The Reluctant Countess by Eloisa James Series: Would Be Wallflowers #2
Published by HarperCollins Publishers on November 29, 2022
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency, Fiction / Women
Pages: 384
Format: ARC
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Amazon
New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Would-Be Wallflowers series with an enemies-to-lovers romance between a proper earl and an entirely improper lady--whom he can't stop thinking about.
Giles Renwick, Earl of Lilford, has never made a fool of himself over a woman--until he meets Lady Yasmin Régnier. Yasmin is ineligible for his attentions in every way: not as a wife, certainly not as a mistress (she is a lady!), nor even as a friend, since they vehemently dislike each other. Her gowns are too low, and her skirts are dampened to cling to admittedly lovely thighs. She loves to gossip--and giggle.
She isn't dignified, or polite, or even truly British, given that her father's French ancestry clearly predominated. Not to mention the fact that her mother had been one of Napoleon's mistresses, a fact she makes no effort to hide.
So what--in heaven's name--possesses him to propose?
And what will he do if she says yes?
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Every once in a while, I read a Reg Rom that makes me sad. And not just the climax/conflict angst/feels, but just sad that anyone would think the hero’s behavior is remotely romantic and not a precursor to abuse.
This was one of those books.
There was a time when Eloisa James was one of my favorite authors. I tried the first in this series earlier this year, and while it wasn’t one of my favorites this year, I did enjoy it. I have to acknowledge that more often than not my tastes changing reflect my own experiences, growth, and understanding. Given the many high rankings of this book (albeit coupled by a slightly lesser amount of low ranks), its evident some readers will not take issue with the MCs or the story. I do, and I want to tell you why.
The Reluctant Countess is sort of an enemies to lovers story, with a grumpy hero/sunshine heroine. These are tropes that, while I don’t dislike them, are not necessarily a must read for me. The angst level is not off the charts, but is ever present thanks, in large part, to a truly terrible sister of the hero character. I am still a bit befuddled by her ending which felt like no resolution at all, especially for a character who deserved a comeuppance. If you are a reader who has had a fair amount of in-law or toxic family angst, Lydia could be a trigger for you.
More troubling for me than the machinations of Lydia are her brother’s inability to deal with it. His helplessness in the face of it, his willingness to knuckle under it. It made no sense to me in the context of his character, and honestly made him a poor match for the heroine.
There are aspects of Giles, the hero, that I do somewhat understand but there is a whole pathos about him that is frightening rather than endearing. I will harken back to an article I have cited a time or two, when trying to describe a hero that doubtless many women find romantic but just sends up giant flare guns of red flags for me. His jealousy, his controlling and withdrawing behavior, contrasted with the love-bombing…its not exactly chapter verse from the narcissist handbook but its something not good. Given his behavior, his words at the end fell flat for me. The fact that he obsesses over Yasmin’s many admirers and sex appeal, shaming her while simultaneously showing up at her grandfather’s house every night for a late night booty call…just no thank you. In the year of 2022, gorgeous gorgeous girls have more respect for themselves than to find a jealous controlling guy anything but pathetic and not worth their time.
Yasmin feels like a character a smart woman writes about another type of woman, but with judgment. She has redeeming qualities and a naiveté that underlies her sophisticated, devil-may-care presentation to the world. She describes herself as frivolous, loving gossip, and stupid, although James tries to counteract this by having the hero point out her love and gift with language. Its like James wants to present this sunshine character who exudes warmth and laughter in spite of her terrible upbringing, but can’t help but judge her for not being more serious about something. The judgment mainly comes in the form of having Yasmin relent to Giles’ pitiful attempts to reconcile not once or twice, but several times. In the context of Giles kind of being an abusive leaning character, this just screams co-dependency yuck yuck to me and not romantic at all.
Also Yasmin is not, even remotely, a wallflower. Would-be or otherwise.
Yasmin’s grandfather is a king (truly, a Duke in the book) and one of the redeeming features of the book. He loves with humor, without judgment, and with an authenticity that felt real. I also loved Silvester, a Duke rival after Yasmin’s hand who seems like the true one Yasmin should’ve ended up with. He was supportive, funny, caring, really the whole package. Except she wasn’t attracted to him, so she had to chase after the object of her lust.
If I were her girlfriend, I would have had some stern words of advice for her about crazy love making you crazy.
The book is technically well written, easy to read, and I did have emotional reactions to elements.
I also want to talk about one thing that was in the book that was interesting because it was uncommon. Specifically, Yasmin’s reaction to intimacy.
There is a fair amount of intimacy on the page. These MCs go at it about as much as the Duke and Duchess in Bridgerton Season 1 (maybe more). But the first scene is fascinating because Yasmin is visibly disgusted by it, and calls the act disgusting.
Its a bit weird how James sets this up to be a conflict (with Giles promising a platonic marriage) but then its sort of not ever directly dealt with again, as Yasmin finds herself increasingly wanting intimacy. Yasmin later describes childbirth as disgusting, so it may be James was wanting to capture a character who has a low tolerance for bodily functions? Initially, I assumed it would be the main conflict as Yasmin tried to work through her trauma of being manipulated into intimacy at too young of an age, which is surely something other readers could relate. I also wondered if it could be hinting at a neuro-spicy reaction to intimacy or a specific type of orientation (I was getting a little bit of demi and a little bit of ace). I still am not sure what the point of introducing Yasmin’s disgust was, other than maybe to sell the intimacy as a signal Giles was “the one”. It would have been more interesting to explore Yasmin as demisexual.
Overall, this isn’t a book I would recommend for most readers. There were adult themes and a fair amount of (albeit vanilla) intimate scenes, and one assault. But more troublesome were the MCs.
As always, I will remind Regency Readers that there are as many opinions as there are books in the world, and according to GoodReads reviews, some readers loved this book so if it peaks your interest, check out a few other reviews first.
There was a point in time when EJ was a must-read for me and now she’s a must-not. Too bad, she’s a good writer but has lost touch with the essence of romance – that two people are the right fit for each other, not just sexually but personally. She needs to go back and read some Heyer.
That was very much my takeaway from this book, Annie. It’s sad to have to give up on a once beloved author, but with so many other exciting new voices in Regency, I think it’s time for me to also move on.