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A review by agrippinaes
To Love a Hellion by Nicola Davidson
1.0
I think Nicola Davidson’s writing is quite strong and engaging and there are some nice bits of description. Plot wise, I didn’t mind the plot for about the first 50% of it. The opening was particularly strong and gripping. I thought some of the suspense was a bit overblown, but it was in good fun, and I liked the chemistry in their relationship. The parts of the story involving both of them being engaged to separate people was quite nice and I liked partway through.
I did like the main character, Caroline. I thought she was quite strong and interesting, particularly early on. I wasn’t so keen on Stephen, but as I’ve already said, I thought their relationship had some good chemistry and some hot moments.
I did have some issues throughout with what I felt was quite modern-sounding dialogue from characters - there was quite a lot of people saying stuff like, “It’s not my thing” or “she has a thing for you” in a way that I don’t think worked, and there were some other bits that seemed too casual and modern as well.
The book also covered some quite difficult subjects such as and to be very honest, I don’t think it portrayed them very well.
The major thing, though, is probably the latter half of the book. After about 50%, I got very frustrated with the plot, which I felt turned a bit ridiculous as it went on. All of the stuff about felt really unrealistic, and the revenge plot became almost farcical towards the end.
As for the revenge plot itself,
However, my biggest issue with the book wasn’t so much this but the character of Stephen. Stephen, for the most part, was a perfectly fine and average historical romance hero, except he is one of the most frustrating and obtuse ones I’ve ever read. He spends the majority of the book
He repeatedly berates her for being rude to people that have been rude to her or makes her uncomfortable - unless he himself has taken a dislike to them, at which stage it’s okay. Also - he kept on saying that his mother and father had no “evidence” that Gregory’s friends were dangerous, but literally none of those friends provide any real evidence that they’re a genuine charitable organisation.
It was just incredibly frustrating and, quite frankly, felt more than a little silly. This is partly because the book itself seems completely aware that it’s stupid? There’s a quote where Caroline’s thinks about Stephen’s behaviour: Like - yeah, okay, it is possible, but it isn’t likely, and it seems that the novel is well aware that it isn’t, and that just made it worse to me. It came across as the author had to bludgeon this part of the plot through to make the rest of it work, but it just felt like sloppy writing, plotting and characterisation.
I regret giving it a 1 star rating and I was originally going to give it 2, because I did enjoy most of the first half, but I really did not like the rest of it and it disappointed me quite a lot.
Content Warnings:
Spoiler
the impromptu marriageI did like the main character, Caroline. I thought she was quite strong and interesting, particularly early on. I wasn’t so keen on Stephen, but as I’ve already said, I thought their relationship had some good chemistry and some hot moments.
I did have some issues throughout with what I felt was quite modern-sounding dialogue from characters - there was quite a lot of people saying stuff like, “It’s not my thing” or “she has a thing for you” in a way that I don’t think worked, and there were some other bits that seemed too casual and modern as well.
The book also covered some quite difficult subjects such as
Spoiler
domestic violenceSpoiler
It all felt a bit cartoonish and unnecessary.The major thing, though, is probably the latter half of the book. After about 50%, I got very frustrated with the plot, which I felt turned a bit ridiculous as it went on. All of the stuff about
Spoiler
Gregory’s secret societySpoiler
I think the revenge plot would have worked just fine if Gregory had just been a...I don’t know, rakish gentleman with poor manners and so were his friends, but the idea of them all being involved in what appeared to be some kind of human trafficking scheme (a plotline which went absolutely nowhere) and willing to elaborately murder people just didn’t work for me at all.As for the revenge plot itself,
Spoiler
some factors just seemed silly - the knife throwing, the fact it was obviously Taff all along, the fact that Taff said some really insulting things to Caroline and she just...never told anyone? Despite being a really outspoken person? And then the final confrontation between Hermia’s father and Gregory’s friends - I had to put the book down for a moment, because there was some really silly dialogue in that scene (it happened a bit earlier, but I struggled to get past a villain actually shouting “You’re ruining our plans!” as if...that’s not what they thought the main characters would do? It just seemed silly.However, my biggest issue with the book wasn’t so much this but the character of Stephen. Stephen, for the most part, was a perfectly fine and average historical romance hero, except he is one of the most frustrating and obtuse ones I’ve ever read. He spends the majority of the book
Spoiler
refusing to believe that his older brother Gregory was a bad person, despite literally every single person who ever met him and his gang of evil friends saying “they were evil and they liked to sexually abuse women”, including both of Stephen’s parents and the literal government. I sort of get the hero worship thing - okay - but when Gregory’s friends surface halfway through, he literally takes their word on everything, dismisses his mother’s concerns (including considering having her examined for mental unbalance, despite not showing any other symptoms of being mentally unbalanced except for worrying that Gregory’s friends were dangerous, and despite them apparently being very close to one another before this), and also dismisses all of Caroline’s discomfort with the way Gregory’s friends behave and the way Taff behaves.He repeatedly berates her for being rude to people that have been rude to her or makes her uncomfortable - unless he himself has taken a dislike to them, at which stage it’s okay. Also - he kept on saying that his mother and father had no “evidence” that Gregory’s friends were dangerous, but literally none of those friends provide any real evidence that they’re a genuine charitable organisation.
It was just incredibly frustrating and, quite frankly, felt more than a little silly. This is partly because the book itself seems completely aware that it’s stupid? There’s a quote where Caroline’s thinks about Stephen’s behaviour:
Spoiler
“It just didn’t add up. Jane [Stephen’s mother] wasn’t a silly woman given to foolish flights of fancy even if she had suffered greatly. And Stephen’s father had been one of the most respected men in England prior to his untimely death...So Andrew [Stephen’s father] and Jane were both wrong? The government was wrong? Well, she supposed it was possible.”I regret giving it a 1 star rating and I was originally going to give it 2, because I did enjoy most of the first half, but I really did not like the rest of it and it disappointed me quite a lot.
Content Warnings: