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Lively St. Lemeston #1
Sweet Disorder
Politics can make spectacular bedfellows…
Prickly newspaperman’s widow Phoebe Sparks has vowed never to marry again. Unfortunately, the election in Lively St. Lemeston is hotly contested, and the little town’s charter gives Phoebe the right to make her husband a voter—if she had one.
The Honorable Nicholas Dymond has vowed never to get involved in his family's aristocratic politicking. But now his army career is over for good, his leg and his self-confidence both shattered in the war. Helping his little brother win an election could be just what the doctor ordered.
So Nick decamps to the country, under strict orders to marry Phoebe off to somebody before the polls open. He’s intrigued by the lovely widow from the moment she shuts the door in his face.
Phoebe is determined not to be persuaded by the handsome earl’s son, no matter how charming he is. But when disaster strikes her young sister, she is forced to consider selling her vote—and her hand—to the highest bidder.
As election intrigue grows, Phoebe and Nick are brought face to face with their own deepest desires and forced to decide which vows are worth keeping, and which must be broken...
Contains elections, confections, and a number of erections.
Prickly newspaperman’s widow Phoebe Sparks has vowed never to marry again. Unfortunately, the election in Lively St. Lemeston is hotly contested, and the little town’s charter gives Phoebe the right to make her husband a voter—if she had one.
The Honorable Nicholas Dymond has vowed never to get involved in his family's aristocratic politicking. But now his army career is over for good, his leg and his self-confidence both shattered in the war. Helping his little brother win an election could be just what the doctor ordered.
So Nick decamps to the country, under strict orders to marry Phoebe off to somebody before the polls open. He’s intrigued by the lovely widow from the moment she shuts the door in his face.
Phoebe is determined not to be persuaded by the handsome earl’s son, no matter how charming he is. But when disaster strikes her young sister, she is forced to consider selling her vote—and her hand—to the highest bidder.
As election intrigue grows, Phoebe and Nick are brought face to face with their own deepest desires and forced to decide which vows are worth keeping, and which must be broken...
Contains elections, confections, and a number of erections.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 18, 2014
83 people are currently reading
3258 people want to read
About the author
Rose Lerner
20 books588 followersI discovered historical romance when I was twelve, and took my first stab at writing one a few years later. My prose has improved since then, but my fascination with all things Regency hasn’t changed. When I'm not writing and researching my own stories, or helping other authors write and research theirs over at Rose Does The Research, you can find me reading, watching, cooking, doodling, rambling, and daydreaming in Philadelphia.
Sign up to be notified when my next book comes out! https://www.roselerner.com/#news
FYI: I use this space for recs of books I wholeheartedly love only. My recs are honest, but I have social relationships with some of the romance authors whose books I rec.
Sign up to be notified when my next book comes out! https://www.roselerner.com/#news
FYI: I use this space for recs of books I wholeheartedly love only. My recs are honest, but I have social relationships with some of the romance authors whose books I rec.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 339 reviews
December 10, 2014
This was very interesting. A Regency set amid politics and the middle class, with a widow who finds herself in need of a husband, the grossly corrupt politics and vote buying of the time; a realistic attitude to how people had sex. The injured veteran is really, painfully injured; the heroine is actually fat, not the usual size 10 masquerading as fat, and the way the hero perceives her is wonderfully contrasted with the way other characters dismiss her. These are non-perfect people who are perfect for each other, which really is my crack.
I did feel it started slowly. The attraction is slow build, and we spend an awful lot of time with the characters apart, so from a romance perspective that is a little frustrating, but it's a very well developed world, and things accelerate brilliantly from half way towards a galloping ending with multiple strong and satisfying pay offs.
An unusual, strongly researched and well written story. Going to read a lot more from this author.
I did feel it started slowly. The attraction is slow build, and we spend an awful lot of time with the characters apart, so from a romance perspective that is a little frustrating, but it's a very well developed world, and things accelerate brilliantly from half way towards a galloping ending with multiple strong and satisfying pay offs.
An unusual, strongly researched and well written story. Going to read a lot more from this author.
January 30, 2016
*Not so much a book review as me blathering about my favorite themes and passages from the book
You all did not lead me astray! This was really good, there were some pacing problems in the beginning for me, I like my main couple to be more centric and interacting with one another, but the second half implemented that more and very well. This author's style felt like a cross between Courtney Milan (use of underlining themes and heroines) and Grace Burrowes (full framework of world and secondary characters). There were so many themes in this book that I want to start a book club just so I can discuss them all.
Economic status implications and noble poor myth
"I didn’t choose Jack for his money.”
“There’s nothing petty or self-interested in worrying about money,” Phoebe said sharply. “It isn’t easy being poor.” Miss Jessop couldn’t know what it was like, to worry you wouldn’t be able to pay the grocer’s bill next month. To kiss your husband’s forehead and feel that he had a fever, and to have to decide whether to call the doctor, and what you could sell to pay him.
Our heroine Phoebe is a bit brusque, yes, but she's pretty honest with herself, which others can't always handle. When the town rich girl wants to marry Phoebe's less monetary endowed brother-in-law, Phoebe doesn't see "love" through rose colored glasses and tries to share some realism with Miss Jessop.
Acclimating back into civilian life and how to live with the emotional/psychological impact of war
And he believed her; she wanted to know. So few people did. They wanted to shut their eyes and their ears---But was that true? Or was it only what he had told himself, because he didn’t want to tell the story? Would his brothers really have flinched back? His friends from school, his fellow officers? Hell, some of them had asked him, and he’d ignored them or played it off with a joke.
Our hero has been to war and as with many a soldier, he doesn't know how to fit into his new role in life. He doesn't think civilians really want to hear or can handle hearing his stories but when our heroine asks, he begins to see that maybe at least this one person does and that maybe he needs to tell these stories, just as it’s important that civilians hear them.
Family dynamics
“You were good company.” Tony ducked his head shyly. “If you’ve ever a mind to come again, you’d be welcome. Not that you’d probably want to, I know it’s a dashed odd way to spend one’s time, but---“
Just like that, it was all worth it. “I’d love to,” he said, and meant it.
Love wasn’t selfless, and it wasn’t selfish either. Love was equality. It was saying that another person’s self was just as important as yours, and expecting them to feel the same way.
Family dynamics were a huge part of this story and they were there in all their messy glory. No one is an island and even though our couple falls in love and want to be together, their world is messy. This was where the author really shined for me, the character dynamics felt real and were rooted in my favorite color, grey.
People are all the same and in this together
He felt the way he had talking to Miss Jessop or to Mrs. Sparks’s friends---the sudden realization that he wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t Childe Harold with his unfathomable, solitary pain. He was just a man, with ordinary human problems that plenty of other people shared. It was lowering, maybe, but it was a relief.
I don't want to give the impression that there isn't much romance in this book, because there is and the couple's relationship is pretty heartwarming and heated with their open communication sex scenes but there was so much more to the story. The cost of war and family/mother issues I touched on, along with grief, the wild notion that a man and woman can be friends (heroine and brother-in-law) and how two imperfect individuals and their flaws, can make a perfect story.
You all did not lead me astray! This was really good, there were some pacing problems in the beginning for me, I like my main couple to be more centric and interacting with one another, but the second half implemented that more and very well. This author's style felt like a cross between Courtney Milan (use of underlining themes and heroines) and Grace Burrowes (full framework of world and secondary characters). There were so many themes in this book that I want to start a book club just so I can discuss them all.
Economic status implications and noble poor myth
"I didn’t choose Jack for his money.”
“There’s nothing petty or self-interested in worrying about money,” Phoebe said sharply. “It isn’t easy being poor.” Miss Jessop couldn’t know what it was like, to worry you wouldn’t be able to pay the grocer’s bill next month. To kiss your husband’s forehead and feel that he had a fever, and to have to decide whether to call the doctor, and what you could sell to pay him.
Our heroine Phoebe is a bit brusque, yes, but she's pretty honest with herself, which others can't always handle. When the town rich girl wants to marry Phoebe's less monetary endowed brother-in-law, Phoebe doesn't see "love" through rose colored glasses and tries to share some realism with Miss Jessop.
Acclimating back into civilian life and how to live with the emotional/psychological impact of war
And he believed her; she wanted to know. So few people did. They wanted to shut their eyes and their ears---But was that true? Or was it only what he had told himself, because he didn’t want to tell the story? Would his brothers really have flinched back? His friends from school, his fellow officers? Hell, some of them had asked him, and he’d ignored them or played it off with a joke.
Our hero has been to war and as with many a soldier, he doesn't know how to fit into his new role in life. He doesn't think civilians really want to hear or can handle hearing his stories but when our heroine asks, he begins to see that maybe at least this one person does and that maybe he needs to tell these stories, just as it’s important that civilians hear them.
Family dynamics
“You were good company.” Tony ducked his head shyly. “If you’ve ever a mind to come again, you’d be welcome. Not that you’d probably want to, I know it’s a dashed odd way to spend one’s time, but---“
Just like that, it was all worth it. “I’d love to,” he said, and meant it.
Love wasn’t selfless, and it wasn’t selfish either. Love was equality. It was saying that another person’s self was just as important as yours, and expecting them to feel the same way.
Family dynamics were a huge part of this story and they were there in all their messy glory. No one is an island and even though our couple falls in love and want to be together, their world is messy. This was where the author really shined for me, the character dynamics felt real and were rooted in my favorite color, grey.
People are all the same and in this together
He felt the way he had talking to Miss Jessop or to Mrs. Sparks’s friends---the sudden realization that he wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t Childe Harold with his unfathomable, solitary pain. He was just a man, with ordinary human problems that plenty of other people shared. It was lowering, maybe, but it was a relief.
I don't want to give the impression that there isn't much romance in this book, because there is and the couple's relationship is pretty heartwarming and heated with their open communication sex scenes but there was so much more to the story. The cost of war and family/mother issues I touched on, along with grief, the wild notion that a man and woman can be friends (heroine and brother-in-law) and how two imperfect individuals and their flaws, can make a perfect story.
October 18, 2016
Aww, nothing like escaping the horrors of an upcoming presidential election with a good ye' old bodice-ripper, huh?
Uh, no.
When I think of Regency-era romance, I usually think of balls, the ton, the London season, and lots of puffy dresses. This was not that kind of book. It was about politics, the working class, and more politics.
It seems that politics were dirty even back then. Who'd have guessed? I thought everyone was honest and noble and trustworthy in the olden days....right?
The weather is fine in my world!
So there are two political parties: the Torys and the Whigs. I remember taking things very literally in history class as a child and thinking of the Whigs as these guys:
WTF England? Let it go already!
These two parties are cut-throat and will do anything to get votes. Anything. And, in this case it means playing matchmaker for a widow because she inherited her husband's vote. They start pimping out some dudes that will marry her and take her vote and use it for their party's nominee. They bribe the guys and then use the widow's poverty and problems to strong-arm her into a marriage.
Bribes? Strong-arm tactics? Pimping? Coercion? In politics? Color me shocked!
So, our bachelorette is dating a couple of guys from opposing parties to try and decide who can make her the best deal and also annoy her the least. Good luck with that! Men are annoying. Oops, did I say that out loud? I meant, men are annoying. Seriously, how hard is it to throw your dirty socks in the laundry basket?
The widow ends up falling for one of the candidate's brother who is the only guy she can't have. There were a lot of rules about who you were allowed to love back then. Thank goodness that has changed!
Well played, boys. Well played.
The story is different, and I probably would have liked it more if ... well, I'm not sure. But, it was okay. And, I think others might like it more. It was a matter of "it's not you, it's me" for this book.
