A London heiress rides out to the wilds of the English countryside to honor a marriage of convenience with a mysterious and reclusive stranger.
THE BELLE OF BELGRAVE SQUARE
Series: Belles of London #2
Publication date: October 11, 2022
Published by: Berkley Romance
Genre: historical romance
SYNOPSIS
Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood.
For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, navigating a London ballroom is absolute torture. The only time Julia feels any degree of confidence is when she’s on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt.
In exchange for her dowry and her hand, Jasper must promise to grant her freedom to do as she pleases. To ride—and to read—as much as she likes without masculine interference. He readily agrees to her conditions, with one provision of his own: Julia is forbidden from going into the tower rooms of his estate and snooping around his affairs. But the more she learns of the beastly former hero, the more intrigued she becomes…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning proper Victorian romances, including Fair as a Star, a Library Journal Best Romance of 2020; Gentleman Jim, a Kirkus Best Book of 2020; and The Work of Art, winner of the 2020 HOLT Medallion. Her novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Awareness, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Culture, and in syndication at BUST Magazine.
In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats.
REVIEW
The Belle of Belgrave Square by Mimi MatthewsMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Could war really change a person to that degree?Could it truly turn a man from a villain into a hero?She wanted to believe it. She had to believe it.
I've been wanting to try a Mimi Mathews book for some time now, and what better book to start with than one with a bookish, introvert heroine who hates the London social season? This type of heroine is a weakness of mine, so I jumped at the chance to read an advanced copy. Now that I've read it I can say that despite the mid range rating, I really enjoyed the author's writing style. While there were some things about that plot that didn't work from a technical standpoint (and emotional on my end) the series as a whole still has potential for me. I've already added the next book and plan to continue when it comes out sometime in January.
Julia Wynchwood comes from a wealthy family and lives a life of privilege among the higher echelon of society. From the outside looking in, anyone would say that she has the world at her fingertips. However, for Julia, the endless social activities she is forced to attend is like pure torture for the shy "bluestocking." Her discomfort is so great that she frequently fakes illness to get out of events, even knowing that her parents will call their doctor who treats her with the archaic method of bleeding. How this "treatment" was ever believed to be beneficial boggles the mind. It's also quite sad to think about all of the people who needlessly died at the hands of trusted physicians because of the practice.
Julia is a dreamer with romantic sensibilities. She wants to be swept off her feet by the sensational novels she reads. Unfortunately, she hasn't met anyone in London that could measure up to the dark and brooding heroes like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights. Except, perhaps, for the forbidding Captain Blunt. His scarred, harsh countenance is enough to make most outgoing hesitant to approach him, but his scandalous past makes people downright fear him. While his war hero status gives him a veneer of respect, everyone secretly whispers about the illegitimate children that he keeps in his own dilapidated, gothic home Goldfinch Hall. The rumored cruel treatment of his men during the war is a whole other topic for people to cast their judgement upon. Julia does feel nervous around the man when she comes into contact with him, but all of the things that should have her running in the opposite direction seem to draw her in. She romanticizes the dark reputation he has and (a bit naively) paints him as completely misunderstood.
In a way she is right about him as all is not what it appears to be. He does have a softer, caring side that comes out when they are alone in each other's presence. Jasper is not the cruel man that he is rumored to be, but he's not being honest with her either. Yes, he is completely upfront about looking for an advantageous marriage in order to save his newly inherited, crumbling home. However, he is hiding a HUGE secret that he intends to just keep from her forever. He tells her that she can never ask questions about his parents or past. Obviously, that didn't sit right with me at all. Jasper makes his intentions clear from the start: he would like to court her because he is in desperate need of her dowry. You can't fault his direct approach-Julia certainly appreciates the lack of false romantic overtures. While she is a romantic, she knows that she doesn't inspire passionate feelings from men. She's as socially awkward as can be, and has very little self-confidence. It just felt very wrong for him to draw her into a life-long commitment under false pretenses regarding his past. She commits herself to him in order to escape a home life where she doesn't feel safe, yet his big secret has very real implications on her that she is completely unaware of.
This book is over 400 pages which doesn't have to be a bad thing necessarily, but it did feel that way. The first half of the book dragged for me a little and it took me a few days to truly get captured by the story. It wasn't boring per se, but there wasn't anything happening that made me feel emotionally connected to the characters. It was a bit surprising because I do love shy bookworms, but Julia was a bit extreme with her social anxiety and lack of confidence. It allowed her parents to walk all over her horribly, even to the point of abuse I would say. If I'm being completely honest, I wanted her to have a little more backbone when her pathetic father insulted and controlled her. I did see quite a transformation though, so she made me come around.
Jasper's internal dialogue and yearning for Julia's affection in the second half was really sweet. I enjoyed reading his secret, romantic feelings. The two of them got to know one another at a more intimate level after their marriage and I really enjoyed reading as that connection formed. Of course, Jasper's big secret is a ticking time bomb and it has the expected explosion on their fragile relationship when it comes out. I can't say that he didn't deserve the heartache from that, but one good thing to come out of it was Julia taking charge of her own life. I fully respected the assertive way she stood up to her parents and resolved the big conflict. She really came into who she was as a woman and found her self worth.
The prospect of meeting strangers—of being stared at and whispered over—was enough to make her stomach tremble with anxiety.But she wasn’t the same person she’d been in London.She wasn’t Julia Wychwood anymore.She was Mrs. Julia Blunt. A different creature altogether.Hadn’t that always been a dream of hers?To go to a new place and start afresh?To reinvent herself as someone new—someone confident?
Overall, I like the concept of this series as well as the author's voice. I thought Jasper and Julia's Beauty and the Beast vibes were a nice touch. Some people are classifying this as a retelling, but this was more of a faint impression rather than a retelling in my opinion. The third installment in this series has me eager with anticipation. Lady Anne's story has a lot of potential based on her short appearances here. She's bold, opinionated, and a force to be reckoned with. Her story was teased a little bit-it will be an enemies to lovers trope with Mr. Hartford, her childhood nemesis. I'm looking forward to seeing how their HEA comes about soon!
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