Beguiling the Beauty

Fitzhugh Trilogy #1

by Sherry Thomas

When the Duke of Lexington meets the mysterious Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg on a transatlantic liner, he is fascinated. She’s exactly what he’s been searching for—a beautiful woman who interests and entices him. He falls hard and fast—and soon proposes marriage.And then she disappears without a trace…

For in reality, the “baroness” is Venetia Easterbrook—a proper young widow who had her own vengeful reasons for instigating an affair with the duke. But the plan has backfired. Venetia has fallen in love with the man she despised—and there’s no telling what might happen when she is finally unmasked…

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Victorian, Fiction, Regency

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2012

About the author

USA Today-bestselling author Sherry Thomas decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of book she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio.

A Study in Scarlet Women, A Conspiracy in Belgravia, and The Hollow of Fear, the first three entries in her gender-bending Lady Sherlock historical mystery series, are all NPR best books of the year. The Magnolia Sword, her 2019 release, is the first young adult retelling of the original Ballad of Mulan in the English language.

Sherry emigrated from China at age 13 and English is her second language.

“Sherry Thomas has done the impossible and crafted a fresh, exciting new version of Sherlock Holmes. From the carefully plotted twists to the elegant turns of phrase, A Study in Scarlet Women is a splendid addition to Holmes’s world. This book is everything I hoped it would be, and the next adventure cannot come too soon!” —Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author

“Thomas weaves a lush, intricate fantasy world around a gorgeous romance that kept me riveted until the very last page. What a breathtaking journey!” (Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series )

"Sherry Thomas is the most powerfully original historical romance author writing today."—Lisa Kleypas, New York Times bestselling author



Visit Sherry at her website

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Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun and unique historical romance! First, I love a good revenge romance and Venetia is trying to seduce Christian to get back at him for insulting her by claiming she's the reason her first husband died. She disguises herself as a German baroness and they have a passionate affair on an ocean liner going from America to England. Unfortunately for her, they fall hard for each other but she's keeping her identity secret. What was really cool about this romance was that Christian is actually a scientist and works with fossils, and Venetia is super interested in his work and wants to study his collection. This was such a fun aspect that I haven't read that often in historical. This one definitely had angst because of the hate to love aspect and I enjoyed it. I do think things were resolved too quickly/easily in the end and wrapped up way too quickly. I would have liked more time spent on them trusting each other again and falling in love again. But, overall, this was a great historical romance and I can't wait to read more from Sherry Thomas!

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sherry Thomas is an excellent writer, technically, and her prose can sometimes be beautiful (when it's not crossing the line into emo uselessness), but I'm not sure her work is really in line with what I enjoy in HR. She's capable of crafting interesting, sympathetic characters and keeping the reader hooked (I had an enormously difficult time putting this one down to get anything else done), but the payoff wasn't what I'd call satisfying. I liked the characters, for the most part, but Venetia was vain and silly, Christian was narrow-minded and cynical, and the abrupt, saccharine, Happily-Ever-After ending was not at all in keeping with the rest of the rather drawn-out, angst-riddled story. I expected an emotionally-fueled confession, some tears, some serious conversation and reflection... Not a declaration of love befitting a quirky, irritating and irrational romcom and some giggles. After spending hours in a tormented state, truly feeling the pain of both characters, the ending was an insult. It was like Thomas just got tired of writing and gave up. Had this book had an ending befitting its gravity, it would probably rank amongst my favorite historical romances... As it stands now, I kind of want to forget I read it.

[Lacey (laceybooklovers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The chemistry, tension, and angst was fantastic!! This was my first Sherry Thomas book but absolutely not my last. I can’t wait to read the rest of the Fitzhugh series. I do wish we got a little bit more at the end because it does end pretty abruptly.

[new_user · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hrnghin, I'm incomprehensible, LOL. I loved Beguiling the Beauty. I don't even know what to say. Venetia Easterbrook remained disguised for just long enough, and Sherry Thomas' characters attacked compelling questions, primarily, appearances vs. reality. Genre novels engage this theme halfheartedly in Beauty & the Beast tributes. Will she love me despite my hairy toes? Thomas engages the implications relevant to modern audiences. Is Venetia judged at first glance as just a pretty face? Is she resented as a "seductress," an evil honeytrap for hapless men? Should Christian stop blaming her for his obsession? Yes. LOL. Her characters think about this.

Venetia and Christian begin Beguiling the Beauty as antagonists who slowly fall in love. They share anecdotes, dreams, interests, histories, humor and sweet, significant moments before suffering a poignant separation, where we witness their daily angst. The resolution was satisfying, the tension was superb, especially their first encounters. Venetia's drawn to Christian despite herself, believably. Likewise, their connection. Realistic characters, fleshed out setting. Witty, fun banter. Fantastic prose, per her usual. What else is there to say?

I did feel a little odd because Christian is so similar to me, except for the obsession, LOL. Right down to the frivolous father. How bizarre, how bizarre... Anyway, I can't wait for Millie's story in July! It'll be so sweet to see the married strangers become married for real. I always like those. Five stars!

PS. I don't like Helena, LOL.

[Mei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I read the 3rd book first, I already know how this one will end, but, ah, what a beautiful story this was!!!

We get to discover everything Venetia went through in her two marriages! Poor girl... the first disastrous one to a pompous, egocentric idiot; the second one a gay.... Poor, poor girl...

Christian, as all the other men, was mesmerized with Venetia's extraordinary beauty and he fancied himself in love with her. But he also resented her for the oull she had on him. So when her first husband depict her like a vapid and greedy woman, he accept his word without question.

During a public lecture, he makes heavy accusation against beautiful women and make reference to her past marriage without making names, but those who knew the scandal that erupted when her first husband died will also know who's he was referring to... And Venetia, present at the lecture, sees her dirty laundy washed in front of everyone, reacts in a bad way...