Oh, and for you etymologists out there - the vocabulary in this book is pretty..um...good. Some SAT words even. Maybe I should be reading more of this kind of thing.
Uh, no.
When I think of Regency-era romance, I usually think of balls, the ton, the London season, and lots of puffy dresses. This was not that kind of book. It was about politics, the working class, and more politics.
It seems that politics were dirty even back then. Who'd have guessed? I thought everyone was honest and noble and trustworthy in the olden days....right?
The weather is fine in my world!
So there are two political parties: the Torys and the Whigs. I remember taking things very literally in history class as a child and thinking of the Whigs as these guys:
WTF England? Let it go already!
These two parties are cut-throat and will do anything to get votes. Anything. And, in this case it means playing matchmaker for a widow because she inherited her husband's vote. They start pimping out some dudes that will marry her and take her vote and use it for their party's nominee. They bribe the guys and then use the widow's poverty and problems to strong-arm her into a marriage.
Bribes? Strong-arm tactics? Pimping? Coercion? In politics? Color me shocked!
So, our bachelorette is dating a couple of guys from opposing parties to try and decide who can make her the best deal and also annoy her the least. Good luck with that! Men are annoying. Oops, did I say that out loud? I meant, men are annoying. Seriously, how hard is it to throw your dirty socks in the laundry basket?
The widow ends up falling for one of the candidate's brother who is the only guy she can't have. There were a lot of rules about who you were allowed to love back then. Thank goodness that has changed!
Well played, boys. Well played.
The story is different, and I probably would have liked it more if ... well, I'm not sure. But, it was okay. And, I think others might like it more. It was a matter of "it's not you, it's me" for this book.
Oh, and for you etymologists out there - the vocabulary in this book is pretty..um...good. Some SAT words even. Maybe I should be reading more of this kind of thing.
July 29, 2017
I wish I could simply copy/paste the whole book as a review. It would certainly save me time and brain activity.
Anyone with a passion for books will know the feeling of a book hangover. With the last page read, a feeling of deflation settles in and sorrow for saying goodbye to characters I've come to love, a plot that kept me glued and a writing that made me re-read passages again and again because they were so beautifully put into words. Courtney Milan's books do that to me, Meredith Duran, Cecilia Grant and Sherry Thomas. I now welcome Rose Lerner to this list. I already had the suspicion that it would be this way when I read In For a Penny. Hence her books ending up on my 'rainy days' pile. Now I look at the pile and I could slap myself for having one book less.
But, oh man, did I enjoy it.
A little warning ahead. Do not read this book if you prefer Lords and Ladies, balls, gowns, constant witty banter, a perfect HEA or perfect, larger than life heroes and heroines. Nope, Sweet Disorder has much more to offer.
Meet Phoebe Sparks. A young, poor widow, writer of children's stories and daughter of a freeman. As her father died without a son and only freemen can vote in elections, any man she marries makes her husband automatically a freeman which leaves her in an uncomfortable spot. Both parties, Tories and Whigs, are eager to obtain her 'vote' for the upcoming election via her future husband and try to persuade her to marry again, presenting her with possible candidates. Phoebe is less than thrilled, to say the least. Her marriage, although a love match, wasn't a happy one. Two people simply not suited for each other which Phoebe sadly only found out after she'd married. It is only when Helen, her sixteen-year-old unmarried sister, confesses to being pregnant, that Phoebe sees no other choice as to marry again and thus help her sister. She needs money and male protection to keep the scandal out of Helen's life...in a nutshell.
A perfect set up for martyrdom, and any lesser gifted author would have grabbed this opportunity to press the victim-button. Not so Lerner. She takes this story line to let us in into Phoebe's world. She resents it. She, at times, resents Helen, and most definitely resents her overbearing and very dramatic mother, the poverty that forces her into this position and those who seek to take advantage of her predicament, the party agents trying to obtain her vote.
Meet Nicholas Dymond. Second son of an earl, wounded during the war which left him with a severe and painful limb. His mother, deeply involved in party politics for as long as he can remember, wants her youngest son, Tony, to win the second seat in Lively St. Lemeston for the Whigs. Every vote counts, therefore, she forces a still re-convalescing Nick help obtain Phoebe's vote by making her marry a man who would then cast his vote for the Whigs. Either that, or she will cut off his allowance, leaving him penniless. She is quite ruthless when it comes to politics and I had the impression that the well-being of her sons wasn't always the highest of her priorities.
A perfect set up for a hero with Mama issues. If anything, Nick has family issues. With his elder and younger brother as deeply involved in politics as his mother, Nick never had a notion of purpose until he went to war. It's there that he finds a sense of belonging for the first time in his life, and when he has to sell his commission due to his leg, he drifts back into a life without purpose.
Now, I have to stop here for a moment before I continue with Phoebe and Nick. This book has so much substance, so much background and so many well-drawn secondary characters, it feels as if I could not do it enough justice. This is more than a Romance novel. This is about family obligations and how each individual tries to find a little piece of happiness in the greater scheme of things. This is about the possible socio-economic fallout of an election, as much as it is about class differences.
And herein lies the beauty of Ms Lerner's skills. All of the aforementioned story lines are delicately interwoven into Phoebe's and Nick's story. Their story is firmly rooted in the middle and everything else is being reflected from there.
Back to Phoebe and Nick. I must admit, I find myself a little bit at a loss here. So many memorable moments come to my mind that I don't know where to start, and when I start I may simply go on and on forever. They're not broken, but rather damaged. They're both drifters, not feeling home anywhere, neither inside their own skins, nor outside in society. They simply don't belong.
The absence of belonging is probably my favourite 'meta-trope'. If done with finesse, it allows the characters to reflect on their personalities, mistakes made and, ultimately, the discovery of belonging in the course of the book. Like a journey. That's what Ms Lerner does with Phoebe and Nick. Step by step, slowly and un-dramatically we watch them fall in love, and find in the other the person they could belong to. Their conversations so beautifully written, not one word is wasted. And whilst I watched them falling in love with each other, I fell in love with them. The prose is simply fantastic.
Their attraction for each other develops in their conversations. There are no excessive and repetitive descriptions of strong thighs, long necks, pert bottoms or raging hard-ons to remind us of their growing lust. Instead we get this:
One - hopefully - last thing that I have to mention is the balance between Phoebe and Nick. At no point during the book did I feel one character being stronger than the other, or better developed. They may come from different classes, and towards the end it does play a significant role, but it doesn't make a difference when they interact. Unlike in other Romance novels, however, the class difference isn't conveniently brushed aside. Once they choose each other, they know that it'll be a bumpy ride, not to forget the financial and social fallout that they will have to face, especially Nick.
Phoebe and Nick felt real. The problems felt real. The attraction and love for each other felt real. Sweet Disorder resonated with me on a personal level and in many ways it reminded me again why I love Courtney Milan's books so much. Rose Lerner took a chunk of real life and planted it deeply into her book.
And now, I will stay away from my 'rainy days' pile for another six months before I even dare look at it again. There simply aren't enough talented authors like Ms Lerner out there, certainly not enough such unique and poignant books like Sweet Disorder.
Here's my first five star rating for this year (not counting Dreaming of You as it was a re-read). I'll come back to Lively St. Lemeston and read about Phoebe and Nick again, and Helen, Mrs Knight, Mr Gilchrist, Tony, Lady Tassel, Mr Moon...
Anyone with a passion for books will know the feeling of a book hangover. With the last page read, a feeling of deflation settles in and sorrow for saying goodbye to characters I've come to love, a plot that kept me glued and a writing that made me re-read passages again and again because they were so beautifully put into words. Courtney Milan's books do that to me, Meredith Duran, Cecilia Grant and Sherry Thomas. I now welcome Rose Lerner to this list. I already had the suspicion that it would be this way when I read In For a Penny. Hence her books ending up on my 'rainy days' pile. Now I look at the pile and I could slap myself for having one book less.
But, oh man, did I enjoy it.
A little warning ahead. Do not read this book if you prefer Lords and Ladies, balls, gowns, constant witty banter, a perfect HEA or perfect, larger than life heroes and heroines. Nope, Sweet Disorder has much more to offer.
Meet Phoebe Sparks. A young, poor widow, writer of children's stories and daughter of a freeman. As her father died without a son and only freemen can vote in elections, any man she marries makes her husband automatically a freeman which leaves her in an uncomfortable spot. Both parties, Tories and Whigs, are eager to obtain her 'vote' for the upcoming election via her future husband and try to persuade her to marry again, presenting her with possible candidates. Phoebe is less than thrilled, to say the least. Her marriage, although a love match, wasn't a happy one. Two people simply not suited for each other which Phoebe sadly only found out after she'd married. It is only when Helen, her sixteen-year-old unmarried sister, confesses to being pregnant, that Phoebe sees no other choice as to marry again and thus help her sister. She needs money and male protection to keep the scandal out of Helen's life...in a nutshell.
A perfect set up for martyrdom, and any lesser gifted author would have grabbed this opportunity to press the victim-button. Not so Lerner. She takes this story line to let us in into Phoebe's world. She resents it. She, at times, resents Helen, and most definitely resents her overbearing and very dramatic mother, the poverty that forces her into this position and those who seek to take advantage of her predicament, the party agents trying to obtain her vote.
Meet Nicholas Dymond. Second son of an earl, wounded during the war which left him with a severe and painful limb. His mother, deeply involved in party politics for as long as he can remember, wants her youngest son, Tony, to win the second seat in Lively St. Lemeston for the Whigs. Every vote counts, therefore, she forces a still re-convalescing Nick help obtain Phoebe's vote by making her marry a man who would then cast his vote for the Whigs. Either that, or she will cut off his allowance, leaving him penniless. She is quite ruthless when it comes to politics and I had the impression that the well-being of her sons wasn't always the highest of her priorities.
A perfect set up for a hero with Mama issues. If anything, Nick has family issues. With his elder and younger brother as deeply involved in politics as his mother, Nick never had a notion of purpose until he went to war. It's there that he finds a sense of belonging for the first time in his life, and when he has to sell his commission due to his leg, he drifts back into a life without purpose.
Now, I have to stop here for a moment before I continue with Phoebe and Nick. This book has so much substance, so much background and so many well-drawn secondary characters, it feels as if I could not do it enough justice. This is more than a Romance novel. This is about family obligations and how each individual tries to find a little piece of happiness in the greater scheme of things. This is about the possible socio-economic fallout of an election, as much as it is about class differences.
And herein lies the beauty of Ms Lerner's skills. All of the aforementioned story lines are delicately interwoven into Phoebe's and Nick's story. Their story is firmly rooted in the middle and everything else is being reflected from there.
Back to Phoebe and Nick. I must admit, I find myself a little bit at a loss here. So many memorable moments come to my mind that I don't know where to start, and when I start I may simply go on and on forever. They're not broken, but rather damaged. They're both drifters, not feeling home anywhere, neither inside their own skins, nor outside in society. They simply don't belong.
The absence of belonging is probably my favourite 'meta-trope'. If done with finesse, it allows the characters to reflect on their personalities, mistakes made and, ultimately, the discovery of belonging in the course of the book. Like a journey. That's what Ms Lerner does with Phoebe and Nick. Step by step, slowly and un-dramatically we watch them fall in love, and find in the other the person they could belong to. Their conversations so beautifully written, not one word is wasted. And whilst I watched them falling in love with each other, I fell in love with them. The prose is simply fantastic.
