A review by agrippinaes
Lady Sophia's Lover by Lisa Kleypas

3.0

I thought this was a fairly nice, well-written historical romance. I liked the setting, I thought that made an interesting change, and I enjoyed the concept of the plot. I liked both main characters, Sophia and Ross. I liked how Sophia handled situations and I liked how Ross was not a rakish character. They had good chemistry and I enjoyed watching their relationship unfold, for the most part.

I also liked that he took all of the bad parts of her backstory and accepted them - it made a nice change.

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Similarly, that he forgave her quickly when she revealed the truth about her brother, on both occasions.

The side plot was interesting to me, it was different from the usual. I guessed a lot of it would go the way it did, but I thought the story was set out well.

I thought the book was a little slow, especially towards the middle.

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I liked the beginning, but I thought it began to drag a little bit when she was sent to help his mother at the family estate. I thought this part of the book felt a little out of place compared to the rest of it, and I’m not sure all the drama with Ross’ brother was necessary.

I also wasn’t keen on the first proper sex scene.

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It felt a bit pushy on Ross’ part.

The other thing I didn’t like really was the portrayal of Ross’ previous marriage.

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I was happy initially when it was presented as a love match, but I felt as the story went on that their love for each other was diminished in a way I didn’t enjoy. There were some critical comments from his grandfather, for example, about his previous life, a lot of references for how unsuited she was to being a wife, and then finally, once he has married Sophia, she makes a comment about how their marriage pleases her as it’s not like how she imagines most marriages are. She then describes a fairly bland but comfortable marriage, which he admits reminds him of his marriage to his wife. She then asks about his sexual appetites and it’s implied that his previous wife wasn’t physically able to satisfy them. This all felt a bit sad to me. I don’t really think his marriage had to be presented as less than his love for Sophia, which was how it came across; comparing the two constantly throughout the story just felt unfair. It disappointed me, more than anything, as when I first began the book I was so pleased that his previous marriage was presented as a loving one. To have that slowly change over the book as if his ‘love’ for his previous wife was not as deep as his love for Sophia just felt like the easy way out and I didn’t like it.

Overall, I thought this was quite a simple, easy-to-read book and I thought it had some nice ideas. There were a couple of pacing and storytelling issues I wasn’t keen on, though.

I would recommend it if you want a historical revenge, age-gap romance with a bit of angst and mystery.

Content Warnings:

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Violence, injuries, medical procedures, sexual assault, riots, death in childbirth (inc. child), death of sibling/parents, child sexual abuse, blackmail.