'Beguiling the Beauty' Fitzhugh Trilogy #1 by Sherry Thomas

From the BLURB:

When the Duke of Lexington meets the mysterious Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg on a transatlantic liner, he is fascinated. She’s exactly what he’s been searching for—a beautiful woman who interests and entices him. He falls hard and fast—and soon proposes marriage.

And then she disappears without a trace…

For in reality, the “baroness” is Venetia Easterbrook—a proper young widow who had her own vengeful reasons for instigating an affair with the duke. But the plan has backfired. Venetia has fallen in love with the man she despised—and there’s no telling what might happen when she is finally unmasked…

Christian, Duke of Lexington, fell in love with Venetia Easterbrook from afar, as many young men have done. But she was married at the time of his falling was for naught. But Christian still made a promise to himself that one day, no matter how long he’d have to wait, he would take a chance with the beautiful Mrs. Easterbrook. 

Christian harboured this thought close to his heart for years. Even after an unsettling conversation with Mr. Easterbrook about his downfall, thanks in part to his beguiling wife, Christian still wanted her. Even after he heard rumours that Venetia Easterbrook had been blazingly, openly unfaithful to her second husband until he passed away, even then, Christian wanted her. Desperately. Maddeningly … until he didn’t. Until the day, while giving a lecture in America, that he realized Venetia Easterbrook’s beauty was a biological lie that harboured a cruel woman behind a beautiful mask. 

Little did Christian know that Venetia was in the audience that day, and listening with a sinking heart to every cruel misconception he uttered about this ‘anonymous’ and evil beguiling woman. 

What happened next was almost out of Venetia’s control. When she found herself staying at the same hotel as the Duke of Lexington … when she wore a veil to hide her face, and called herself Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg to avoid his detection.

And then somehow it all went horribly, damnably, wrong.

‘Beguiling the Beauty’ is the first book in a new historical romance series from Sherry Thomas, called the ‘Fitzhugh Trilogy’. 

I have very quickly become a big fan of Sherry Thomas. Having read two of her stand-alone romances and been wholly impressed, I was so happy to become ensconced in a romance series by this new favourite author. And the first book of the ‘Fitzhugh Trilogy’ certainly delivers.

We meet Christian, Duke of Lexington, on the day he falls in love with Venetia Easterbrook from afar. Yes, this is one of those abhorrent ‘love at first sight’ clichés … or is it? This is Sherry Thomas after all, the writer injecting a bit of literary spice into the historical romance genre. So what starts as a cliché quickly progresses into a damning obsession for Christian, and then into a horrible public embarrassment for Venetia Easterbrook when he unleashes years of pent-up frustrations and dashed dreams on an ‘anonymous’ (but undoubtedly her, with that marriage history) woman who bewitched him with her beauty, but masked a wretched woman underneath. 

What Christian didn’t see, couldn’t see, on that day when he fell for Venetia from afar was how horribly miserable she was. At the time she had a husband who blamed her for everything – from being unable to give him a son, to London society who forget about him in her presence. And then she agreed to a second marriage with a dear friend, a convenience for them both which society has since warped and misconstrued. 

When Venetia, veiled and hidden, bumps into Christian in the lobby of their hotel after hearing his tirade against her, she only thinks to avoid outright vitriol and so pretends to be the Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg. But when he seeks her out again, this masked Baroness who has him so intrigued, their paths take a decidedly different turn … and a sea-voyage sinks them both deeper and deeper into a tangled web of lies.

Oh! This is such a delicious book with a horrendously messy romance at its centre. In theory, both Venetia and Christian could have been pretty awful characters. Venetia is that particular brand of heroine that can go so horribly wrong if not written with finesse – she’s beautiful but despising of her beauty (even as others fall all over themselves for her). Thomas saves Venetia though, by giving us glimpses into two unhappy marriages that have left their imprint on her and added to her disgruntlement with her own outward appearance. Likewise, Christian could have come across as a bit of a dimwit, easily swayed by a pretty face and not much else. But he has a lot of heart, and spends a good portion of the book making it up to himself (and, unknowingly, Venetia too) for the way he fell for her looks before getting to know the beauty. And then there’s the fact that Venetia and Christian click on more than just a physical level – they are both scientists, and his encouragement of her intellectual endeavours is enough to leave readers swooning for this forward-thinking man; 

“If memory serves,” he said, “some of the most significant finds in British paleontological history must be credited to a woman.”  

“Yes, Mary Anning, I've read about her. My husband said her finds were due to blind luck.” 

He snorted. “If God saw fit to give a woman that much blind luck, he can’t possibly object to such endeavours on a woman’s part.”