Their attraction for each other develops in their conversations. There are no excessive and repetitive descriptions of strong thighs, long necks, pert bottoms or raging hard-ons to remind us of their growing lust. Instead we get this:
She was a fidgeter; he’d noticed it before. She leaned her chin on her fist as she read, which led to leaning her mouth on her fist, which led to biting her knuckles, which led to tugging on her lower lip, which led to— her heart-shaped face flushed crimson when she caught him watching her.Nonetheless, when they do it, they do it properly. And yay to the absence of purple prose!
One - hopefully - last thing that I have to mention is the balance between Phoebe and Nick. At no point during the book did I feel one character being stronger than the other, or better developed. They may come from different classes, and towards the end it does play a significant role, but it doesn't make a difference when they interact. Unlike in other Romance novels, however, the class difference isn't conveniently brushed aside. Once they choose each other, they know that it'll be a bumpy ride, not to forget the financial and social fallout that they will have to face, especially Nick.
Phoebe and Nick felt real. The problems felt real. The attraction and love for each other felt real. Sweet Disorder resonated with me on a personal level and in many ways it reminded me again why I love Courtney Milan's books so much. Rose Lerner took a chunk of real life and planted it deeply into her book.
And now, I will stay away from my 'rainy days' pile for another six months before I even dare look at it again. There simply aren't enough talented authors like Ms Lerner out there, certainly not enough such unique and poignant books like Sweet Disorder.
Here's my first five star rating for this year (not counting Dreaming of You as it was a re-read). I'll come back to Lively St. Lemeston and read about Phoebe and Nick again, and Helen, Mrs Knight, Mr Gilchrist, Tony, Lady Tassel, Mr Moon...
March 27, 2017
At 13% in, I just can't. The backdrop of this is tawdry and what isn't tawdry feels like an assertiveness brochure for lonely overweight girls with an extra insert for how mean men are. Except for our hero, Nick, of course, because he's a sensitive war hero (with a limp!) who loves (even writes) poetry and uses Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage as a meditation piece when he's in pain (mental or physical, they're all the same to him). Plus, he has a thing for "the plump one" so you know he's extra-special good.
If Alan Alda co-authored a story with Bette Middler in her sappy phase, you might get this.
I had to stop when the heroine's fresh-faced 16 year-old sister was kicked out of her family home for being pregnant and wouldn't name the father because of threats. And funding a secluded place to have the baby and a nice family to adopt it was going to be the driving force for the heroine having to accept the devil's bargain of marrying one of the obsessed political parties' bought men (to confer her hereditary vote on the lucky Romeo). Which is just tedious, if it isn't simply overwrought if only because Nick can't be on the list since he's the brother of one of the candidates. And you just know that the mystery father is going to be revealed as someone politically significant and blow stuff up in the fifth act...
If Alan Alda co-authored a story with Bette Middler in her sappy phase, you might get this.
I had to stop when the heroine's fresh-faced 16 year-old sister was kicked out of her family home for being pregnant and wouldn't name the father because of threats. And funding a secluded place to have the baby and a nice family to adopt it was going to be the driving force for the heroine having to accept the devil's bargain of marrying one of the obsessed political parties' bought men (to confer her hereditary vote on the lucky Romeo). Which is just tedious, if it isn't simply overwrought if only because Nick can't be on the list since he's the brother of one of the candidates. And you just know that the mystery father is going to be revealed as someone politically significant and blow stuff up in the fifth act...
Want to read
November 3, 2015Fat heroine and a book that actually puts a plus-sized model on the cover? Wow. Sign me up immediately, please. Do want.
July 25, 2016
I've given this an A- at AAR, although it was < > this close to being an A:) 4.5 stars.
Sweet Disorder sees the very welcome return to the publishing world of Rose Lerner, whose two previous novels, In for a Penny and A Lily Among Thorns I enjoyed very much.
This book, the first in a series set in the town of Lively St. Lemeston, presents us with a different take on the Regency Romance and paints a wonderful portrait of small-town life in early nineteenth century England. The hero is the son of an earl, it’s true, but the heroine is most definitely an “ordinary” woman, who, like many of the other townsfolk, is struggling to make ends meet while she is also caring for her sister, helping her brother-in-law to run the town newspaper and doing her bit for the local charities and organisations.
The setting is refreshingly different as the novel takes place around the General Election of 1812. Lively St. Lemeston is controlled by the Tories, although it’s been a close-run thing in the past, and the Whigs are hopeful that this time, their candidate, the youngest son of Lord and Lady Tassell, is going to secure a victory for them. The campaign is close fought, and things are going to come down to a mere handful of votes, two of which are in the possession of Mrs Phoebe Sparks, the widow of the town’s former newspaper publisher. Of course, this is the nineteenth century, so Phoebe cannot actually vote herself, but because her father was a freeman of the town, she holds his votes “in trust”, so to speak, and they can only be used by her husband, should she remarry. Naturally, both sides are eager to see her wed to a man of their political persuasion in order to secure her votes.
Wanting to see Mrs Sparks safely wed to a Whig, Lady Tassell, a veteran political campaigner and a woman who invariably puts politics before her family, sends her middle son, Nicholas, to Lively St. Lemeston so that he can meet the potential husband she has selected and do everything he can to promote the match. Nick, who has recently returned from the war in Spain with a debilitating injury to his leg, can think of nothing worse than to have to get involved with politicking and refuses to go, until his mother threatens to cut off his allowance. Nick has had no opportunity or inclination to think about alternative sources of income – so he has no alternative but to agree to do his mother’s bidding and play matchmaker.
When he arrives and sees Phoebe’s pretty face and voluptuous body, he realises that playing matchmaker might be a much more difficult task than he’d thought.
Phoebe has no desire to remarry, and certainly not for the sake of political expediency. Her marriage had been …not unhappy in the early days, but things had soured so that in the year before her husband’s death, things between them had not been going well. She’s strong, independent, speaks her mind, and has a quick temper – but she’s also exhausted most of the time, worried about not having enough money, and continually contending with her mother’s very vocal disapproval.
In spite of that, she is enjoying the independence of widowhood – until her younger sister drops the bombshell that she is pregnant and the father can't marry her.
Helen’s condition puts a completely different complexion on Phoebe’s situation as well. If Helen remains unwed, it will be impossible for her to remain in Lively St. Lemeston to have her baby without being branded a whore, so Phoebe suggests an alternative. She will take Helen away somewhere she can have the baby and they will find a good family to take the child in and raise it as their own. But for this, she will need money, something which is in terribly short supply.
There is only one thing she can do. If she agrees to marry one of the men being put forward by the two political parties, her husband will help her to protect Helen and provide the money they need.
During the course of her “courtship” by the man the Whigs have put forward, Phoebe is thrown much into the company of Nick Dymond, who is handsome, charming, easy to talk to and who goes out of his way to help her whenever he can. Phoebe knows it’s wrong to lust after one man while planning to marry another, but she can’t help it. Nick understands her in a way nobody ever has, and, even though it’s only for a little while, she knows that here is someone she can lean on.
The romance that develops between them is based on much more than lust and physical attraction (although there’s plenty of that, too, and the sex scenes are hot!) Despite the vast difference in their social station, Nick and Phoebe interact as equals, they communicate very well and find themselves telling each other things, their sorrows, hopes and fears, that they’ve never told anyone else. Their relationship progresses at a natural pace and it’s certainly not all plain sailing, something which only serves to add more realism to their romance.
All the characters in the book are extremely well-drawn and in fact, I can’t think of a single minor character who didn’t seem to have a life of their own, from Betsy, the assistant in the sweet shop to Mr Gilchrist, the Tory election agent. The writing flows well, the background research has clearly been meticulous, the dialogue is excellent and the characterisation of the two principals is superb. Nick and Phoebe are complicated, flawed and very real characters, both of them having to cope with difficult family relationships and issues relating to their sense of self-esteem. Phoebe has been criticised by her mother all her life and Nick is finding it difficult to accept and adjust to his disability and to deal with the emotional scars he carries from the war. As a result, both of them have a slightly distorted view of their own self-worth, and it’s lovely to see both of them coming to terms with their issues and also to begin to like themselves as a result of the way the other sees them.
Sweet Disorder is a very engaging and well-told romance which is interwoven with some fascinating insight in to the political situation of the time. I especially enjoyed the fact that this was essentially a story about ordinary people with ordinary problems – not enough money, controlling mothers, unplanned pregnancies – things I’m sure that many people today can identify with. The ending felt absolutely right for Nick and Phoebe, and more importantly, it felt thoroughly deserved, given everything they’d been through to get there. Rose Lerner is definitely an author to watch, and I’ll certainly be adding her name to my auto-buy list.
I also reviewed this title for Romantic Historical Reviews.
Sweet Disorder sees the very welcome return to the publishing world of Rose Lerner, whose two previous novels, In for a Penny and A Lily Among Thorns I enjoyed very much.
This book, the first in a series set in the town of Lively St. Lemeston, presents us with a different take on the Regency Romance and paints a wonderful portrait of small-town life in early nineteenth century England. The hero is the son of an earl, it’s true, but the heroine is most definitely an “ordinary” woman, who, like many of the other townsfolk, is struggling to make ends meet while she is also caring for her sister, helping her brother-in-law to run the town newspaper and doing her bit for the local charities and organisations.
The setting is refreshingly different as the novel takes place around the General Election of 1812. Lively St. Lemeston is controlled by the Tories, although it’s been a close-run thing in the past, and the Whigs are hopeful that this time, their candidate, the youngest son of Lord and Lady Tassell, is going to secure a victory for them. The campaign is close fought, and things are going to come down to a mere handful of votes, two of which are in the possession of Mrs Phoebe Sparks, the widow of the town’s former newspaper publisher. Of course, this is the nineteenth century, so Phoebe cannot actually vote herself, but because her father was a freeman of the town, she holds his votes “in trust”, so to speak, and they can only be used by her husband, should she remarry. Naturally, both sides are eager to see her wed to a man of their political persuasion in order to secure her votes.
Wanting to see Mrs Sparks safely wed to a Whig, Lady Tassell, a veteran political campaigner and a woman who invariably puts politics before her family, sends her middle son, Nicholas, to Lively St. Lemeston so that he can meet the potential husband she has selected and do everything he can to promote the match. Nick, who has recently returned from the war in Spain with a debilitating injury to his leg, can think of nothing worse than to have to get involved with politicking and refuses to go, until his mother threatens to cut off his allowance. Nick has had no opportunity or inclination to think about alternative sources of income – so he has no alternative but to agree to do his mother’s bidding and play matchmaker.
When he arrives and sees Phoebe’s pretty face and voluptuous body, he realises that playing matchmaker might be a much more difficult task than he’d thought.
Phoebe has no desire to remarry, and certainly not for the sake of political expediency. Her marriage had been …not unhappy in the early days, but things had soured so that in the year before her husband’s death, things between them had not been going well. She’s strong, independent, speaks her mind, and has a quick temper – but she’s also exhausted most of the time, worried about not having enough money, and continually contending with her mother’s very vocal disapproval.
In spite of that, she is enjoying the independence of widowhood – until her younger sister drops the bombshell that she is pregnant and the father can't marry her.
Helen’s condition puts a completely different complexion on Phoebe’s situation as well. If Helen remains unwed, it will be impossible for her to remain in Lively St. Lemeston to have her baby without being branded a whore, so Phoebe suggests an alternative. She will take Helen away somewhere she can have the baby and they will find a good family to take the child in and raise it as their own. But for this, she will need money, something which is in terribly short supply.