Thus begins her impulsive revenge... She presents herself like a german countess, always wearing a heavy veil... And Christian, intrigued, seeks a carnal relationship with an alluring mysterious woman...

In this way their story begins: she succumbing to his appeal, he falling for an unknown.

But soon, in the darkess of his cabin, under her heavy veil, with blindfolded eyes and murmured conversations after bousts of lovemaking, they discover thier true selves. A wounded, lonely woman; a lonley wounded man.... and they fall in love!

But Venetia cannot unveil for obvious reasons and she runs away, while Christian cannot stop thinking about the mysterious countess...

They both suffer: he because of the rejection and she because she must reject him when she deosn't want anything elso, but to fall in his arms!

A beautifully written, unsual love story! I loved, loved it!

[Dorothea · Rating 1 out of 5]

First please indulge me as I spend a paragraph or two hating on the cover illustration. I have read SO MANY romance novels and know all about their silly covers but for some reason THIS one bothers me. Mostly, it's this horrible dress she's wearing. It looks so uncomfortable! The scratchy-looking lace on the neckline is digging into her breasts, but if she lowered her arm, the bodice would fall right off. Her posture may be physically possible (although who knows what she's doing with her right arm that's mostly out of the frame), but it evokes the attitude of someone who really, really has to pee. I'm not quite certain that people got French manicures in the 1890s, but if they did, wouldn't they get them on all of their fingers? And I've been sick of covers that cut off bits of people's heads (usually women's heads), but this one really gets to me. I think her mouth is supposed to look sultry, but what I see is someone gasping for breath because her ill-sewn bodice is cutting into her ribcage and THE COVER DESIGNER HAS REMOVED HER NOSE.

The main character is supposed to be almost supernaturally beautiful; if the illustrator (Gregg Gulbronson; the designer's name is George Long) didn't feel up to that, couldn't he have just done a nice floral pattern instead? Frankly, what would really have attracted me (had I been buying this book based on the cover, rather than Sherry Thomas's name on the cover) would have been a picture of a dinosaur skeleton. That would definitely have been truer to the story than this uncomfortable lady who's lost her shoes and stockings.

***

Thanks, I feel better now.

So, the story! You know, if someone had told me that the next Sherry Thomas book would involve two people who grow affectionate towards one another thanks to their shared love of paleontology, I would have been ecstatic.

Then, if someone had told me that it was going to have one of those plots that I'm a bit sick of -- the kind where the hero tricks the heroine into falling in love with him because he actually hates her (or someone close to her) and he's just using her emotions to get revenge -- except with the gender roles swapped, I would have been cautiously intrigued.

What I actually knew is the beginning of the back cover blurb: Duke blahdiblah meets mysterious Baroness soandso while traveling, hot passionate affair, then she disappears because she's secretly "a proper young widow," YAWN. Good job I already love Sherry Thomas's writing!

Despite the dinosaurs, however, I did not love this book. Well, I loved the dinosaurs (look, in this story, the act of sending a massively heavy set of fossilized dinosaur footprints to the other person is highly fraught with emotional significance), and Thomas as always has her moments of very beautiful prose. But it's hard to really get into a romance if you dislike the people who are having the romance.

It turns out that switching the gender roles doesn't really make me like revenge plots anymore. The basic idea is supposed to be that Vengeful falls in love with Object of Revenge and repents of faking being in love and using Object; when Object finds out about the revenge, Object feels anguish but finally forgives Vengeful and then they're happy together. The problem for me is that tricking someone to fall in love with you (whether or not there's sex) is a completely horrible thing to do. When the characters are happily excusing this action because of the circumstances that led to it, I'm wondering whether Vengeful, having been capable of this action regardless of the circumstances, can possibly be a trustworthy person.

It didn't help that when we meet the heroine, she's traveling with her unmarried sister and her sister-in-law because the heroine and the sister-in-law have learned from another person that the unmarried sister is having an affair, and they've decided to trick the sister into traveling in order to distract her and break up the affair. Yes, I know it's 1896; no, that doesn't make this 21st-century reader any happier to read about women policing other women's sexuality, especially when there's so little trust among these supposedly close relatives that they never even talk to the sister about any of it. Then the heroine is massively distracted by the plot of this book, and never bothers even to think about what a hypocrite she's become by having her own secret affair.

(It's pretty clear that the sister and the sister-in-law will get their own books; I'm afraid of what could happen in the sister's book, but the sister-in-law's, which will be published in July, looks like my cup of tea despite its terrible title -- Ravishing the Heiress -- ugh. By the way, in Beguiling the Beauty, the beauty does all of the beguiling herself. Anyway, I think that some of the annoyances in the last paragraph are the unfortunate byproducts of trying too hard to set up for Books 2 and 3 in the middle of Book 1.)

So that's why I don't really like the heroine. Normally in a revenge story the Object of Revenge seems more sympathetic, but in this case -- while I don't think he deserved to be fucked under false pretenses*, of course -- I couldn't pity him at all because I disliked him even more than the heroine.

Here is why: When the hero and heroine were about 18 or 19 years old, and the heroine was married to her emotionally abusive first husband, the hero caught a glimpse of the heroine across a playing field and "fell in love." No, I can't get rid of the scare quotes, even though he thinks his feelings are totally genuine. There is nothing wrong with being powerfully attracted to a beautiful someone whose character is a total mystery to you, but I want to take the idea that this can be Love, and that it can and should be important to the attracted person, and that this experience can and should be a life-changing event, and crumple it into a tiny ball and bite it and jump on it and then set it on fire. Okay?

