written, and a breezy, short read that took me a few hours to complete.

Lots of other reviews promised comedy…I find it a little thin on the ground, but I generally think comedy is subjective so you may enjoy some of the rompish elements to the novel.

There was limited adult content, and kisses only, so appropriate for most ages. I can easily see this being a favorite among teens who are less skeptical of love at first sight/hero worship.

The twist in the end was a little unnecessary, but again less critical readers will enjoy the added spice to HEA.

In summary, I think this is a great traditional for teens and younger readers, especially ones new to Regency romance. Older readers who are genre fans will not find much to inspire and should probably give this one a pass.

5 Stars 4 out of 6 Despite some flaws, fairly sweet and easy to read traditional Reg Rom