There is only one thing she can do. If she agrees to marry one of the men being put forward by the two political parties, her husband will help her to protect Helen and provide the money they need.
During the course of her “courtship” by the man the Whigs have put forward, Phoebe is thrown much into the company of Nick Dymond, who is handsome, charming, easy to talk to and who goes out of his way to help her whenever he can. Phoebe knows it’s wrong to lust after one man while planning to marry another, but she can’t help it. Nick understands her in a way nobody ever has, and, even though it’s only for a little while, she knows that here is someone she can lean on.
The romance that develops between them is based on much more than lust and physical attraction (although there’s plenty of that, too, and the sex scenes are hot!) Despite the vast difference in their social station, Nick and Phoebe interact as equals, they communicate very well and find themselves telling each other things, their sorrows, hopes and fears, that they’ve never told anyone else. Their relationship progresses at a natural pace and it’s certainly not all plain sailing, something which only serves to add more realism to their romance.
All the characters in the book are extremely well-drawn and in fact, I can’t think of a single minor character who didn’t seem to have a life of their own, from Betsy, the assistant in the sweet shop to Mr Gilchrist, the Tory election agent. The writing flows well, the background research has clearly been meticulous, the dialogue is excellent and the characterisation of the two principals is superb. Nick and Phoebe are complicated, flawed and very real characters, both of them having to cope with difficult family relationships and issues relating to their sense of self-esteem. Phoebe has been criticised by her mother all her life and Nick is finding it difficult to accept and adjust to his disability and to deal with the emotional scars he carries from the war. As a result, both of them have a slightly distorted view of their own self-worth, and it’s lovely to see both of them coming to terms with their issues and also to begin to like themselves as a result of the way the other sees them.
Sweet Disorder is a very engaging and well-told romance which is interwoven with some fascinating insight in to the political situation of the time. I especially enjoyed the fact that this was essentially a story about ordinary people with ordinary problems – not enough money, controlling mothers, unplanned pregnancies – things I’m sure that many people today can identify with. The ending felt absolutely right for Nick and Phoebe, and more importantly, it felt thoroughly deserved, given everything they’d been through to get there. Rose Lerner is definitely an author to watch, and I’ll certainly be adding her name to my auto-buy list.
I also reviewed this title for Romantic Historical Reviews.
April 27, 2018
Happy sighs, going to hug my kobo while I fall asleep now...
Read
August 2, 2015This book makes me feel like this:
Elisabeth Lane and I discussed it over at the AAR blog fairly recently:
AJH: I should probably warn you, I’m going to be useless for this. I have literally nothing to say about this book that isn’t ‘omg I loved that’.
Elisabeth: Well, this is going to be a short review then since I felt much the same way. So…SQUEE. See you next month?
AJH: Maybe can just replace ourselves with a set of wildly joyous reaction gifs?
Elisabeth: Honestly, I think that’s a fabulous idea. There’s only so many ways to say THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME, after all.
AJH: It was, however, so awesome that I’m kind of desperate to talk (gush/squee/exclaim) about it. I mean, I read a lot of historicals and it was such a breath of fresh air, to be away from the usual sorts of settings and situations. And, don’t get me wrong, I love me some slutty Duke and some Almack waltzing scandal, but I really appreciated the political focus, the small town environment, and the fact that the book is largely about middle class people with what felt to me like very human, recognisable problems. Problems like how to get on with your life when you’re a widow. What to do when your teenage sister gets pregnant. How to keep your sweet shop running when you don’t have much money. And so on.
Elisabeth: I’ve been reading historical romances for so long that a lot of them have started to blur together. Not that I don’t also love the ballrooms of Mayfair, but Sweet Disorder was powerfully original. And also so full of heart. Not just in the romance between the hero and the heroine, but in the community’s struggles, family issues and needing to find a way to get along in the world with all the scars of the past.
AJH: Yes, heart is exactly right. I loved the way pretty much every single character you meet is developed and nuanced and written with such understanding and compassion. Even the people who behave less than well. It’s essentially an arranged marriage plot and it could have been so easy to make Phoebe’s alternative choices unpleasant in some way, but they’re both decent men, who just happen to be wildly unsuitable for her. Moon because he’s kind of intimidated by her and the Tory guy, Mr Fairclough, who is just a little bit too patriarchal, although he’s compelling to her in other ways.
Elisabeth: It’s funny actually. I liked Mr. Moon much, much better as a hero than Nick, but that’s, well, for me. For Phoebe, he’s kind of a disaster. He doesn’t read (she’s a writer) and she doesn’t like sweets (he’s a baker), but I loved his down-to-earth wisdom and, of course, his bakery. I was very excited when Rose Lerner mentioned on Twitter recently that he’s going to get his own novella. But Nick had his good points.
AJH: Moon would make a wonderful (and unusual) hero. I can’t wait to see what she does with him. Personally speaking, Fairclough is more my type — tough but kind Tory mill owner from Th’ North. Oh my. And how completely hilarious is it that we’re debating the romantic possibilities of the guys the heroine didn’t want?
Read the rest of it over here.
Elisabeth Lane and I discussed it over at the AAR blog fairly recently:
AJH: I should probably warn you, I’m going to be useless for this. I have literally nothing to say about this book that isn’t ‘omg I loved that’.
Elisabeth: Well, this is going to be a short review then since I felt much the same way. So…SQUEE. See you next month?
AJH: Maybe can just replace ourselves with a set of wildly joyous reaction gifs?
Elisabeth: Honestly, I think that’s a fabulous idea. There’s only so many ways to say THIS BOOK WAS AWESOME, after all.
AJH: It was, however, so awesome that I’m kind of desperate to talk (gush/squee/exclaim) about it. I mean, I read a lot of historicals and it was such a breath of fresh air, to be away from the usual sorts of settings and situations. And, don’t get me wrong, I love me some slutty Duke and some Almack waltzing scandal, but I really appreciated the political focus, the small town environment, and the fact that the book is largely about middle class people with what felt to me like very human, recognisable problems. Problems like how to get on with your life when you’re a widow. What to do when your teenage sister gets pregnant. How to keep your sweet shop running when you don’t have much money. And so on.
Elisabeth: I’ve been reading historical romances for so long that a lot of them have started to blur together. Not that I don’t also love the ballrooms of Mayfair, but Sweet Disorder was powerfully original. And also so full of heart. Not just in the romance between the hero and the heroine, but in the community’s struggles, family issues and needing to find a way to get along in the world with all the scars of the past.
AJH: Yes, heart is exactly right. I loved the way pretty much every single character you meet is developed and nuanced and written with such understanding and compassion. Even the people who behave less than well. It’s essentially an arranged marriage plot and it could have been so easy to make Phoebe’s alternative choices unpleasant in some way, but they’re both decent men, who just happen to be wildly unsuitable for her. Moon because he’s kind of intimidated by her and the Tory guy, Mr Fairclough, who is just a little bit too patriarchal, although he’s compelling to her in other ways.
Elisabeth: It’s funny actually. I liked Mr. Moon much, much better as a hero than Nick, but that’s, well, for me. For Phoebe, he’s kind of a disaster. He doesn’t read (she’s a writer) and she doesn’t like sweets (he’s a baker), but I loved his down-to-earth wisdom and, of course, his bakery. I was very excited when Rose Lerner mentioned on Twitter recently that he’s going to get his own novella. But Nick had his good points.
AJH: Moon would make a wonderful (and unusual) hero. I can’t wait to see what she does with him. Personally speaking, Fairclough is more my type — tough but kind Tory mill owner from Th’ North. Oh my. And how completely hilarious is it that we’re debating the romantic possibilities of the guys the heroine didn’t want?
Read the rest of it over here.
March 22, 2021
This was my first book to read by Rose Lerner. Book 3 is next month's BOTM, so I thought I'd go ahead and check out the first in the series. It is soooo good! I was emotionally invested in all the characters, not just the H and h. The constant knot in my stomach was painful, but it takes a well written book to put it there. The sex scenes were steamy too. Now I have to read book 2 and add to my series challenge for this year.
August 25, 2017
Rose Lerner is always going to write about something totally unique and this book was no exception. Very well written as always. The reason I struggled with this one was because she skated a bit too close to the bone on how my relationship was with my sister and my relationship with my mother. I am not faulting LR for that, that is just how it happens sometime. Authors zero in on a situation that grinds right over your last nerve and that was how this book was at times. Other times the naughty talk between our h/h felt real and now...very good. I can't wait for the next in the series.
June 16, 2016
2.5 stars? I know more than I ever wanted about the ins and outs of small town election machinations anyway, so there's that.
It's drab. The only time they (or I) had any fun at all was during SexyTimes, which were, admittedly, delightful. The rest of the time the two leads are dealing with all kinds of baggage from their pasts, horrible mothers, burdensome siblings, and various assorted townspeople who all need a good smack--except Moon, the sweetmaker, he can stay.
The rare bout of slap and tickle couldn't make up for the tiresome feeling that I was reading this for homework.
It's drab. The only time they (or I) had any fun at all was during SexyTimes, which were, admittedly, delightful. The rest of the time the two leads are dealing with all kinds of baggage from their pasts, horrible mothers, burdensome siblings, and various assorted townspeople who all need a good smack--except Moon, the sweetmaker, he can stay.
The rare bout of slap and tickle couldn't make up for the tiresome feeling that I was reading this for homework.
January 26, 2022
Setting: Regency England
Its a battle between the Whigs and the Tories in the town of Lively St. Lemeston.
In Rose Lerner's first book "Sweet Disorder" it looks like to be a promising new series.
War hero Nick Dymond returns to his family with a wound to his leg but most of all to his soul.
But his family is consumed it seems with the current election in which his younger brother is a candidate.
They even go so far as to get him to find a husband for widow Phoebe Sparks because in order to win the crucial vote, it can only be cast by a husband.
Seems a little far fetched..yes?
Actually this worked really well and was a nice change.
The repartee between Nick and Phoebe is the icing on the cake, as Nick does his best to play the matchmaker.
But Nick ends up being drawn to Phoebe's charms himself.
And will Phoebe let her concern for others get in the way of her growing feelings for Nick?
The author did a nice job here in weaving an enchanting tale, and I look forward to the rest in the series.
Its a battle between the Whigs and the Tories in the town of Lively St. Lemeston.
In Rose Lerner's first book "Sweet Disorder" it looks like to be a promising new series.
War hero Nick Dymond returns to his family with a wound to his leg but most of all to his soul.
But his family is consumed it seems with the current election in which his younger brother is a candidate.
They even go so far as to get him to find a husband for widow Phoebe Sparks because in order to win the crucial vote, it can only be cast by a husband.
Seems a little far fetched..yes?
Actually this worked really well and was a nice change.
The repartee between Nick and Phoebe is the icing on the cake, as Nick does his best to play the matchmaker.
But Nick ends up being drawn to Phoebe's charms himself.
And will Phoebe let her concern for others get in the way of her growing feelings for Nick?
The author did a nice job here in weaving an enchanting tale, and I look forward to the rest in the series.
March 12, 2017
GO AND READ THIS RIGHT NOW. Blimey, Rose Lerner can't half write. This is a romance set during an early nineteenth century election in a provincial English town. This sounds dull [not to me, because I am a historian turned lawyer, but it doesn't sound as if it would be everyone's bag]. It isn't dull, it's wonderful. The hero is an injured soldier. Injured heroes are my catnip. The heroine is a voluptuous (like, actually, not just as a euphemism for big tits) newspaper editor and author. GO AND READ THIS RIGHT NOW. All of the secondary characters are wonderfully drawn [how do you do that, Rose Lerner, how do you manage to sketch an entire personality in a matter of a few lines, how are you such a genius?!]. And the sex. Good God: the sex. This is one of my favourite romance novels, ever. I have all the feels. I cannot say enough positive things. GO AND READ THIS RIGHT NOW.
