The Youngest Dowager

by Francesca Shaw, Louise Allen

Passion simmered between them - but a spectre from the past casts a long shadow
**Please note - This is a heavily revised version of the novel of the same name by Francesca Shaw published by Mills & Boon in 2000**
Married very young, widowed within a few years, Marissa Southwood, Countess of Longminster, faints at the funeral when she sees the heir to the Longminster Earldom. Marcus knows he resembles his distant cousin, realises he must be a constant reminder of her husband - so perhaps his absence for months while he settles the affairs in the West Indies is for the best.
Passion flares between them on his return but he cannot persuade Marissa to marry him. Does she still cling to the memory of her late husband or is something more sinister behind her reluctance?
Marcus's wayward young sister, the arrival in England of his former lover and the threats of Marissa's father make Marcus's search for the truth, and Marissa's struggle to trust, that much more difficult - but when their relationship reaches a crisis that trust is all they have.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Romance, Regency

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2000

About the author

This is a pseudonym for Louise Allen and a friend.

Reviews

[Cc · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing was fine, but the big misunderstanding trope was used to the nth degree, thus ruining it for me. Huh, that rhymes.

[Nightwitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently-written category romance, but literally every problem in this book would have been solved with frankly pretty minimal communication between the hero and heroine, which drives me nuts.

[Nadia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Romance che non mi ha trasmesso nulla.

[Pauline Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not at all sure what to make of this one. On the one hand, I devoured it with relish, storming through the pages at a rate of knots. On the other hand, it has a number of aspects that make me roll my eyes so hard my head is spinning.

The premise is excellent. Marissa was married at seventeen to the much older Earl of Longminster at the command of her father. He was a cold and controlling man, and she can hardly believe that she’s now free. The new earl, Marcus, newly arrived from the West Indies, is very like his predecessor in looks, but not in personality. The two are drawn together, but she’s reluctant to get involved. He thinks her coldness towards him is because she’s still in love with her husband, and she thinks that all men are like her late husband. So far, so interesting.

But the plot soon becomes implausible, and in places downright preposterous. Marissa can hardly turn round without bumping into Marcus, usually at a moment when her secretly passionate nature is to the fore and she’s doing something hoydenish, and frequently when they’re alone. Almost at once, he’s claiming a passionate kiss and (surprise!) she responds to him. And then backs away hastily, remembering that he’s a man and therefore The Enemy.

This back and forth goes on for pretty much the whole book, with the encounters getting more and more ridiculous. Would you believe that a very proper Regency lady, a countess, no less, goes riding secretly at night, astride, naturally, and then goes skinny-dipping in the sea? No? Nor would I, but so it is. And would you believe that her secret ride is observed by the earl, who immediately summons his horse and chases after her, even stripping off and dashing into the sea to rescue her, gallant hero that he is? Well, he thought she was trying to kill herself. Of course he did. And he needed to console her pretty thoroughly after rescuing her. Of course he did. My eyes were rolling pretty hard at this point.

But you know what? It was a great scene anyway, and I loved it. The author is a terrific writer, however wacky the plot, and the story just carried me along. I had a lot of sympathy for Marissa, who had had a pretty horrible life and was naturally finding it a bit difficult to put herself in the power of another man. Marcus I found more difficult to like. He veered about too randomly for my liking, grabbing kisses at the most inappropriate times, and in a fairly domineering way, deciding that he’ll marry Marissa seemingly out of the blue, getting mad at her, displaying a violent temper and then bantering with her in a light-hearted manner completely out of keeping with his previous moods. He just didn’t make much sense to me.

And yet somehow, in all this hot mess of contradictions and misunderstandings and wrong assumptions on both sides, even including that tired old cliche, the mistress that’s in his past but the heroine doesn’t know that… sigh… it all works and I really enjoyed the romance. The sex scenes are hot (and fairly graphic, so if you’re not into that, steer clear), there’s real chemistry between the hero and heroine, and there was definitely emotional depth to it as Marcus discovers just what sort of a husband his predecessor was, and Marissa gradually learns to trust him and open up a bit. There are some fairly minor side plots, and the wayward sister (another tired old cliche) is pretty silly, but it was the main romance that made the book for me.

Even the several times my pedant-o-meter went off didn’t spoil my enjoyment. Drapes instead of curtains, for instance, or Marcus being called an Honourable (I spent ages trying to figure out a way to make him so before finally giving it up as an error). I wasn’t comfortable with all the ladies being in full mourning for over a year, either, because the Regency was far more flexible about that, but none of this spoilt my enjoyment, and the book was so well written and so accurate in most other respects, that I gave the author a pass. And she got a shed-load of brownie points for a couple of beautifully correct introduction scenes (most authors are far too casual about it; proper introductions were hugely important in Regency society).

A great read for those who like a spicier Regency, but the implausibilities keep it to four stars.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A steamy story, with allusions to abuse, the latter being ‘closed door’. A young countess is widowed early in her marriage to an abusive controlling husband. His cousin inherits and is the image of her husband. I quite liked this, but not sure why. The storyline for starters is different to most, which is refreshing. Whilst we come to understand the late Earl was abusive and controlling, and his wife suffered, the book does not go into details, and is ‘closed door’ in this respect, and I think for this book that is the correct way to handle it. The Countess through these constraints keeps herself very controlled. I felt sometimes there were odds in the story with this. I understand she is feeling free and able to be more expressive and relaxed, and the book is about this journey. But on occasions I felt she would have been more in control and Countess like for a better way of putting it, and whatever she was feeling internally she would have been authoritative and firm - her husband trained that into her, especially as 13 months in she is still in mourning dress and it appears has not even gone half mourning. Given he relief at his death and trying to become free I feel she would have moved to half mourning after the six months and ended it by 13, which would be conventional and not created any gossip. As the book progressed it seemed to be Jane who was running the household, I think Marissa would have been doing a lot of it as Jane is her companion and indeed Marcus has asked Marissa to be his hostess.
Marcus as a character seemed a bit shallow. He is trying to court Marissa who is trying to keep him at arms length, yet he quite happily greets his ex mistress, Diane, and welcomes her into his house hugging and kissing her, knowing Marissa is watching. A tad unfeeling. And at breakfast after her meal with them, despite having originally asked Marissa to help redecorate, and be trying to woo her, he tells her Diane is now going to help him redecorate! That is one of the occasions when I am surprised that the correctness drummed into Marissa did not kick in, and she leaves
telling him to let Diane look after Nicci. I am sure the ton would be gossiping about he and Diane who is such a colourful character. Lastly my pet hate - names. She is called Marissa and him Marcus. Were these regency names amongst aristocracy - not convinced. She would also have not been a dowager until such times as the new Earl married.
However, I did like the story despite this, and liking a book is what it is all about, hence the 4 stars. Louise Allen is a new author to me either writing in her own name or as Francesca Shaw as this story is, and I shall certainly try more of her books.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too simple a story. The villain is dead and the story didn’t have too much life left.

[NELDA MERRITT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freddie

This is the best book I have read by Ms Allen and I have read a lot. This is a beautiful beautiful story ❤️❤️❤️

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

More insubstantial than cotton candy, I enjoyed the overwrought story (which was well-written imo). It was a quick rainy day read.