I loved that Sherry Thomas teased out the idea of ‘love at first sight’, and wrote against typical romantic clichés to explore real conundrum for both Venetia and Christian. Things become decidedly interesting when Venetia, back home in London, casts off her Baroness disguise and becomes reacquainted with Christian, this time as her beautiful self... 

She tilted her umbrella slightly away from her person. “There are those who like me for the way my nose sits on my face – a ridiculous reason to like someone. But it’s also a fairly ridiculous reason to not like someone – as it is in your case.” 

“I disapprove of your character, Mrs. Easterbrook.”  

“You don’t know my character, sir,” she said decisively. “The only thing you know is my face.” 

This is the ‘Fitzhugh Trilogy’, and the focus is on Venetia and her siblings, who will round out the series. There’s her older brother, Lord Fitzhugh ‘Fitz’, who is married to the young Millicent for initial reasons of monetary gains, but whose marriage has become a friendship. Then there’s youngest Fitzhugh, Helena, who is the reason behind Venetia’s American expedition in the first place, after it was discovered that Helena had begun an affair with a married Ton man. 

If I had any complaints about this book, it would be that the larger series context of the Fitzhugh family feels a little underwhelming. I like it if I can at least glimpse the stories for future books in a series, but I don’t think readers were given enough insight into the Fitzhugh sibling dynamic and for that reason ‘Beguiling the Beauty’ really could just be another stand-alone from Thomas … but I suppose time (and the next two books) will tell if this disjointedness lasts or a trilogy feel becomes apparent. For now, I am again bewitched by yet another Sherry Thomas novel, this time in her lengthy (and messy) examination of the old ‘love at first sight’ cliché, and all the drama that can entail. 

4.5/5

'His at Night' by Sherry Thomas

From the BLURB:

Elissande Edgerton is a desperate woman, a virtual prisoner in the home of her tyrannical uncle. Only through marriage can she claim the freedom she craves. But how to catch the perfect man?

Lord Vere is used to baiting irresistible traps. As a secret agent for the government, he’s tracked down some of the most devious criminals in London, all the while maintaining his cover as one of Society’s most harmless—and idiotic—bachelors. But nothing can prepare him for the scandal of being ensnared by Elissande.

Forced into a marriage of convenience, Elissande and Vere are each about to discover they’re not the only one with a hidden agenda. With seduction their only weapon against each other—and a dark secret from the past endangering both their lives—can they learn to trust each other even as they surrender to a passion that won’t be denied?

Everyone always forgives Lord Vere a faux pas (of which there are always, inevitably, many). From spilling food on his clothes, to tripping over rugs and staring none too subtly down ladies’ cleavage. A riding accident when he was 16 left Vere ‘not quite right’, and everyone forgives and ignores his short-comings. Though it is a shame that the attractive Lord Vere is nothing more than an endearing idiot – had he been ‘normal’, surely he would have been the most marriageable bachelor in London.

Little does London know that Lord Vere is less an idiot, and more a brilliant actor. He is a secret agent for crown and country, and finds that posing as everybody’s ‘lovable idiot’ is the best way to go about undetected and unsuspected when on important missions.

Vere’s latest mission is taking him to Edmund Douglas’s estate, a man whose diamond dealings have bought him to the attention of the crown.

Little does Lord Vere know that while he’s busy using a rat-plague distraction to break into Douglas’s estate, Douglas’s niece Elissande Edgerton is desperately trying to break out.

Elissande and her aunt Rachel have been living under Edmund’s tyrannical hand for years now. They don’t leave the estate, aunt Rachel is forever complacent and doped up on laudanum and Elissande doesn’t dare leave her, for fear of what Edmund would do to get revenge.

What Elissande desperately needs is to take advantage of Lord Vere and the party of people who have fled to her uncle’s estate to escape a rat plague. Lord Vere may be an idiot, but he’s a rich idiot. With his money and title, Elissande and her aunt could escape from uncle Douglas’s clutches and start afresh . . .

‘His at Night’ is a stand alone novel from historical romance author Sherry Thomas.

I recently read my first Sherry Thomas novel, ‘Not Quite a Husband’, and was glad to find a favourite new romance author. So begins my trek through Thomas’s backlist, starting with ‘His at Night.’

When we are first introduced to Lord Vere, we’re told about all of his many and varied foibles, and that London society forgives him all of these indiscretions because he is ‘special’. Little does London know (but readers are made privy) to the fact that Lord Vere is actually a secret agent, who hides behind a ‘riding accident’ as the cause of his idiocy, which is really an elaborate cover-up for his true, secret identity.