November 20, 2021
4.75 stars
Rose Lerner's third historical romance, book one in your Lively St. Lemeston series, begins in October of 1812, with a knock on Phoebe Sparks’ door. Phoebe, an author of Improving Tales for Young People, is contemplating what fate to inflict on the protagonist of her current story, who gives birth to an out-of-wedlock child in a ditch, when the knock interrupts her.
At her door is Mr. Gilchrist, a Tory election agent. Mr. Gilchrist has come to call on Phoebe at her home in Lively St. Lemeston because the Tories and Whigs are battling for every vote in the Lively St. Lemeston district. As a woman, Phoebe cannot vote. But she can have some impact on the outcome of the close election because as the eldest daughter of a deceased freeman—a man whose “freedom of the city” entitled him to vote—she can, according to the Lively St. Lemeston charter, bestow her father’s freeman status on her husband.
Phoebe is a widow. Her husband, a newspaper editor and printer, was a Whig. But Will died two years earlier and Mr. Gilchrist is sure he can persuade Phoebe to marry again. When he insists he knows her taste in men, Phoebe all but shoves him out the door. After a bad marriage and a heartbreaking miscarriage, she has no interest in remarrying, especially not for the sake of an election, and even if she were, her sentiments are on the side of the Whigs and not the Tories.
Meanwhile in London Nick Dymond, the middle son of an earl, is in bed when his mother, Lady Tassell, descends on him and demands that he too involve himself in the matter of Phoebe’s marital status. Nick’s younger brother Tony, a Whig, is running for the same seat Gilchrist wants for the Tories, and since Lady Tassell is campaigning on behalf of his older brother’s Stephen’s behalf – yes, this is a political family – she expects Nick to help Tony win the Lively St. Lemeston district seat for the Whigs.
As it happens, Nick is the only member of his family who doesn’t give two flying figs for politics. He hates that the good of the party has been put ahead of the good of family members and that his mother is always sure she knows what’s best for him.
But even more than that, Nick hates that his mother winces when she looks at him. Nick served as an officer in Wellington’s army and took a bullet in the leg at the battle of Badajoz. His leg was broken and healed weak and now Nick walks with a limp. And he can’t stand the way people – family members especially—have looked at him ever since.
So Nick makes a bet with his mother. He will get Phoebe to marry the Whig baker whom Lady Tassell has picked out for her, and if he is successful, Lady Tassell will never wince when she looks at him again. After an all-too-brief moment of empathy with her son, Lady Tassell agrees.
Of course, Phoebe still has no interest in marrying, but when Nick offers to help her with the laundry, she takes him up on his offer. An attraction develops as Nick continues his campaign for the vote to which Phoebe holds the key, but it’s not as though it would be appropriate for Nick and Phoebe to marry, or even indulge in an affair, when their stations in life are different and he is trying to get her to marry someone else.
To Phoebe, her decision to meet Nick again is nothing more than a reason to leave the house after years of staying cooped up inside. And then—disaster. Phoebe’s sixteen-year-old sister Helen is cast out of her home by their mother. Helen is pregnant, but the father of her child refuses to marry her.
To save Helen’s good name and spare her suffering, Phoebe would do anything. Even marry a man she doesn’t love and has little hope of loving. Even struggle to suppress her growing attraction to Nick.
Since her miscarriage and the death of her husband, Phoebe has felt dead inside, but as she opens up to Nick about the conundrum she faces, something inside her begins to stir.
Nick too begins to come out of his depression and sense of loss at being unable to fight alongside his men. He sees that Phoebe and Mr. Moon, the baker, are all wrong for each other, even though to save his bakery, Mr. Moon desperately needs the money Nick’s mother has promised him in exchange for his marriage to Phoebe and his vote.
Both Phoebe and Nick are used to putting others’ needs ahead of their own desires. With family members and the outcome of the election depending on them doing just that, will Phoebe and Nick learn to shut out the clamor and listen to – as well as follow—their hearts?
I thought of some of my favorite historical romance authors as I read this book – authors like Courtney Milan, Judith Ivory, and Cecilia Grant – because of the good writing, the realness of the characters, and their psychological depth as well.
Nick and Phoebe are richly drawn, wonderfully complex characters with messy emotions that include hopes, fears, dreams, and understandable resentments. Nick, for example, can’t stand that since his injury, he has had no control over the way others see him. Phoebe couldn’t wait to escape her critical, perennially dissatisfied mother by marrying Will, but feels guilty for having left her sister alone under their mother’s thumb.
Their attraction is almost a magical thing in that it gives them a new sense of power, not just the power of being attractive to someone you desire, but the power to recognize and express your own desires.
The ideas the novel communicates are at ones simple and complex. Here is an excerpt from a scene in Nick’s viewpoint in which Phoebe confides in him about her sister’s pregnancy and her consequent need to sacrifice her freedom to salvage her sister’s reputation:
The writing in Sweet Disorder is thoughtful and fresh, with a subtle sense of humor woven throughout. The novel takes its title from the poem “Delight in Disorder” by the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick. The poem closes with these two couplets:
Nick quotes these two couplets during one of the sex scenes, but they serve as more than a charming, seductive line. They also function as a metaphor for Phoebe and Nick’s relationship, and for the book itself: a bewitching, disorderly whole.
As I try to think of what the flaws in this novel might be, I can’t think of many. I don’t enjoy mental lusting in books, although here it’s written with some freshness and there’s a later payoff for it during the earthy, original, and character-specific sex scenes in the novel’s last third.
Perhaps too many of the novel’s characters have critical, disapproving, or manipulative parents, but this is contrasted by Phoebe’s lovely (if deceased) father, and also ties into the theme of being true to oneself and one’s own needs, rather than to the expectations and needs of others.
A final flaw I can think of is that the epilogue mentions the possibility of reconciliation with a family member I think Nick and Phoebe might be better off keeping at arm’s length.
Other than that I love this book. I love that Phoebe is an ordinary, middle-class woman. I love that she is heavy. I love that Nick is not an heir, nor does he ever become the heir. I loved that his limp pains him and that he finds some workarounds for dealing with it, but it is never miraculously cured.
I loved that Nick and Phoebe each bring disorder into the other’s life. They agitate, distract, and fluster each other in the best of ways. The chaos their relationship creates extends from within them to without, and to others. If Phoebe allows herself to fall for Nick, she may endanger her sister’s happiness, and that of Mr. Moon, the anxious baker whose desserts are works of art and whose shop is part of the heart of Phoebe’s town. If Nick allows himself to express his desire for Phoebe, what will happen to the election and to his relationships with his family members?
The novel immerses its readers in the life of the Lively St. Lemeston community, and I loved the minor and secondary characters too. There are more of them than I can mention here, but each person is real, and each is both ordinary and extraordinary. Even the villains, such as they are, are human and unhappy. And all the characters are tied to others, entangled in their community, knit together – if one thread is pulled, everything can unravel.
Is there room for honest desires, then? The book answers with a resounding yes. Phoebe and Nick’s muddle is resolved not through order and obedience, but through the disorder made up of their messy emotions and rebellious epiphanies.
Like the poet Robert Herrick, I am bewitched. A-.
Rose Lerner's third historical romance, book one in your Lively St. Lemeston series, begins in October of 1812, with a knock on Phoebe Sparks’ door. Phoebe, an author of Improving Tales for Young People, is contemplating what fate to inflict on the protagonist of her current story, who gives birth to an out-of-wedlock child in a ditch, when the knock interrupts her.
At her door is Mr. Gilchrist, a Tory election agent. Mr. Gilchrist has come to call on Phoebe at her home in Lively St. Lemeston because the Tories and Whigs are battling for every vote in the Lively St. Lemeston district. As a woman, Phoebe cannot vote. But she can have some impact on the outcome of the close election because as the eldest daughter of a deceased freeman—a man whose “freedom of the city” entitled him to vote—she can, according to the Lively St. Lemeston charter, bestow her father’s freeman status on her husband.
Phoebe is a widow. Her husband, a newspaper editor and printer, was a Whig. But Will died two years earlier and Mr. Gilchrist is sure he can persuade Phoebe to marry again. When he insists he knows her taste in men, Phoebe all but shoves him out the door. After a bad marriage and a heartbreaking miscarriage, she has no interest in remarrying, especially not for the sake of an election, and even if she were, her sentiments are on the side of the Whigs and not the Tories.
Meanwhile in London Nick Dymond, the middle son of an earl, is in bed when his mother, Lady Tassell, descends on him and demands that he too involve himself in the matter of Phoebe’s marital status. Nick’s younger brother Tony, a Whig, is running for the same seat Gilchrist wants for the Tories, and since Lady Tassell is campaigning on behalf of his older brother’s Stephen’s behalf – yes, this is a political family – she expects Nick to help Tony win the Lively St. Lemeston district seat for the Whigs.
As it happens, Nick is the only member of his family who doesn’t give two flying figs for politics. He hates that the good of the party has been put ahead of the good of family members and that his mother is always sure she knows what’s best for him.
But even more than that, Nick hates that his mother winces when she looks at him. Nick served as an officer in Wellington’s army and took a bullet in the leg at the battle of Badajoz. His leg was broken and healed weak and now Nick walks with a limp. And he can’t stand the way people – family members especially—have looked at him ever since.
So Nick makes a bet with his mother. He will get Phoebe to marry the Whig baker whom Lady Tassell has picked out for her, and if he is successful, Lady Tassell will never wince when she looks at him again. After an all-too-brief moment of empathy with her son, Lady Tassell agrees.
Of course, Phoebe still has no interest in marrying, but when Nick offers to help her with the laundry, she takes him up on his offer. An attraction develops as Nick continues his campaign for the vote to which Phoebe holds the key, but it’s not as though it would be appropriate for Nick and Phoebe to marry, or even indulge in an affair, when their stations in life are different and he is trying to get her to marry someone else.
To Phoebe, her decision to meet Nick again is nothing more than a reason to leave the house after years of staying cooped up inside. And then—disaster. Phoebe’s sixteen-year-old sister Helen is cast out of her home by their mother. Helen is pregnant, but the father of her child refuses to marry her.
To save Helen’s good name and spare her suffering, Phoebe would do anything. Even marry a man she doesn’t love and has little hope of loving. Even struggle to suppress her growing attraction to Nick.
Since her miscarriage and the death of her husband, Phoebe has felt dead inside, but as she opens up to Nick about the conundrum she faces, something inside her begins to stir.
Nick too begins to come out of his depression and sense of loss at being unable to fight alongside his men. He sees that Phoebe and Mr. Moon, the baker, are all wrong for each other, even though to save his bakery, Mr. Moon desperately needs the money Nick’s mother has promised him in exchange for his marriage to Phoebe and his vote.
Both Phoebe and Nick are used to putting others’ needs ahead of their own desires. With family members and the outcome of the election depending on them doing just that, will Phoebe and Nick learn to shut out the clamor and listen to – as well as follow—their hearts?
I thought of some of my favorite historical romance authors as I read this book – authors like Courtney Milan, Judith Ivory, and Cecilia Grant – because of the good writing, the realness of the characters, and their psychological depth as well.