And guess what -- the hero then goes on to illustrate one of the very best reasons why I hate that idea so much. Because (having mooned after the mysterious beautiful lady for a long time without ever meeting or speaking to her or learning anything about her character, even the fact that she likes paleontology too) the very first information he gets about her character is told to him by her abusive husband, who is out to make his wife look bad even in the eyes of people who don't matter to him or her. The hero believes what he's told, and he's totally miserable! Because this woman whom he only loved for her face, and yet whom he regards as having transformed his life, is apparently shallow and greedy and heartless.

When you nurse a pretty fantasy until it's gigantic and dominates your heart -- even when every single action and desire that caused this domination are yours -- it can turn so easily into a nightmare.

Our hero, when he first sees the heroine, is surprised to learn that she's married. At first, he felt entitled to a chance at courting her, because he saw her and found her so beautiful. He still feels entitled, even when he knows he'll never "have" her, to fantasize about her -- to use her face like a mask over his own ideals. So when he can't do that anymore, he's angry -- at her. Even though she owes him nothing at all, even though she has no idea who he is, he still thinks of her as having the power to make him miserable. He doesn't stop obsessing about her; now he "loves" her and "hates" her too, and the scare quotes are there because she's still an imaginary woman to him. He doesn't know her at all.

And then, to make matters even worse, he uses (this is really eyerollingly terrible) evolutionary psychology to make himself feel better. He likes to think about how the real purpose of beauty is only to promote reproduction, and it has nothing to do with character whatsoever. And then -- and this is where the plot really starts -- she attends a lecture in which he's asked to explain this theory further, and he repeats what her husband had told him. That's why she decides to get revenge.

I wish she had simply left him alone to ferment in his own ego.

You see, the part of the book when she's in disguise, and he falls in love with her without seeing her face -- this part of the book solves his problem, in the way best aligned with his fantasies. Unbiased by her face and all its imaginary associations, he learns her character, her history, her desires, and they are all exactly what he loves. Fate has given him his ideal, and she has that face.

It's more complicated than that, of course. But at the heart, it's the happy fulfillment of a wish whose realistic consequences are bitter misogyny.




* Somewhat ironically, apart from the revenge and deception (ha ha? sigh), the sex scenes on board ship are actually a rather good model for consent! The heroine is scared and tense and she really wants to have sex with the hero; Thomas's dialogue captures perfectly how she tests her freedom and he reassures her of it:

"Where is the door?" she asked [the room is dark] ... "Five paces behind you. ... Would you like me to walk you there?"

"No," she said. "Take me in the opposite direction."

And later, as she undresses, and as they are actually fucking, she checks: "Can I still leave?" and the answer's always yes. Thank you, Sherry Thomas, for no bullshit about the point of no return. This is one of the many reasons why I love your books and will keep buying them despite not loving this particular book.

[Petra · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When I’m with other women, it’s as if only part of me is there and the rest of me wants to be elsewhere, elsewhen. But with you I’m not split in two. I am not plagued by other thoughts and other wishes. You cannot begin to guess how gratifying that is—to be altogether here, altogether present.”


I want to set a warning before hand. This book is addictive. The plot is its driving force but the unique characters make it so much better. Reading it felt like I was on a roller coster going fast up and down yet still I wanted to go faster just to see how it will all end.

Yes the book is based on Beast by Judith Ivory but it’s a different animal all together in a way it is told. I would say the resolution of Beguilding Beauty is better.

Both Christian and Venetia were amazing characters. When Venetia assumes her other identity it is as if she becomes more of herself. She is not afraid to show her uncertainty nor her passion. Oh and Christian is just so adorable. He is manly, yet he is beautifully devoted and very much connected with his feelings.

I do wish there was a little bit more of happy times at the end though.


I am looking forward to reading more in this series specially Millie story. It seems that Sherry Thomas is really good at writing love stories about people who know each other for a while and/or are already married but not in love. It might just be one of my favorite tropes.

[Sam I AMNreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

RTC. Cause that was a binge read and it’s bedtime.

The review hasn't written itself, but I did so appreciate the conversation and intimacy built between these characters. I HATE mistaken or hidden identity plots, but this one did work for me. The hero makes a mistake and is punished in a singular fashion for it, but of course that goes awry because he's also a really decent guy.

There's some sexy hairpin action (aka sexy consent) and what results is a sweet, convincing relationship. When it all falls apart--less a big misunderstanding and more a big understanding--it is also dealt with in a convincing way and all character vulnerabilities melt away in favor of their regular defensive modes. The secondary characters play a large role here and have set this series up so I'm almost reluctant to step away from it now.

Last night, because I enjoyed it and binged it to no end, I might have given it a 5. This morning, I think it's not quite that, perhaps the rush to the end and the device employed, so I'll leave it at 4 for now. Probably.

[Crystal's Bookish Life · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was...over the top dramatic and the romance was pretty unbelievable. The prologue was so good too but sadly the rest of the book did not deliver. Super short ending, cruel love interests. Just no.

[Keri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me preface this review by saying that I have a fan-gurl krush on Ms. Thomas, so it is extremely hard for me to give any book she writes a 3 star rating. However, since I also want to be truthful when I write a review, then I must let the 3 star must stand.

What I loved about the book was as usual Ms. Thomas has wrote two emotional and complicated characters, where not all as it seems. While I didn't like Venetia or Christian for most of the book, by the end I wasn't ready for the book to be over. Here is one area where I think the book suffered, was the it was too short in length. While Christian may have been in love with a beautiful woman for many years, he really didn't "know" her and on Venetia's part, she only knew of Christian as the man who had just insulted and maligned her honor and payed him back by handing him his heart within a week's time. The ending was too abrupt for what they had put each other through.