Elissande Edgerton, meanwhile, is niece to Douglas Edmund, a tyrannical diamond tycoon who has come under the scrutiny of Vere’s secret agency. Elissande is looking for a quick escape for her and her aunt Rachel, who becomes frailer everyday that Douglas keeps her drugged on laudanum.

These two storylines, separately, are pretty big and ‘out-there’. When combined with a marriage plot that Elissande cooks up, in order to escape her uncle, then the mixture becomes downright epic. And running concurrently with Vere and Elissande’s story is that of Freddie and Angelica – Vere’s younger brother and his recently widowed best friend. Freddie had an intense relationship with one Lady Tremaine five years ago, until she broke it off and returned to her husband. Angelica has loved Freddie since they were children, and has been quietly waiting in the wings for Freddie to notice her and proclaim his love . . .

Yes, it is a tangled web Thomas weaves. And things become even more intense when Elissande is successful in her marriage plot, but Vere’s secret idiotic identity has her suspicious . . .

The handsome idiot hadn’t been at all an idiot, had he? He’d been angry, discourteous, and his language had been downright appalling. But he hadn’t been stupid. He’d known very clearly what she’d done to him, which begged the question: Had he been, like her, pretending to be someone he wasn’t?
The thought was a hook through her heart, yanking it in unpredictable directions.

Just as with ‘Not Quite a Husband’, ‘His at Night’ is not at all your typical historical romance. I love that Thomas wrote this big elaborate plot, but it never felt over-the-top or too ridiculous to believe. She writes so beautifully and her characters are so nuanced and lovely, it’s easy to go along on this rollicking ride with them and suspend disbelief. . .

I also really liked the side-story of Freddie and Angelica. We didn’t get a second storyline in ‘Not Quite a Husband’, and that book was certainly not lacking for it, but it felt like ‘His at Night’ was made fuller and more interestingly complex by Freddie and Angelica’s romance. It was nice to compare their slow-burning romance, which had been bubbling along since childhood, to Vere and Elissande’s sudden marriage and sneaking romance.

If there was any one thing that didn’t work for me, it was Vere’s sudden turn-around towards the end of the novel . . . I don’t think we really got a chance to read his chain-of-thought that saw his feelings towards Elissande change. It just seemed to sort of happen – and while there were events leading up to his turn-around, I feel like we went from gradual acceptance to a ‘light bulb moment’. But it didn’t really matter, because I loved Vere and Elissande together regardless.

This is quite a tricky story Thomas is weaving. Between secret agents, pretend ‘idiots’ and an elaborate escape plan, Thomas does a fantastic job of bringing all these rather outlandish plots together to make for a fast-paced, intense historical romance.

4/5

'Not Quite a Husband' by Sherry Thomas

From the BLURB:

Their marriage lasted only slightly longer than the honeymoon—to no one’s surprise, not even Bryony Asquith's. A man as talented, handsome, and sought after by society as Leo Marsden couldn't possibly want to spend his entire life with a woman who rebelled against propriety by becoming a doctor. Why, then, three years after their annulment and half a world away, does he track her down at her clinic in the remotest corner of India?

Leo has no reason to think Bryony could ever forgive him for the way he treated her, but he won't rest until he’s delivered an urgent message from her sister—and fulfilled his duty by escorting her safely back to England. But as they risk their lives for each other on the journey home, will the biggest danger be the treacherous war around them—or their rekindling passion?

Bryony Asquith tried for happiness three years ago, and it failed miserably. Not only a spinster, Byrony was also a female doctor and disgrace to her illustrious family. Regardless of her unappealing profession and over-the-hill age, she took a chance and proposed to Leo Marsden, the fifth son of an Earl and her old childhood neighbour from the Cotswolds. No one was more surprised than Byrony when Leo accepted, but it didn’t take long before the prediction of London high society proved true and the marriage ended in disaster and annulment. . . and Byrony has a constant reminder of her failure in a white streak of hair, the last sign she needed that it was time to cut and run from her husband.

Three years later, in the North-West Frontier of India, Bryony Asquith is in her third year of running from the memory of her disastrous marriage. She has been to Germany and America, and now finds herself doctoring in the Rumbur Valley. So she is beyond shocked to hear Leo’s voice one day, and even more shocked to learn that he has hunted her down upon order of her young half-sister, to drag Byrony home and to the bed-side of their ailing father.

Will a trip through India, during the dangerous Pathan Revolt, bring Byrony and Leo closer together? Or will laying all her secrets bare shatter an already broken relationship beyond repair?

‘Not Quite a Husband’ was the 2009 stand-alone historical romance novel from Sherry Thomas.