Nick and Phoebe are richly drawn, wonderfully complex characters with messy emotions that include hopes, fears, dreams, and understandable resentments. Nick, for example, can’t stand that since his injury, he has had no control over the way others see him. Phoebe couldn’t wait to escape her critical, perennially dissatisfied mother by marrying Will, but feels guilty for having left her sister alone under their mother’s thumb.
Their attraction is almost a magical thing in that it gives them a new sense of power, not just the power of being attractive to someone you desire, but the power to recognize and express your own desires.
The ideas the novel communicates are at ones simple and complex. Here is an excerpt from a scene in Nick’s viewpoint in which Phoebe confides in him about her sister’s pregnancy and her consequent need to sacrifice her freedom to salvage her sister’s reputation:
She drew in a deep breath and steadied like a raw recruit given a few encouraging words and a clap on the back. “I believe in my sister.”
He was going to win his bet with his mother. He looked away. “Talk to your sister. She’s apologizing because when she looks at you, she sees her guilt that she’s forcing you into marriage. And when you look at her, you see your father’s disappointment. I don’t care whether he would have been disappointed. He would have been wrong.” He couldn’t turn his gaze back to Mrs. Sparks’s face. When he looked at her, he was supposed to see his chance to show his mother the truth of himself. He wasn’t supposed to see her.
The writing in Sweet Disorder is thoughtful and fresh, with a subtle sense of humor woven throughout. The novel takes its title from the poem “Delight in Disorder” by the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick. The poem closes with these two couplets:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility;
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.
Nick quotes these two couplets during one of the sex scenes, but they serve as more than a charming, seductive line. They also function as a metaphor for Phoebe and Nick’s relationship, and for the book itself: a bewitching, disorderly whole.
As I try to think of what the flaws in this novel might be, I can’t think of many. I don’t enjoy mental lusting in books, although here it’s written with some freshness and there’s a later payoff for it during the earthy, original, and character-specific sex scenes in the novel’s last third.
Perhaps too many of the novel’s characters have critical, disapproving, or manipulative parents, but this is contrasted by Phoebe’s lovely (if deceased) father, and also ties into the theme of being true to oneself and one’s own needs, rather than to the expectations and needs of others.
A final flaw I can think of is that the epilogue mentions the possibility of reconciliation with a family member I think Nick and Phoebe might be better off keeping at arm’s length.
Other than that I love this book. I love that Phoebe is an ordinary, middle-class woman. I love that she is heavy. I love that Nick is not an heir, nor does he ever become the heir. I loved that his limp pains him and that he finds some workarounds for dealing with it, but it is never miraculously cured.
I loved that Nick and Phoebe each bring disorder into the other’s life. They agitate, distract, and fluster each other in the best of ways. The chaos their relationship creates extends from within them to without, and to others. If Phoebe allows herself to fall for Nick, she may endanger her sister’s happiness, and that of Mr. Moon, the anxious baker whose desserts are works of art and whose shop is part of the heart of Phoebe’s town. If Nick allows himself to express his desire for Phoebe, what will happen to the election and to his relationships with his family members?
The novel immerses its readers in the life of the Lively St. Lemeston community, and I loved the minor and secondary characters too. There are more of them than I can mention here, but each person is real, and each is both ordinary and extraordinary. Even the villains, such as they are, are human and unhappy. And all the characters are tied to others, entangled in their community, knit together – if one thread is pulled, everything can unravel.
Is there room for honest desires, then? The book answers with a resounding yes. Phoebe and Nick’s muddle is resolved not through order and obedience, but through the disorder made up of their messy emotions and rebellious epiphanies.
It wasn’t his leg that kept him from feeling like a whole man, he realized. It was something far deeper, a lack within himself. He had never wanted anything with such a bone-deep conviction. Sometimes, it seemed, he could go all day without wanting anything at all.
Like the poet Robert Herrick, I am bewitched. A-.
September 3, 2022
Sweet Disorder is the first book within the Lively St. Lemeston series.
Now I walked into this with zero expectations. From the synopsis alone, I figured this was going to be an entertaining book. Then we get some dating because a widow can never be alone with grief. Or whatever. So, when Phoebe starts to develop feelings for Nick it definitely made things a bit more complicated. Mostly because they couldn't be together, but I thought that was utter crap.
It didn't take long for them to realize that they had something. Chemistry for sure and they were pretty easy to like as well. So, I was excited to see the romance brew between them. Then the whole "we can't be together" towards the end annoyed me so much. Like, ugh, just no - don't say it. Be together and move on.
In the end, I might jump into the next book.
Now I walked into this with zero expectations. From the synopsis alone, I figured this was going to be an entertaining book. Then we get some dating because a widow can never be alone with grief. Or whatever. So, when Phoebe starts to develop feelings for Nick it definitely made things a bit more complicated. Mostly because they couldn't be together, but I thought that was utter crap.
It didn't take long for them to realize that they had something. Chemistry for sure and they were pretty easy to like as well. So, I was excited to see the romance brew between them. Then the whole "we can't be together" towards the end annoyed me so much. Like, ugh, just no - don't say it. Be together and move on.
In the end, I might jump into the next book.
June 16, 2025
This is a new to me author and I'm very impressed. This had great characters, great tension in the romance, some absolutely beaitiful and moving intimacy scenes, and a unique plot. I loved the look at working class historical characters, and a plus size heroine that the hero worshipped.
The ending happened too quick for my taste and it was wrapped up a bit too easily.
But this is definitely a new author on my radar. Really enjoyed this one.
The ending happened too quick for my taste and it was wrapped up a bit too easily.
But this is definitely a new author on my radar. Really enjoyed this one.
May 15, 2022
2.5 stars. It was an okay read for me. An upcoming political election in a small Sussex village formed the background to the plot, but for my taste there was a bit too much politicking in the story, and the romance was a bit too slow-burn.
I did not enjoy Phoebe's plans to marry herself off to two different random men to help out the election and save her younger sister. I wanted her to get together with Nick sooner than she did. I got a bit tired of her being so selfless and putting herself last all the time. There was too much angsty stuff and Phoebe feeling she had disappointed her bitter mum all her life etc etc. When she and Nick did finally get together it was fine, but then there were still some hoops to jump through, and by that stage I was getting a bit sick of all the little dramas keeping Nick and Phoebe apart.
Many have really enjoyed this book, so by all means try it for yourself. It just wasn't really for me. I read Book 3 in the series (Listen to the Moon) for a BOTM and really liked it, but this one not so much. I might try Bk 2 and see how I like that one.
I did not enjoy Phoebe's plans to marry herself off to two different random men to help out the election and save her younger sister. I wanted her to get together with Nick sooner than she did. I got a bit tired of her being so selfless and putting herself last all the time. There was too much angsty stuff and Phoebe feeling she had disappointed her bitter mum all her life etc etc. When she and Nick did finally get together it was fine, but then there were still some hoops to jump through, and by that stage I was getting a bit sick of all the little dramas keeping Nick and Phoebe apart.
Many have really enjoyed this book, so by all means try it for yourself. It just wasn't really for me. I read Book 3 in the series (Listen to the Moon) for a BOTM and really liked it, but this one not so much. I might try Bk 2 and see how I like that one.
May 3, 2014
Finally finished! This was a slower read than I am accustomed to, partly because I switched mid-book to a different book. This is not common for me, and my finally finishing had more to do with a need to be done with it than a desire to see the resolution come about.
Pros:
- unusual setting - early 19th century England (not unusual), but the part of that world was struggling middle- and working-class for the most part, and the focus was an upcoming election. It was very interesting and seemed well-researched to this admittedly non-expert reader. (My main source about this period's elections is Blackadder)
- unusual heroine - she's complex and behaves like a recognizable human being. I can't say I exactly related to her, but she was worth spending reading time with.
- the protagonist couple don't rush into Twu Wuv. Or sex. They treat each other like people with thoughts.
- the narrative voice was good. It's not something I can easily describe, but when it's amateurish, it drives me right out of a book. This flaw appears a lot in historical romances, where an author tries to sound like Heyer or something, and just sounds arch and twee (and mishandles the grammar/diction/titles) instead. This book did not fall into that pit, but was quite well-written.
Cons:
- both mothers of the protagonists were primarily obstacles - single-minded and negative forces.
- the plot about choosing a husband dragged on. I think this is what made the book so very put-downable.
Overall, I want to be able to rate it higher, but the whole didn't reflect the sum of the parts. I just wasn't that engaged, ultimately.
Pros:
- unusual setting - early 19th century England (not unusual), but the part of that world was struggling middle- and working-class for the most part, and the focus was an upcoming election. It was very interesting and seemed well-researched to this admittedly non-expert reader. (My main source about this period's elections is Blackadder)
- unusual heroine - she's complex and behaves like a recognizable human being. I can't say I exactly related to her, but she was worth spending reading time with.
- the protagonist couple don't rush into Twu Wuv. Or sex. They treat each other like people with thoughts.
- the narrative voice was good. It's not something I can easily describe, but when it's amateurish, it drives me right out of a book. This flaw appears a lot in historical romances, where an author tries to sound like Heyer or something, and just sounds arch and twee (and mishandles the grammar/diction/titles) instead. This book did not fall into that pit, but was quite well-written.
Cons:
- both mothers of the protagonists were primarily obstacles - single-minded and negative forces.
- the plot about choosing a husband dragged on. I think this is what made the book so very put-downable.
Overall, I want to be able to rate it higher, but the whole didn't reflect the sum of the parts. I just wasn't that engaged, ultimately.
July 25, 2021
This was an unusual historical and I really liked it! Phoebe is the independent widow of a small town newspaper printer, who now supports herself by writing and selling stories. While, as a woman, she can't vote in the upcoming election, she holds her fathers' vote in trust that will be given to any future husband she might have. This makes her a valuable asset to both the Whig and Tory parties, and officials from both camps maneuver to find her a husband from their own party. Phoebe has no desire to marry again, but when she suddenly has to support her 16 year old sister who is unwed and pregnant, she decides she must sacrifice her happiness in order to protect her sister.
Our hero, Nick, is a middle son of a very politically-minded, aristocratic family. Having no interest in charming voters, he went off to war and came back with a wounded leg, and unresolved family issues. At the behest of his mother, he goes to Lively St. Lemeston to convince the widowed Phoebe to marry the Whig man arranged by the party. But he finds that he might have more in common with Phoebe than the man he's convinced her to marry.
I loved that this book wasn't full of ballrooms and dukes and the frivolity of the ton. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE a good duke and wallflower story, but it was a refreshing change of pace to have all the characters in this book of middle or lower class means, making due with what they can afford. Even though Nick and his family are of the nobility, they aren't so exalted that they don't mix with lower classes, and Nick himself having been fighting in the Peninsula, was no stranger to struggle.
Our hero, Nick, is a middle son of a very politically-minded, aristocratic family. Having no interest in charming voters, he went off to war and came back with a wounded leg, and unresolved family issues. At the behest of his mother, he goes to Lively St. Lemeston to convince the widowed Phoebe to marry the Whig man arranged by the party. But he finds that he might have more in common with Phoebe than the man he's convinced her to marry.
I loved that this book wasn't full of ballrooms and dukes and the frivolity of the ton. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE a good duke and wallflower story, but it was a refreshing change of pace to have all the characters in this book of middle or lower class means, making due with what they can afford. Even though Nick and his family are of the nobility, they aren't so exalted that they don't mix with lower classes, and Nick himself having been fighting in the Peninsula, was no stranger to struggle.
