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A review by jenreadsromance
Hell's Belle by Annabelle Anders
3.0
Emily Goodnight is a wallflower who is secretly in love with Marcus, the Earl of Blakely. He's friendly and nice to her. She's nosy and comes up with a plan to help him gain revenge on his father, the Duke. But nothing goes to plan.
Pluses: This has a pleasant pace & some nice banter. Emily may be a wallflower, but she's an interesting heroine. I liked her and I liked Marcus.
I SHIT YOU NOT, this has the most astounding scene I have ever read in a historical romance of this nature (straightforward regency). At the beginning, Emily is hiding in the library (as wallflowers often do) and Marcus comes in with a paramour. He fucks this other woman RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE FUTURE HEROINE, which she secretly watches bc she's absolutely curious and she'll never have this chance again! Lol. I liked it, but I am sure some people will not. I say learn where you can, Emily.
WISHES: This book is a series of plot machinations and obstacles on the way to the HEA. Lots of things HAPPEN, but it felt strangely devoid of heart. I don't know how else to describe it.
One very interesting thing in this book, and I think it's part of why it didn't quite work for me, Emily is determined to find a husband at this country house party, and she basically engineers a situation where she can trap this one dude. Now, she is very matter-of-fact about this. She has no choice, men have choices, and if she wants a family and a future, this is just what has to be done. When she describes her reasoning to Marcus, it's full of feminist fury. But, when there is a big reveal about a bad woman from Marcus' past that basically tries to do the same thing, she's vilified. Because that woman did it for MONEY (which is crass to all these aristocrats), where Emily doing it for FREEDOM is justified. I don't think that our author meant to set up this dichotomy; It's an example of how romance fails to show class differences with any kind of nuance.
Verdict: A whole lot of plot to chew on if that's your thing, but I didn't emotionally connect with it. Forgettable.
I would like to revise my previous statement. Demonizing poor characters is more than a romance problem. It's definitely an capitalism problem that is bigger than romance. But I noticed it here and wish we were better.
Copied & Pasted from Twitter as part of a project where I'm reading all the 2019 RITA finalists
Pluses: This has a pleasant pace & some nice banter. Emily may be a wallflower, but she's an interesting heroine. I liked her and I liked Marcus.
I SHIT YOU NOT, this has the most astounding scene I have ever read in a historical romance of this nature (straightforward regency). At the beginning, Emily is hiding in the library (as wallflowers often do) and Marcus comes in with a paramour. He fucks this other woman RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE FUTURE HEROINE, which she secretly watches bc she's absolutely curious and she'll never have this chance again! Lol. I liked it, but I am sure some people will not. I say learn where you can, Emily.
WISHES: This book is a series of plot machinations and obstacles on the way to the HEA. Lots of things HAPPEN, but it felt strangely devoid of heart. I don't know how else to describe it.
One very interesting thing in this book, and I think it's part of why it didn't quite work for me, Emily is determined to find a husband at this country house party, and she basically engineers a situation where she can trap this one dude. Now, she is very matter-of-fact about this. She has no choice, men have choices, and if she wants a family and a future, this is just what has to be done. When she describes her reasoning to Marcus, it's full of feminist fury. But, when there is a big reveal about a bad woman from Marcus' past that basically tries to do the same thing, she's vilified. Because that woman did it for MONEY (which is crass to all these aristocrats), where Emily doing it for FREEDOM is justified. I don't think that our author meant to set up this dichotomy; It's an example of how romance fails to show class differences with any kind of nuance.
Verdict: A whole lot of plot to chew on if that's your thing, but I didn't emotionally connect with it. Forgettable.
I would like to revise my previous statement. Demonizing poor characters is more than a romance problem. It's definitely an capitalism problem that is bigger than romance. But I noticed it here and wish we were better.
Copied & Pasted from Twitter as part of a project where I'm reading all the 2019 RITA finalists