Lynn Messina: The Impertinent Miss Templeton

A PATENT FOR PASSION

No, no, no! It doesn’t matter how many times the Duchess of Trent (The Harlow Hoyden) requests her help with a delicate matter regarding a patent for her sister’s invention, Tuppence Templeton will not lend a hand. She has a habit, yes, of coming up with ingenious plans to solve other people’s problems, and it is true that she’s clever and daring enough to pull off the proposed scheme. But there’s no way she’s going to confront the arrogant and dismissive Earl of Gage again. She is still shaken—or is it stirred?—from their last encounter when, rather than thank her for saving his sister from ruin, he railed against her for having the temerity to interfere in his family’s business. And yet somehow when the opportunity arises, she finds herself unable to resist issuing the challenge.

Nicholas Perceval, Earl of Gage, cannot believe it when the impertinent upstart who exposed his sister to disaster maneuvers him into escorting her to the Bill Patent Office. What a perfectly ridiculous request! And then to discover that she manipulated him while they were there so that she could “find” a missing application—he has never been so angry in his entire life. And it’s not because he’d unexpectedly enjoyed her charming and irreverent company. No, that has nothing to do with it at all. Although perhaps maybe a little…

Its been a while since I had read the Harlow Hoyden and The Other Harlow Girl but I was able to remember enough to make me comfortable with the general references. And I remember finding them both funny and fun, so was happy to give this 5th book in the Love Takes Root series a read. Reading this as a standalone would probably work, although you will enjoy it more if you read the pack together.

The heroine is indeed impertinent, a bit managing, and known as something of a Miss Fix-It. Although one of her greatest achievements, rescuing the sister of Prickly Perceval, is in doubt because the Earl of Gage is such a grade A jerk and doesn’t give credit to anyone. He’s kind of a misogynist, at least at first. So yes, this is a hate to love kind of story, with a lot of light mischief, scheming ladies, and lots of rompish adventures.

Tuppence is considered on the shelf and seems happy with that lot, until the Harlow sisters have a proposition for her. This pits her against the Prickly P himself, and unleashes a bit of a wilder side in Tuppence.

Messina writes with a love of throwing her characters into absurd situations, which delivers humor. The dialogue is often witty, too, which makes the cast of characters fun to follow. The scenes with the Harlow sisters are especially funny, because they are such minxes.

The pacing is a bit slow, and it took me some time to get into it (probably because I was trying to remember details from the first two books), but once the main action kicks off it is a fast, fun read. I recommend plugging through some of the set up scenes to get to the wild and wacky adventures.

Messina gives her female characters lots of pluck and agency, so no missish maids here! Most are also surrounded by male characters that support their strength and intelligence, although Percy is a bit of an exception, at least at first, which may put some readers off him completely.

The steamy stuff is very light (mostly kissing and a bit of deep embracing) and the adult subject matter is also limited, making this a great read for fans who don’t want more erotic material in their reads. However, Messina does walk a fine line between clean and not with this series, so if any intimacy is not your cuppa, I recommend steering clear.

5 Stars 4 out of 6 An impertinent Miss and a grumpy jerk Lord make this a hate to love romance