The entire premise of the book was how beautiful Venetia was, but by the time we got a full discription of what Venetia looked like, I just didn't visualize her as being attractive as much as odd looking. I still don't know what color Christian's eyes were. That was hard for me, as a reader we were left just as much in the dark about the truth of Venetia's past as Christian was. But the biggest problem for me was the love scene discriptions or rather the lack of. There were none and what was there was brief, which was sad because she has done a wonderful job in the past with love scenes. I think if the book would have at least had one or two, I would have at least rated the book higher, but on its own merit I can't.

Now having said that, we have met our next two couples and as usual the relationships are about as mucked up as two people can get things and I am looking forward to seeing how ST untagles them. I don't want anybody to think that I didn't enjoy the book, I did, but it just wasn't as good as some of her books in the past at least for me. I know this review is kind of rambling, but I am having trouble putting something more cohesive right now.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Finally! A Sherry Thomas book that I found pleasantly enjoyable. Probably because I went in with low expectations that this author could ever impress me. The first few chapters dragged a little with several time lapses, but once our two main characters met in the New York hotel and on the ship sailing back to London, I couldn't stop reading. If this book had been longer than 281 pages (or more than 18 chapters), I would have stopped for a lunch break. lol.

The one thing I didn't like was how much screen time the other characters in this series have: Fitz and Millie (H/h in Book 2) and Hastings, Helena, and mentions of her secret affair with a married man (H/h in Book 3). They definitely distracted from the main story and did not help to move the plot along, and since I've already read their books before this one, I know these scenes were reused in their respectful books (perhaps through the other character's pov but, nevertheless, still reused). Thus, I feel the book could have done without those scenes. Of course, if I liked all of the characters in series, I wouldn't mind a scene or two with the other characters. However, having read this series out of order (Book 3, Book 2, and now Book 1), I know I don't like Helena and don't want to be reminded of her secret affair. I suppose it was the author's way of conveying to her audience that the events in all three books occur concurrently, which is fine but she didn't have to dedicate two or three whole scenes to those characters alone and then reuse them in the next two books. Maya Rodale did a decent job in recalling the concurrent events in her Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series that I couldn't help but compare it to how Sherry Thomas did it here.

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beguiling the Beauty is probably the weakest of all Sherry Thomas’ romance novels and I’ve read them all but one. But then Sherry Thomas at her worst is still better than 80-90% of historical romance out there.

Was she let down here by the premise? I am not quite sure. I’m certain any other writer would’ve written a terrible book with that premise, but Sherry still manages to pull it off. But then again, I have seen her pull off very successfully even crazier premises which in theory should have never worked (vide: His at Night).

Duke of Lexington is a scientist, and a Darwinist to that, so when he develops an obsession over Venetia Easterbrook based solely on her looks, he knows it’s just nature and evolution at play and he tries to shake it off, especially since he’s learnt through gossip some truly horrible things about Venetia.

Venetia, of course, is not terrible at all and she is absolutely traumatised when he basically publicly offends her during a lecture in America using her (without explicitly saying her name) as a convoluted example of how beautiful women get away with more morally dubious acts due to their superior evolutionary stance (or some such). Venetia is fuming and decides to have her revenge by making him fall in love with her and then breaking his heart (as you do). She is of course unaware that her job is pretty much done anyway because he has been nurturing a very unhealthy obsession over her for years. She decides to execute her plan while on a ship from New York to London but covers her face in a veil because, of course, why would she want to ruin her reputation even further?

Almost everything goes according to the plan, Duke of Lexington dutifully falls for the mysterious stranger, they have some sexy time in the dark, he never learns what her face looks like but gives her his heart anyway. Of course, to her own dismay Venetia falls in love too. Their passion and attraction is convincing and seems authentic but it doesn’t seem enough to be a deeper feeling. And this is what I expect from Sherry Thomas – the actual, real, deep love. She usually lets the characters know each other for a little longer and develop more substantial feelings.

Back in London, Duke of Lexington has a problem. He is in love with the elusive stranger from the ship, definitely he is. But, sadly, he can’t seem to shake off that absolutely ridiculous obsession with Venetia. Now, this is something I can empathise with. Many times I was sort of in love with some intelligent, funny guy who was definitely perfect for me, yet at the same time sexually obsessed with some dude from the gym with his square jaw and perfect abs. I would tell myself that the dude was probably illiterate and would be boring as hell and couldn’t enrich my life in any way but to no avail. Evolution is evolution. Of course, were I in a romance novel and as lucky as Duke of Lexington, these two men would somehow turn out to be the same person and I would be able to talk about postmodernism and drool over his abs all at the same time. Yeah, that’s yet to happen. (UPDATE: this has now happened. I'm very happy)

I really don’t know what exactly was so off about ‘Beguiling the Beauty’. The ingredients were all there, Sherry Thomas still can take the most tired old romance tropes and squeeze something original refreshing out of them and I was even going to pretend I enjoyed it more than I did - that’s how loyal I am to the author but if I am to be honest I was more interested in the teasers of the two following books that were dropped in between the chapters. It’s not that I couldn’t quite identify with the heroine, because who better than me knows what’s it like to be so beautiful that men just go bananas? (Ha, ha, yeah, ok).

There was something false about the characters’ emotions, something muted, it was like people talking underwater. The ending also didn’t have that strong, angsty, emotional zing to it I learnt to expect from Thomas. It sort of fizzled out.

[Wicked Incognito Now · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hate to write a review for a book I loved. It's so much easier for me to pinpoint the things that went wrong in a book than the things that are right. Plus, novel enjoyment is subjective. Romance novels are particularly subjective, so when I write a glowing review I'm always afraid I'm setting up other readers for disappointment. The disappointment is more likely if the reader, like me, holds Sherry Thomas up on an HR pedestal. She is the creme de la creme. Disappointment is easier when we ascribe greatness to our favorite authors. This likely disappointment could be more inevitably acute because Sherry Thomas was heavily inspired for this latest endeavor by another cream of the crop historical romance author: Judith Ivory. This novel is based upon Ivory's novel Beast. Admittedly, this worried me. I happen to think that Beast is one of the best romance novel's ever written. What to do when one of the best takes on one of the best? Biting fingernails over here.

