Jesus, it took everything in me not to DNF this book. And was it worth the fight? As usual, I'll let the stars speak for me.
Now, don't get me wrong; I liked the initial premise of this book and a few aspects here and there:
-Initial method to Felicity's madness
*She's a gossip columnist out to make sure her friend doesn't marry the wrong man. I get it, protecting your friend... but that reasoning falls apart later in the cons.
-Dire Straits
*It's implied that Felicity doesn't really enjoy her job, so much as she's good at it. She talks about having gone to a party back in the day and shocked many guests with her tawdry takes on people of intrigue. Shocked, but still entertained them. There's also a line when Felicity's on her way out the door and has a very "sparkle, Neely, sparkle" moment. The notion of putting on a façade in order to put food on the table is quite sad to read about.
*I liked that she went into why she does what she does... because the other "options" caused more problems than they solved (being governess for other people's children-even just a daily nursemaid-makes no sense; she's got her own four young brothers to raise where would they go during the day? And being a teacher pays less than a columnist and again, many teachers are required to live on campus, another "what would I do about my brothers", conundrum?
-Ian's Anger
*He's rightfully pissed about the slander in Felicity's column, especially given his own dire straits (find a wife, have an heir or surrender his estate/fortune to his abusive uncle). And he's been left for elopements twice... damn.
-The "What are the limits?" scene (AKA a truly smutty delight)
*The juxtaposition of their tryst happening just beyond the door of polite society ladies cooing at home décor sent me blushin'.
-Making their cases
1.Ian states that he needs a wife and heir, why not enjoy the one he'll have?
2.However, Felicity rightfully asks "Why marry me? I have no money/title, and mouths to feed?"
-Ian's take on feminism/sexuality
*He straight up tells Felicity not to be ashamed of her lust, saying that it's ok to want that kind of love, and how unfair it is that men are encouraged to satiate their hunger no matter if they're married or not, meanwhile, women are only allowed to indulge so long as its properly within the confines of marriage. A man who hates the double standard? We love this.
This is kinda where the goodness ends...
-Felicity
*…I'm scared to say this... but she, kind of... exaggerates the extent of Ian's encounter. True, shame on him for forcing a kiss on her, but when the other women find her, she tells them "He did more than kiss me. He took other liberties." Umm... not sure I want to say anymore than that. Do with that what you will... doesn't help that she acknowledged her penchant for... expanding on events of other natures.
*She kept bringing up the mistress that doesn't exist! This whole thing stems from her writing about Ian putting up a mistress and "his child" in a nearby house. And though Ian won't say who she is, he'll repeat who she's not (AKA his mistress). Every convo of theirs for the longest time ends with "Does Miss Greenaway do this for you?". This is partly why it took me THREE HOURS to get to 80 pages. When I tell you I was I was exaggerating the events...
-Bickering for the sake of page count
*Remember earlier when I talked about Ian's two cents on sexuality? Felicity literally tells him "That's very progressive", acknowledging that he's not a bigot, but then continues to belittle him later for still believing he's a bigot! What do you believe?! I thought I was having one of those "read the same passage a dozen times over" moments. Nope. I was making page progress, but character weren't following suit emotionally.
-The age old myth of the hymen rears its ugly head
*Please stop calling it a "barrier to break through". Makes it sound like we've got glass casing down there.
-Ian's all "I killed my aunt" and I know the guilt of his accidently pushing her away from his abusive uncle during an altercation could make him believe this. But the way the phrase/declaration ended the chapter... too Christina Skye/organ soap for my taste.
-Madness prevails
*Recall the pro falling apart? Well, turns out, when Felicity does go to interview Miss Greenaway, there's no indication that she's Ian's mistress, save for a flush of facial frustration that Felicity decides to interpret/argue to the death as "blush". I think her exact words were "Her blush told me so"... But not true words or action?
*Also, this so-called friendship must've happened in a previous book, because Katherine and Felicity never interact in this book. Not once. It would make for a more compelling "hate to love" if Felicity had been the one helping/being witness to Katherine's elopement. But no. We've got to take her word that they're besties.
I've got one more book my Sabrina Jeffries to get through... and I'm in no rush to get there.