June 20, 2016
For some very weird reason I seem to be the only one of my Goodreads friends who didn't love this book. I can't even pinpoint what I didn't like, because there are a number of very strong reasons for reading and enjoying this: the writing is excellent, the characters are interesting (she's actually from a working-class background, widowed, poor (but still independent), while he's nobility, so bonus points for originality on that), and the setting is not London for a chance, but some small town during election time. Which is why I think the cover is a bit misleading, as this is far from a cheesy trip to Romanceland. It deals with a number of issues, from voting policies to people worried about their station (there was a really touching scene where hero and heroine were contemplating if there would ever come a time where it was okay for two people to be together no matter who they are and where they come from), and a number of other things that are all interesting to think about. But despite all that, I just never got around to caring about them as a couple for some reason.
March 25, 2014
Favorite Quote: “You’re one of the somebodiest somebodies I ever met.”
Phoebe lives in Lively St. Lemeston, a town with an upcoming election. Phoebe is poor, living in two small, cramped attic rooms and barely supports herself by writing stories for young girls for a publication. Her husband printed the town’s newspaper but died, leaving Phoebe’s brother-in-law, Jack in charge. Phoebe has no desire to get married again, but she owns her late husband’s vote. A vote that is essentially trying to be bought by the Whigs and Tories. Phoebe is a devoted Whig, however, when her sixteen year old sister shows up on her doorstep pregnant, Phoebe is willing to be wooed by both sides of the political spectrum, to help her sister.
Nick Dymond is the son of an earl, and has returned from war with an injured leg. He has a limp that embarrasses him and pains him. Nick’s brother, Tony is running in this election and wants Phoebe’s vote badly. Nick’s extremely politically driven mother has found a confectioner that she thinks would be suitable for Phoebe to marry and to secure a whig vote. Nick is tasked with befriending Phoebe, and introducing her to this baker. The Tories also have their eye on her, and a suitor they want her to marry. With Phoebe’s sister in dire straits, Phoebe decides to put her happiness aside and marry one of these two guys. But the one she falls for is Nick.
This is such a lovely story. While Nick is the son of an earl, Rose Lerner takes great care in giving us the many details of Phoebe’s poor life. She really is broke – and with no money comes fewer options. Phoebe is so strong and mature and…exhausted. There were so many times in this book where I could feel the waves of exhaustion coming off Phoebe. She is frightened for her sister. She is frustrated that she has no money. There is also a deep sorrow in her for having suffered a miscarriage during her marriage. Her relationship with her mother is strenuous at best, and even worse once her sister moves in with her. And now the back and forth with being courted by both sides of the election have her running ragged.
“I used to see possibilities for myself. It used to seem as if maybe one day I could visit Spain, or the West Indies, or Giza. As if even if I didn’t there’d be no room in my life to regret it. I thought…”
His gaze came back to her, blue eyes steady. He waited patiently for her to go on.
“I think I stopped seeing possibilities after I lost my baby. I-I stopped seeing them for the world as well. I lost interest in the Intelligencer. I lost interest in politics. I still believe in progress here” – she tapped her forehead – “but my heart, I stopped. I hate it. I hate that I’ve become so small. All there is to my life is two rooms. I don’t even read the London newspapers anymore.” She picked up the Times, then dropped it with a thwack. “I don’t recognize half the names in these political articles. What’s happened to me? I used to care about things. I used to want things.”
He chewed his lower lip. “You still want things. You must. You move with so much purpose.”
That stopped her. She flushed. Was that how he saw her? It wasn’t the usual sort of compliment, but she liked the idea.
The only time she stops and smiles is when Nick visits. Nick is such a sweet guy. Growing up, his mother cared more for elections than him (or at least on the surface – it’s hard for a young one to understand) and he has that deep-rooted need to please his mother, hence finding himself, limping around town match-making. This romance for the first half of this book is not a sultry, lustful one – real life gets in the way too much. But just sit back and wait for it. It’s very well done. Nick has such insecurities and sadness over his injury – but he feels so comfortable confiding in Phoebe:
I lay there for hours, men dying in agony all around me. I was sure they would take the leg. They would have if I’d been an enlisted man. I couldn’t see past that night into living as a cripple, into leaving the army.”
He was surprised at how flat and calm his voice sounded. His reaction to the memory felt dull and muted, as far away as his voice. But he must feel something, because he couldn’t stop. “I couldn’t think past the operation. I tried to ready myself by imagining it, and I couldn’t. Each time, I couldn’t go any further than the saw scraping against the bone.”
She put a hand on his arm, her eyes bright with unshed tears, and he confessed the deepest, darkest secret of all. “I wanted my mother.”
OH Nick. His vulnerability in this scene and his raw truth just made me melt. I reread this scene over and over. And honestly, as soon as I finished this book, I wanted to start all over again. There is so much to this story that I don’t think I absorbed everything in the first read through.
There are also great supporting characters in this book. Tony, Nick’s brother who is running for this election has a very interesting side story. Phoebe’s brother-in-law Jack has quite a dramatic side story that intrigued me greatly. There is also a man named Mr. Gilchrist who surprised me. I went from being annoyed to anticipating his scenes. So well done.
This story has a very different tone to it than a normal regency romance. It’s a smart and more somber romance – similar to the way Courtney Milan writes. Rose Lerner doesn’t shy away from the gritty, almost unfair life Phoebe lives, but she quietly weaves in a warm romance and by the end, you are smiling. It’s quite fascinating and I hope you take a chance on this one.
Rating: B+
Phoebe lives in Lively St. Lemeston, a town with an upcoming election. Phoebe is poor, living in two small, cramped attic rooms and barely supports herself by writing stories for young girls for a publication. Her husband printed the town’s newspaper but died, leaving Phoebe’s brother-in-law, Jack in charge. Phoebe has no desire to get married again, but she owns her late husband’s vote. A vote that is essentially trying to be bought by the Whigs and Tories. Phoebe is a devoted Whig, however, when her sixteen year old sister shows up on her doorstep pregnant, Phoebe is willing to be wooed by both sides of the political spectrum, to help her sister.
Nick Dymond is the son of an earl, and has returned from war with an injured leg. He has a limp that embarrasses him and pains him. Nick’s brother, Tony is running in this election and wants Phoebe’s vote badly. Nick’s extremely politically driven mother has found a confectioner that she thinks would be suitable for Phoebe to marry and to secure a whig vote. Nick is tasked with befriending Phoebe, and introducing her to this baker. The Tories also have their eye on her, and a suitor they want her to marry. With Phoebe’s sister in dire straits, Phoebe decides to put her happiness aside and marry one of these two guys. But the one she falls for is Nick.
This is such a lovely story. While Nick is the son of an earl, Rose Lerner takes great care in giving us the many details of Phoebe’s poor life. She really is broke – and with no money comes fewer options. Phoebe is so strong and mature and…exhausted. There were so many times in this book where I could feel the waves of exhaustion coming off Phoebe. She is frightened for her sister. She is frustrated that she has no money. There is also a deep sorrow in her for having suffered a miscarriage during her marriage. Her relationship with her mother is strenuous at best, and even worse once her sister moves in with her. And now the back and forth with being courted by both sides of the election have her running ragged.
“I used to see possibilities for myself. It used to seem as if maybe one day I could visit Spain, or the West Indies, or Giza. As if even if I didn’t there’d be no room in my life to regret it. I thought…”
His gaze came back to her, blue eyes steady. He waited patiently for her to go on.
“I think I stopped seeing possibilities after I lost my baby. I-I stopped seeing them for the world as well. I lost interest in the Intelligencer. I lost interest in politics. I still believe in progress here” – she tapped her forehead – “but my heart, I stopped. I hate it. I hate that I’ve become so small. All there is to my life is two rooms. I don’t even read the London newspapers anymore.” She picked up the Times, then dropped it with a thwack. “I don’t recognize half the names in these political articles. What’s happened to me? I used to care about things. I used to want things.”
He chewed his lower lip. “You still want things. You must. You move with so much purpose.”
That stopped her. She flushed. Was that how he saw her? It wasn’t the usual sort of compliment, but she liked the idea.
The only time she stops and smiles is when Nick visits. Nick is such a sweet guy. Growing up, his mother cared more for elections than him (or at least on the surface – it’s hard for a young one to understand) and he has that deep-rooted need to please his mother, hence finding himself, limping around town match-making. This romance for the first half of this book is not a sultry, lustful one – real life gets in the way too much. But just sit back and wait for it. It’s very well done. Nick has such insecurities and sadness over his injury – but he feels so comfortable confiding in Phoebe:
I lay there for hours, men dying in agony all around me. I was sure they would take the leg. They would have if I’d been an enlisted man. I couldn’t see past that night into living as a cripple, into leaving the army.”
He was surprised at how flat and calm his voice sounded. His reaction to the memory felt dull and muted, as far away as his voice. But he must feel something, because he couldn’t stop. “I couldn’t think past the operation. I tried to ready myself by imagining it, and I couldn’t. Each time, I couldn’t go any further than the saw scraping against the bone.”
She put a hand on his arm, her eyes bright with unshed tears, and he confessed the deepest, darkest secret of all. “I wanted my mother.”
OH Nick. His vulnerability in this scene and his raw truth just made me melt. I reread this scene over and over. And honestly, as soon as I finished this book, I wanted to start all over again. There is so much to this story that I don’t think I absorbed everything in the first read through.
There are also great supporting characters in this book. Tony, Nick’s brother who is running for this election has a very interesting side story. Phoebe’s brother-in-law Jack has quite a dramatic side story that intrigued me greatly. There is also a man named Mr. Gilchrist who surprised me. I went from being annoyed to anticipating his scenes. So well done.
This story has a very different tone to it than a normal regency romance. It’s a smart and more somber romance – similar to the way Courtney Milan writes. Rose Lerner doesn’t shy away from the gritty, almost unfair life Phoebe lives, but she quietly weaves in a warm romance and by the end, you are smiling. It’s quite fascinating and I hope you take a chance on this one.
Rating: B+
February 19, 2018
Set in a small town in the English countryside during the Regency period, we follow the politicking around the local election and how it affects the young widow Phoebe Sparks.
Phoebe is approached by both the Tory and Whig parties to marry and thus enfranchise whoever she marries to cast the deciding vote in the local election. While she's disinclined to marry at all, her circumstances suddenly change when her younger sister gets in trouble and she ends up having to consider it. Enter the Whig representative, war veteran Nicholas Dymond whose family has instructed him to get Phoebe married as soon as possible.
Regency romance tends to focus on upper and upper-middle class London, so it's nice to see well-written material dealing with day-to-day life outside that area. Also, while itis a romance, there's a lot of other areas explored including familial relationships and obligations, Regency politics, the economics of the country economy of the time and how this society dealt with disability (Nicholas has a serious leg injury and another major character is paraplegic). The romance isn't neglected though, and when it comes, it's treated with open communication and is quite well done. It does take a while to get going, but the wide range of characters here make it well worth the wait.
A generally light read that's crunchy in places and feels well researched.
Phoebe is approached by both the Tory and Whig parties to marry and thus enfranchise whoever she marries to cast the deciding vote in the local election. While she's disinclined to marry at all, her circumstances suddenly change when her younger sister gets in trouble and she ends up having to consider it. Enter the Whig representative, war veteran Nicholas Dymond whose family has instructed him to get Phoebe married as soon as possible.
Regency romance tends to focus on upper and upper-middle class London, so it's nice to see well-written material dealing with day-to-day life outside that area. Also, while itis a romance, there's a lot of other areas explored including familial relationships and obligations, Regency politics, the economics of the country economy of the time and how this society dealt with disability (Nicholas has a serious leg injury and another major character is paraplegic). The romance isn't neglected though, and when it comes, it's treated with open communication and is quite well done. It does take a while to get going, but the wide range of characters here make it well worth the wait.