You should have faith. If you are a historical romance reader, how can you go wrong with Sherry Thomas? Of the HR writers currently writing, she is the master. Oddly enough, unlike some of her previous novels, I can't point to any specific lines within this particular novel that prompted me to highlight them to share in this review because the turn of phrase was so lovely and memorable.

I think where Sherry Thomas is successful is in her uncanny understanding of the romance formula. Of course, no one likes to read a formulaic book. We want to be surprised. We want novelty. And Sherry Thomas doesn't skimp on those elements. Yet, the successful romance novel is undoubtedly formulaic to a certain extent. Sherry Thomas understands the needed balance for a romance novel. We must not have too much close focus on any particular character's overwhelming inner-monologue. There mustn't be a dearth of "telling" as opposed to "showing." No one wants "info-dump." There must be a certain amount of character interaction and dialogue. There must be forward momentum but not too much annoying and distracting action. AND Sherry Thomas adds her particular formula of angst pushed to the edge, and then over the edge in a way that frustrates the readers but keeps them pushing on to the end because they just MUST experience the resolution of this heart-breaking predicament. There is no doubt in my mind that Sherry Thomas knows she is playing with our emotions. She knows we hate her for it. But she also knows this sort of emotion is what we really crave when we read a romance novel, and this is why we will return to read her books.

This novel's particular angst involves unrequited love, an extraordinarily beautiful heroine, and a hero who can't stop fantasizing about her despite his scientific mind that demands he give it a rest. He constantly berates himself with a knowledge that she is shallow and mean--knowledge he only acquired through gossip and her cruel first husband's words prior to that husband's suicide.

I want to line up Ivory's Beast and ST's Beguiling the Beauty and do a side-by-side comparison, but I'm not going to. There are elements of Beast that are undoubtedly superior. But in many ways, ST's novel is a more satisfying read. I think Ivory was more concerned with beautiful language than reader satisfaction, whereas ST keeps her reader firmly in mind. Had Sherry Thomas not mentioned in a review that she was doing a Judith Ivory cover, I would've noticed it anyway. Then I would've felt that ST ripped off my beloved Ivory. But because ST readily admits her influence I am mollified. Many authors do this. Sherry Thomas did it successfully. This is the first book I've read in months that I finished in a day just because I absolutely could not go to bed until it was over.

Well done Ms. Thomas. And thank you.

[*The Angry Reader* · Rating 5 out of 5]

I attempted 5 books but other authors before relenting and reading another Sherry Thomas. I suspect I'm trapped in her web for the foreseeable future. And I'm okay with that.

This was sort of a romance in reverse. Christian falls in love-at-first-sight with a married woman - solely based on her looks. When he can't have her he believes crap things about her to salve his busted ego. Eventually he starts spreading those mean things, and she finds out. Venetia decides to get revenge by making him fall in love with her so that she can break his heart. The premise feels awkward to explain but is a lot of fun when reading it.

Of course things go awry - everyone ends up with some busted feelings. And everyone is responsible for this mess they've gotten into. There are side characters (specifically Helena and Millie) who make the book more interesting bc they have love problems of their own. As always, Thomas's writing sparkles. Her characters are well-thought-out and complex. Her plot lines are just a little different than anything I've read. And, in case I haven't mentioned it enough, her writing is phenomenal.

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a re-read for me.

Sherry Thomas is a hit or miss each time. I either love it or hate it. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

I'm happy to say that after the re-read, this is still a hit.

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🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
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[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, though not without some bumps. Christian and Venetia were lovely, with lots of drama pulling them apart and I didn't even mind the conceit of falling in love while she covered her face. Nor how harsh things turned for a while (because it was earned and expected).

I wasn't so much a fan of Venetia turning coward quite so thoroughly towards the end, but even that would have had me rounding a 4.5 up. Unfortunately, that was never in question because Thomas kept throwing in boring PoVs from people around Venetia—namely, her sister and sister-in-law. Helena (the sister) is more than a little pathetic (yearning after a married "artistic" idiot who needed help from his girlfriend to get himself published). Seriously, she read a good five to ten years younger than her 27 just from the swooning around after someone obviously weak and incompetent. Millie, the sister-in-law, was such a sorry little thing in unrequited love with her own husband that it was hard to spend time in her PoV because you know she's being set up for her own book. Which means you also know there will be no movement on her pining/yearning/doe-eyed nonsense until then. Also: their whole deal to not have sex for eight years strained credulity.

Worse, though, these PoV shifts were shoe-horned in at awkward places where they broke the momentum and plot into tiny little pieces. Very inelegantly done, I think.

So 3.5 stars rounding to four just because I really liked the central couple and that they fell so completely in love by getting to know one another (though the sexy times obviously didn't hurt, either).

A note about Steamy: There are two explicit sex scenes, but the second is beyond short. So this is the low end of my steam tolerance, even though the two leads are going at it like bunnies (just off-screen). Thomas chose to stick with the emotionally significant events and I think that worked out rather well.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book in one sitting. Sherry Thomas's prose is always delightful, and this was no exception. The dialogue sparkled, particularly during the hero and heroine's affair on the steamship. In fact, if the entire book was like that section, this would easily be a five-star, all-time favorite romance for me. I loved the chemistry between Christian and Venetia, not just the physical, but their passion for their shared interest in paleontology, the emotional honesty allowed by Venetia's anonymous seduction, and complete abandon which with Christian was willing to both fall in love and profess his love.