Where the heck have I been? Seriously! ‘Not Quite a Husband’ is the first Sherry Thomas book I have ever read – and I am so annoyed at myself that I didn’t rectify that situation sooner! Thomas is quite a romance heavy-weight, having previously won the ‘Publisher’s Weekly Best of the Year Book’, and with ‘Not Quite a Husband’ she was the 2010 RITA Award recipient for Best Historical Romance. I have heard her name bandied about before, and someone at some point has recommended her books to me. I just can’t believe it has taken me this long to finally pick her up, because after ‘Not Quite a Husband’ I think I have discovered a favourite new romance author!

It always bothers me that historical romance novels are regarded as amongst the lowly literary genres. True, sometimes the bodice-ripper front covers don’t help the cause, but for the most part it’s frustrating when so many wonderful authors and their fantastic writing are overlooked and sneered at for being none other than ‘romance’. That’s how I feel about ‘Not Quite a Husband’ – the ravishing red cover, showing a lot of thigh, really doesn’t communicate the depth within.

We meet Byrony Asquith in India; her third continent in three years, since the end of her marriage. A travelling doctor, who used her skills as a convenient excuse to get away from prying, gossiping London society, Byrony is stupefied when her ex-husband Leo Marsden appears one day, and announces his intentions to escort her safely home to her father’s bedside. She reluctantly accepts, and their trek through India sees them caught in the middle of the Swat Valley Uprising of 1897.

Byrony and Leo have a complicated past. They were neighbours during their childhood in the Cotswolds, and Leo loved the older Byrony from afar – a serious and solemn young girl who had already lived through the death of her mother and step-mother by the time she was eight, abandonment by her father left her a lonesome teenager. Four years her junior, Leo was captivated by her, and delighted when they reconnected in London in their 20’s – he, a renowned mathematician and sought-after dinner companion, and she a much gossiped about female physician. Leo was especially delighted and surprised when Byrony proposed to him soon after their reconnection, and they enjoyed a wonderful engagement. But not long after they took their vows, their marriage began to deteriorate. Whereas Leo went in with a full heart and heady optimism, Byrony turned from him and eventually barred him from their marital bed. Annulment shortly followed.

During their trek through India, we are given insight into both Leo and Byrony’s memories of their marriage . . . and it’s most curious to read how very differently they view the deteriorating year. Byrony reminisces about her embarrassing infatuation with Leo – her prideful feelings towards such a handsome, popular husband which eventually turned bitter and embarrassed. Leo, meanwhile, remembers his infatuation as a young lad and his being blind-sided by her sudden turning away from him;

“What’s the matter?” she asked, her tone subdued.
“Nothing,” he said softly. “I forgot that you could make me laugh, that’s all.”
Her reaction was a slow, downward sweep of her lashes. When she raised her eyes again, her face had assumed a plasterlike smoothness.
The Castle. He’d seen this expression far too many times during their marriage. The Castle was Byrony drawing up the gates and retreating deep into the inner keep. And he’d always hated it. Marriage meant that you shared your goddam castle. You didn’t leave your poor knight of a husband circling the walls trying to find a way in.

As their trek continues, Leo and readers slowly become privy to the event which ultimately undid the marriage for Byrony . . . and it’s a hurt that even three years of running has not managed to heal;

Her heart was made of glass: It could break, but it could not expand.

I loved the point at which Sherry Thomas wrote Leo and Bryony’s rekindling. Really, this book could have quite plausibly began with Byrony’s proposing to Leo, or it could have followed them through their first disastrous year of marriage . . . but I love that Thomas throws these two damaged, wounded people into the wilds of India during anti-colonialism uprisings. Fear of death crystallizes their feelings for one another – and prompts an outpouring of truths and hidden hurts. Everything is ramped-up, every emotion all the more powerful for Thomas having set ‘Not Quite a Husband’ during turbulent times, and concentrated on the even more turbulent falling-apart marriage.

I also loved Leo and Byrony’s pasts. They are both very complicated people, Byrony in particular. She had already experienced so much death at such a young age, and that really shaped her into the woman she became . . . an introverted, brittle woman who didn’t trust in love. Leo, on the other hand, had loved Byrony from afar for such a long time (without her knowledge) that when their marriage crumpled he had to deal with the crushing blow of all his highest hopes being dashed.

As much as I loved Byrony and Leo’s unusual love story, I especially loved all the tid-bits of information Thomas throws in about the Swat Valley uprising. She goes into fantastic detail on her website about the India setting and colonialism underpinnings.

‘Not Quite a Husband’ is one of the best historical romance novels I have read in a long time. I am ashamed to say that it was the first Sherry Thomas novel I read, but I vow that it won’t be my last!

5/5