A generally light read that's crunchy in places and feels well researched.
June 8, 2016
This was fine, but I shouldn't have picked it.
I'm throwing in the towel. I'm not cut out for regency romance.
I'm throwing in the towel. I'm not cut out for regency romance.
January 16, 2018
4 stars
My first Rose Lerner and I was quite happy with the story and the characters. I don't read very much regency at all, but I think that might change now that I know how great it can be. This series and this author come highly recommended and I'm glad I picked this book up. It was just what I needed to brighten up the dark days of winter.
Recommend
My first Rose Lerner and I was quite happy with the story and the characters. I don't read very much regency at all, but I think that might change now that I know how great it can be. This series and this author come highly recommended and I'm glad I picked this book up. It was just what I needed to brighten up the dark days of winter.
Recommend
October 19, 2015
4.25 Stars
I read Rose Lerner's debut historical romance, In For a Penny, years ago and enjoyed it. She has a refreshing voice that reminds me of Courtney Milan, Mary Balogh, and Carla Kelly. Sweet Disorder is the first book in this series which consists of stories that take place in the small British village of Lively St. Lemeston. In particular, this book focuses on an upcoming local election and provides the readers with a sweet (and spicy) love story between two people from different parts of society with some political intrigue to balance everything out.
Nick was a wonderful hero who had me falling in love from the beginning of the book. He is the son of an earl and has recently returned to the country after being injured in the war. As he struggles to figure out where he wants to go with his life now, his mother coerces him into helping with his younger brother's campaign in Lively St. Lemeston. He is a genuinely nice guy who just wants everyone around him to be happy. I enjoyed watching him start to take a stand and prove that his feelings are also valuable.
Phoebe was also a joy to read about in Sweet Disorder. She is a widow living in a small flat and spending her days helping run the newspaper that her late husband's brother now runs. Phoebe also is passionate about politics though her party allegiances are put to the test after her sister reveals her pregnancy. I thought Phoebe was a great heroine and she is someone I would definitely like to have on my side in a crisis. She hasn't had the easiest life, but she still tries to fix everything and find the positive.
Nick and Phoebe had amazing chemistry from the moment that they met. It was obvious that they were meant to be together, but they had a lot of obstacles to their happy ending. First, and foremost, is the fact that Nick comes to Lively St. Lemeston to convince her to marry another man for political gain. They also come from completely different parts of society with Nick being a member of an aristocratic family and Phoebe being in the lower classes. Some romances will just gloss over these class differences, but Rose Lerner really made them come up with a solution to this issue before getting their happily ever after.
I just loved how different this story felt in regards to the characters, the plot, and the setting. I enjoy ballrooms and dukes, but it is nice to read something else in historical romance. Politics usually aren't a subplot that I like yet I thought it added some external drama for Nick and Phoebe's situation. Sweet Disorder also provided some fun characters and anecdotes that I always look for in good small town romances. I am definitely looking forward to reading more in this quirky village.
I read Rose Lerner's debut historical romance, In For a Penny, years ago and enjoyed it. She has a refreshing voice that reminds me of Courtney Milan, Mary Balogh, and Carla Kelly. Sweet Disorder is the first book in this series which consists of stories that take place in the small British village of Lively St. Lemeston. In particular, this book focuses on an upcoming local election and provides the readers with a sweet (and spicy) love story between two people from different parts of society with some political intrigue to balance everything out.
Nick was a wonderful hero who had me falling in love from the beginning of the book. He is the son of an earl and has recently returned to the country after being injured in the war. As he struggles to figure out where he wants to go with his life now, his mother coerces him into helping with his younger brother's campaign in Lively St. Lemeston. He is a genuinely nice guy who just wants everyone around him to be happy. I enjoyed watching him start to take a stand and prove that his feelings are also valuable.
Phoebe was also a joy to read about in Sweet Disorder. She is a widow living in a small flat and spending her days helping run the newspaper that her late husband's brother now runs. Phoebe also is passionate about politics though her party allegiances are put to the test after her sister reveals her pregnancy. I thought Phoebe was a great heroine and she is someone I would definitely like to have on my side in a crisis. She hasn't had the easiest life, but she still tries to fix everything and find the positive.
Nick and Phoebe had amazing chemistry from the moment that they met. It was obvious that they were meant to be together, but they had a lot of obstacles to their happy ending. First, and foremost, is the fact that Nick comes to Lively St. Lemeston to convince her to marry another man for political gain. They also come from completely different parts of society with Nick being a member of an aristocratic family and Phoebe being in the lower classes. Some romances will just gloss over these class differences, but Rose Lerner really made them come up with a solution to this issue before getting their happily ever after.
I just loved how different this story felt in regards to the characters, the plot, and the setting. I enjoy ballrooms and dukes, but it is nice to read something else in historical romance. Politics usually aren't a subplot that I like yet I thought it added some external drama for Nick and Phoebe's situation. Sweet Disorder also provided some fun characters and anecdotes that I always look for in good small town romances. I am definitely looking forward to reading more in this quirky village.
June 16, 2015
"Warning: Contains elections, confections, and a number of erections".
If you think that in our hyper political times courting of voters is intense and sometime over the top, welcome to Lively St. Lemston of 1812. Tories and Whigs, love and politics, lust and common sense, courage and cowardice drew battle lines and collide in this small West Sussex town on the eve of election. Every vote counts! Under the town charter, "every freeman of the town has the right to vote...The eldest daughter of a freeman who died without sons can make her husband a freeman".
Widow Phoebe Sparks, the oldest daughter of a newspaper editor and a freeman, is all too familiar with this charter. As election grows closer, representatives of both parties mount a campaign to get her to marry their chosen candidate so they could have the needed vote. Although poor, Phobe is not in a hurry to get married. One marriage was enough for her, thank you very much! She is content with her writing and a small income she gets from it. But everything changes when her younger sister confesses she's pregnant. Suddenly, the campaign to marry a proper candidate becomes a way to secure her sister's future. The Whigs representative, a wounded war hero Nick Dymond, was reluctantly recruited by his political family to help his brother to win this crucial vote. The romance between Nick and Phoebe unfolds slowly although they feel attraction to each other right away. The writing is charming and vivid. I loved this description of Nick: "He was too fine and fancy for washing day, the watercolor of his honey-blond hair, blue eyes, and soft features turned to an expensive oil painting by dramatic slash of dark eyebrow, sharp cheekbones and firm mouth". If you looking for a story with unique and unusual plot, don't miss this book.
If you think that in our hyper political times courting of voters is intense and sometime over the top, welcome to Lively St. Lemston of 1812. Tories and Whigs, love and politics, lust and common sense, courage and cowardice drew battle lines and collide in this small West Sussex town on the eve of election. Every vote counts! Under the town charter, "every freeman of the town has the right to vote...The eldest daughter of a freeman who died without sons can make her husband a freeman".
Widow Phoebe Sparks, the oldest daughter of a newspaper editor and a freeman, is all too familiar with this charter. As election grows closer, representatives of both parties mount a campaign to get her to marry their chosen candidate so they could have the needed vote. Although poor, Phobe is not in a hurry to get married. One marriage was enough for her, thank you very much! She is content with her writing and a small income she gets from it. But everything changes when her younger sister confesses she's pregnant. Suddenly, the campaign to marry a proper candidate becomes a way to secure her sister's future. The Whigs representative, a wounded war hero Nick Dymond, was reluctantly recruited by his political family to help his brother to win this crucial vote. The romance between Nick and Phoebe unfolds slowly although they feel attraction to each other right away. The writing is charming and vivid. I loved this description of Nick: "He was too fine and fancy for washing day, the watercolor of his honey-blond hair, blue eyes, and soft features turned to an expensive oil painting by dramatic slash of dark eyebrow, sharp cheekbones and firm mouth". If you looking for a story with unique and unusual plot, don't miss this book.
February 18, 2015
A part of me is going:
"You know this book wasn't perfect, right?"
And the other is going:
Because it was just so much fun.
Not only the main couple are adorable, I quickly fell in love with almost everybody. That was also thanks to the fact that there was no real black and white division into heroes and villains. (Sadly the exception are the main character's mothers, neither of them has has much of a redeeming quality. I can just about life with that as their actions do influence the plot, they don't just sit back being horrible people as so many mothers in romances and cozies...) People act somewhat horrid in one moment but very nice in the next. A person Phoebe (or Nick) likes might do something rather stupid and somebody they can't stand surprises them by acting very generously.
Thanks to that I ended up wishing for a happy end for the side-characters almost as much as for Phoebe and Nick. Only almost because even though everybody was charming nobody came close to the adorableness of those two.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
There was no 'undying love after one meeting', you could see their feelings slowly develop while you could also understand why both were at first reluctant to act on these feelings.
And because all that wasn't enough the book was also extremely hilarious and had me giggling madly more than once("I brought you a ham." - "A ham?" - "Well you don't like sweets.") so it's not hard to forgive the somewhat stereotypical evil mothers and the fact that you will see the Big Dark Reveal (TM) coming a lot earlier than the characters)
"You know this book wasn't perfect, right?"
And the other is going:
Because it was just so much fun.
Not only the main couple are adorable, I quickly fell in love with almost everybody. That was also thanks to the fact that there was no real black and white division into heroes and villains. (Sadly the exception are the main character's mothers, neither of them has has much of a redeeming quality. I can just about life with that as their actions do influence the plot, they don't just sit back being horrible people as so many mothers in romances and cozies...) People act somewhat horrid in one moment but very nice in the next. A person Phoebe (or Nick) likes might do something rather stupid and somebody they can't stand surprises them by acting very generously.
Thanks to that I ended up wishing for a happy end for the side-characters almost as much as for Phoebe and Nick. Only almost because even though everybody was charming nobody came close to the adorableness of those two.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
There was no 'undying love after one meeting', you could see their feelings slowly develop while you could also understand why both were at first reluctant to act on these feelings.
And because all that wasn't enough the book was also extremely hilarious and had me giggling madly more than once("I brought you a ham." - "A ham?" - "Well you don't like sweets.") so it's not hard to forgive the somewhat stereotypical evil mothers and the fact that you will see the Big Dark Reveal (TM) coming a lot earlier than the characters)
January 4, 2015
This is a wonderful cross-class romance that doesn't feel at all "cross-class." This is thanks to the ebullient, loving, funny, writer-heroine, the widow, Phoebe Sparks, who can easily ask and take pleasure for herself, but not love. The hero, Nick Dymond, a hero of the Peninsular Wars, is apathetic and purposeless when the novel opens. But in fulfilling his mission to find a husband for Phoebe, in order to ensure her vote for his brother's election in the riding of Lively St. Lemeston, he comes alive, in Phoebe's arms and burrows in her heart. Suddenly, just existing isn't enough, and lame or not, messing up as it does his family's plans to elect Tony Dymond, social class constraints be damned, Phoebe is what Nick needs and wants and loves, and he'll have her. But Phoebe is wonderfully stuck in sacrificing to help her sister and she enacts the one act that Nick can't withstand emotionally. The working out of their love and the varied wonderful secondary plot threads, the engaging atmosphere, Lerner's ability to allude and interweave literary references, make this a magnificent romance novel. Oh ... and it's beautifully, meaningfully sexy too. If you'd like to read a more extensive review, please follow the link:
http://missbatesreadsromance.com/2015...
http://missbatesreadsromance.com/2015...
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