The fly in the ointment, of course, is what caused Venetia to seduce Christian in the first place. One of my biggest romance pet peeves is a hero who believes stupid, hateful rumors about an innocent heroine for no good reason. Normally it is a dealbreaker for me, something that causes me to give up on a book almost without fail. Here, I found it mostly forgivable. The biggest mitigating factor was that Christian was so delightful the rest of the time. His misjudgment of Venetia was one minor misstep; in fact, I found myself wondering why a man who was otherwise an open-minded, observant, excellent judge of character was so willing to believe the worst of a complete stranger based on the word of a husband who was so insecure he admitted to memorizing the face of every man he ever observed lusting after his wife. Thomas does a good job of showing how Christian's discomfort with the power of his physical attraction to Venetia prejudices him unfairly, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with how this was dealt with (or rather, not really dealt with) during the resolution and HEA. However, something that would normally be a dealbreaker for me felt more like a minor quibble because I liked the rest of the book so damn much.

Once Christian discovers Venetia's identity and realizes that her seduction was motivated by revenge, the book takes a brief turn for the frustrating, as anger and shame motivates them to deceive and hurt each other instead of trying to offer explanations and apologies. But it's comparatively brief, and soon resolved with a grand romantic gesture that ties absolutely everything up very quickly and neatly. It feels a little abrupt, but again, I was more than willing to roll with it because I was really, really enjoying the book, and really, really wanted to see everything resolved.

I didn't go into this book with the highest expectations, knowing that it contained one of my biggest romance pet peeves, but I wound up really enjoying it. I am now even more excited about the next books in the series, especially Millie and Fitz's story. If this is how Sherry Thomas writes one of my least favorite tropes, I can't wait to see her do one of my favorites.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I won this book in an ARC giveaway. However, I am not the kind of person who won't nitpick a book just because she got it for free.)

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021

Random reread, I did not remember much of the trilogy and I have been in the mood precisely for a ST romance novel and she is not writing new ones at the moment at all (and I have been waiting.... I might break down and try the first Sherlock Holmes spin off book one of these days and I am stupidly prejudiced against Sherlock Holmes derived fiction).

I liked this a lot better, maybe I have just read a lot worse romances (or the samples of those, I hardly finished any lately) since then to compare and really appreciate this.

The love-hate-secret thing is dramatic but delicious. I really dislike the Helena subplot which goes through the whole trilogy. And close to the resolution after all that intensity, the resolution and scene with the two gossips is just odd and a let down.



2012

2.5 stars in my own very steep and picky rating curve.

It was a bit meh, in no way actually bad at anything possible, but sort of weak. I loved the author´s earlier standalone books. And now instead of one book a year we get 3 books in one year, sounded lovely. Except it turns out this is book feels much less dense, less rich than her earlier novels.

This trilogy is about 3 siblings (or more correctly 2 sisters and their sister in law) in late 19th century English high society. I love the setting, seems so much more interesting than more usual settings. I like the writing very much and how it feels historically and scientifically accurate. My problem was with characters - they never quite lived, particularly the hero which felt really flat to me. Both of them make reprehensible choices, they get get over it, case closed. I understand Venetia´s motivations much better than what-his-name, but not sure I get the reason for their love (though I did love the reference to Elizabeth Bennett only falling in love after seeing Pemberley).

Still, even if it was not up to my expectations, it was enjoyable and miraculously for my current mood, a one-sitting book. And the sequels sound even more appealing to me.

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one, it is definitely angst-central and I was just ready for these 2 to communicate already. 😅 This was my first Sherry Thomas read and I’m curious to get to some of her other books since I did enjoy the writing. I was surprised how much time passes in this one. The hero falls for the heroine when he spots her (as everyone does because she’s such a beauty), but then doesn’t see her again for like a decade (where she’s now a twice-over
widow). They share a passionate week while she’s masked and he doesn’t know her true identity as she had overheard him talking badly about her and doesn’t want him to know it’s really her. The story cut to other side characters POVs a lot too and I don’t know I just didn’t really care what they were up to.

[PlotTrysts · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this book after priming the pump with Judith Ivory's Beast. It's difficult to talk about Beguiling the Beauty without comparing, because this is a gender-swapped version! Most of what we disliked about Beast was overcome by swapping genders, making our protags closer in age, and giving a well-thought-out motive for the deception.

So, it's better than Beast. But did we like it on its own? Hard to determine. Although we really enjoyed the secondary characters, we would have liked to see some more time spent with Christian and Venetia. Also, the steamy scenes were not all that hot, so keep that in mind. Plus, since we read Beast first, it was tough to read Beguiling the Beauty without seeing it as a writing exercise rather than a book on its own.

12 Word Summaries:

Laine: Beautiful widow wooed by dinosaur bones revenge sexes but falls in love.

Meg: To do when slandered by a hottie: Prove him wrong - in bed.

www.linktr.ee/plottrysts

[Ana María · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diez años atrás Christian, el joven duque de Lexington, se había enamorado de Venetia solo al ver su indescriptible belleza. Pero era una mujer casada. Un amor obsesivo y totalmente platónico (ya que no habían sido presentados) que terminó convertido en un profundo desprecio.
Diez años después, ya viuda, ella es testigo de ese desprecio y decide vengarse. ¿Cómo? Enamorándolo y rompiéndole el corazón. Pero ya se sabe lo que pasa cuando se decide este tipo de venganza.
Lo verdad es que la leí entusiasmadísima y de un tirón. Realmente la disfruté excepto el final que me pareció muy breve o poco desarrollado. Aunque creo que esto es bastante frecuente en esta autora.
Pero luego me puse a pensar en lo que pasó. Y, analizando racionalmente, realmente me parece todo muy tirado de los pelos. Entiendo la moraleja, la obsesión de él por la belleza exterior debe romperse de alguna forma, pero el ¿recurso de no reconocerla porque usa un velo? Y ¿no había formas más sutiles de venganza?
Pero bueno, igual me gustó pero por esos detalles le bajé la calificación.
Varias escenas hot y bastante de las historias de los hermanos de Venetia que tienen sus propios libros.

[Bona Caballero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta es una de esas novelas que te reconcilian con el subgénero de la histórica. Cuando crees que lo has visto todo, Thomas te trae una trama romántica muy improbable, terriblemente romántica, y escrita con estilazo: entrevés sentimientos intensos bajo una capa de comedimiento, palabras frías y miradas ardientes.
Christian lleva años enamorado de Venetia, sin decírselo. Encima, la ofende con sus prejuicios sobre ella, sin conocerla realmente. Venetia aprovechará la travesía del Atlántico para darle una lección.
Si leéis en inglés, no dejéis de darle una oportunidad, o en alemán, o en francés, idiomas a los que está traducido este libro.
Crítica extensa, en mi blog.

[Izzie (semi-hiatus) McFussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ No one writes historical love stories better than Sherry Thomas. The love and angst enveloping Venetia and Christian (the letters he wrote!) was palpable and swoony.

Unfortunately, numerous quibbles prevented me from raising the rating. Could not wrap my head around the reason for the Misunderstanding-In-Progress. One conversation could have cleared the air. Also, the resolution felt slapped on, ending the story on an abrupt romcom note. And while I understand this is the first book in a trilogy, I thought too much time was spent with the other Fitzhughs.

[Yona Ceaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I feel as though I’m reading an encyclopedia when I read a Sherry Thomas book. I’m forever checking out words in the dictionary!

[Lover of Romance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

I have been meaning to read this series for the longest time and I just knew that I needed to try her out and so I decided to grab up Beguiling The Beauty through the Audible Romance Package which is the first book in her Fitshugh Trilogy. I will admit that first off, if I had known about the narrator I might have just grabbed this book from my local library, since I know they have it in print because it took 50% of the book before I starting to grow accustomed to the narrator and eventually like it. I am not sure what it was about her, its not like she had a bad voice or anything, but she just didn't "pull" me into the story like most narrators do for me. So it was a bit lacking in that area and is the main reason why this book doesn't reach a five star rating.

When the Duke of Lexington first sees Venetia Easterbrook, he is fascinated and is almost obsessed with Veneteia. She is the most beautiful woman of the Ton and seems to be in a loving marriage and knows he can never have her but will love her from a distance. The years pass, and Venetia becomes a widow twice over with two husbands and Christian wonders what happened to the mysterious woman who has held his heart for ten years. Venetia hasn't had the easiest ten years of her life, or the luckiest with the men she married. The first being self absorbed and committed suicide while leaving her with a mountain of debts and blaming her for a childless marriage. Then her second husband she had a marriage of friendship and affection but her husband was gay. Now she is a widow and is fascinated with history especially those of animals and naturalist.

While exploring the America's with her family, she goes to a seminar where Christian, the Duke of Lexington and talks about the beauty of a woman and mentions her and her marriage situation and not in the best light. So Venetia, with the encouragement of her sisters comes up with a plan of revenge. That she will make Christian fall in love with her and then she will break his heart. But soon Venetia realizes her plan to hurt Christian in the way that he hurt her.....may just be disastrous for Venetia because she is falling in love with Christian and she dreads the day when he will come to hate her. 

Now onto the story...this book was pretty wonderful to read and boy it had so much depth and detail and Sherry Thomas KNOWS her history and you can tell once you start reading this that MORE regency romances need to be written like this one here. It had such vitality to it that snatches up the readers attention and you can't help but become intrigued by the story and the setting and these characters that tug at your heart strings. I was very impressed with the writing style of Sherry Thomas because we see what how much she really puts into this story and it almost had a feel of a older style romance and I am so grateful that Sherry Thomas writes in this way because too many recent regency style romances just are not enough "pizazz" for me to enjoy anymore but "Beguiling The Beauty" was superbly written and delivers in all the right areas for a historical romance.

I was very intrigued by the set up of this story and even though revenge plots aren't always my favorite trope to read in a romance, it really works for this book. I was pulled into this story where we see the heroine and hero come together in a unqiue scenario and fall in love with each other and find a way to get past the secrets and misunderstandings and find a love worth fighting for. From their sensual meet ups on the voyage back to England, to the letters that Christian writes to Venetia and the way that Venetia practically stalks Christian and meets up with him dancing in his arms or talking artifacts just to be close to him. We see how much they deserve a chance to find some happiness together and their road back to each other is unconventional but worth the fighting and tension to make it happen and boy the ending was so endearingly sweet.

Overall I found Beguiling The Beauty to be a stunning story that delivers a sweeping tale of desire, adventure and the test of true love!! INSPIRED AND DETAILED!

[Las · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't believe I'm giving a Sherry Thomas book two star (and really, the only reason it's not one star is because at least the grammar is good). This book lost me at the prologue, and it never got me back.

Christian sees Venetia once, from a distance, and falls instantly in love. Doesn't speak to her at all, doesn't even make eye contact because she doesn't notice him, but that's it--she's so other-worldly beautiful that he falls in love and stays in love for 10 years, during which time she's widowed twice over and he grows resentful because the love of his life--whom he's never met--is just too beautiful for him to forget and he can't stand that she lives her life in a way he doesn't approve. Not that he knows how she lives her life, because, again, he doesn't know her and doesn't know anyone who's close enough to her to provide him with any details about her life.

Ten years after not meeting her and falling in love with her anyway, he gives a lecture at Harvard about evolution. During the Q&A, in order to make a point about how dangerous beautiful women are, he, without revealing her name, recites a whole bunch of details about her life. Venetia, of course, is in the audience and is understandably horrified. Now, even though a lot of people in England would know who Christian was talking about, there's no reason for her to believe that anyone in audience would have any idea. So, as far as she knows, there are no consequences to Christian's indiscretion other than her justifiably hurt feelings. No matter, after a few days she decides she wants revenge, and the best revenge would be to get him to fall in love with her on the ship that will take them back to England. That sounds like an incredibly petty reason to seek out that level of revenge, but whatever, I'm always game for a good revenge plot. Except that doesn't happen, because after one night of hot lovin', Venetia (who's hiding her identity with a veil) is in love with Christian and now she's in a state because how can he ever forgive her?! Venetia girl, I sympathize with that long dry spell, but ain't no orgasm that great.

So, basically, what we have here is a romance between two immature people who are too stupid to know their own minds. A heartbroken Venetia disappears, intending to never let Christian know the truth. Christian is hopeful that she'd come to him like she promised, even though he's all conflicted when he sees Venetia and once again is in thrall, because he doesn't know that Venetia is his Baroness. And it turns out that a fellow Englishwoman was in that audience at Harvard, and she knew exactly who Christian was talking about, so she happily spread the word. And around this time, the presumed infertile Venetia finds out she's pregnant (I can't believe Sherry Thomas went there). Yada yada yada, Venetia confesses everything right after Christian figures it all out on his own. They get married. Christian's pissed and Venetia is heartbroken but hopeful.

And then, the most ridiculous resolution to the most asinine conflict occurs, in the form of the gossip who spread the word about Christian's badmouthing of Venetia. I seriously considered DNFing right there, but with 10 pages to go I carried on, with my eyes rolled way back into my head.

I wasn't crazy about His at Night...it just wasn't for me, but it wasn't a bad book by any means. But Beguiling the Beauty was just awful. The characters were dumb, the plot was weak, the conflict was nonsense. Not a good start to this trilogy, although the secondary characters were a hell of a lot more interesting than the "hero" and "heroine," so here's hoping for the kind of writing that made Sherry Thomas an autobuy for me in the next book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm, sort of waffling here, but I think 3 stars. Easier to say that I liked it more than Delicious, but it was not as intimate and intricate as His at Night and Not Quite a Husband and Private Arrangements. I adore the 'don't-hate-me-because-I'm-beautiful' trope, and parts were really lovely, but the romance seemed at arm's length. So much happened offscreen, so it was hard to really feel sympathetic - or to get that true angst fix.

There was also oodles of series foundation building, and nearly every character from her previous books had a cameo. I guess people must really get a kick out of that because I am seeing it more and more. I am in the minority but it's my pet peeve - it's so contrived. AND as long as we are on the subject, the appearance of my beloved Lord Vere raised my brow...wasn't he supposed to have a miraculous recovery?. I would have preferred a Great Beauty smile-off between Lady Vere and Venetia!

Update: After a reread - it's still a three. I really didn't like the ending - too slapsticky with Lady Avery.

[Princess under cover · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this one quite well. The writing is always superb and the emotional intensity and angst didn’t feel tooooo contrived.

For some reason I can’t give her books 5 stars, unlike some of my other HR faves like Lisa Klepas and Tessa Dare and Elizabeth Hoyt.

Maybe bc the angst is a little too much? Dunno... despite the writing something is missing...

[Merry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the plot was a bit wacky and had trouble getting into the book. Once the story line was laid out it really took off for me. I very much enjoyed the 2nd half. I am giving the book 3 1/2 starts and rounding up. Sherry Thomas is an author I always enjoy as her stories are not your usual romance or mystery. I look forward to the next in the series.

[OLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

This HR by Thomas is a lovely homage to Judith Ivory's BEAST. Roles are reversed but the plot is similar in that Ivory's hero in Beast (Avon Romantic Treasure) needs the darkness to conduct the H and h's shipboard affair and here Thomas's heroine is the one not wanting the hero to know her identity. But we have the inevitable fall into love with one of the persons not knowing the true identity of the other.

The book itself is not quite perfect, especially if you analyze the actions of the hero, the Duke of Lexington. At 19 years of age, he falls into lust with married heroine Venetia Townsend without ever meeting her and he becomes obsessed by her beauty. Even when her first husband dies and she remarries and his impression of her character suffers by his take on her actions, he still finds himself obsessed with her to the point that he can't seem to interest himself in any other woman, except for superficial sexual encounters. Fortunately, other than having this fixation on the heroine, the hero is a perfectly admirable man of good character in every other way.

Heroine Venetia in all ways seems a more reasonable and sympathetic character. Widowed twice, she has suffered in ways unknown to the hero and she is a lovely person, caring and affectionate and loyal to her family. Families here, BTW, are loving and close and there are secondary stories just waiting to be developed further. The duke's family is only his stepmother and her new husband, but Venetia has younger twin siblings Fitz and Helena and Fitz's wife Millie. We learn just enough about these characters to look forward to Fitz and Millie's story in the upcoming Ravishing the Heiress (Berkley Sensation) and Helena's in Tempting the Bride.

All three of these books in Thomas's Fitzhugh trilogy are stories about love which may seem to be unreciprocated on one side, but, of course, that won't be the case. How could we have an HEA that way? As for this first book in the series, it's a 5-star one for me because Thomas's writing is 5-star and the romance is so satisfying. Ultimately, one's opinion of a paperback romance is based on how it affects you personally and I loved this and the way it was written.

One more plus for me about the book besides how romantic I found it is the late Victorian time period. It's more interesting than Regency. Peers, such are our duke here, are allowed more freedom to indulge in interests such as his in the natural sciences, and women are allowed a bit more freedom to work, to travel and to educate themselves. (Operative words here are "a bit" because there was still a long way to go. [Are we there yet?])