Sophie Reads YA: Emily Royal

ARC Review: Harpy of the Ton (Misfits of the Ton #5) by Emily Royal

14:00

Harpy of the Ton
Series: Misfits of the Ton #5
Author: Emily Royal
Published October 5th 2024 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
A spoiled heiress. An uncouth gardener. A match made in heaven—or in hell?

Lady Arabella Ponsford has it wealth, beauty, a title—and the vilest temper in England. She takes pleasure from punishing anyone who offends her—including the arrogant gardener whose impertinent gaze licks over her form and sets her pulse racing. When he threatens to penetrate her façade to reveal the unhappy woman beneath, she destroys his belongings then evicts him without payment.

Widowed father Lawrence Baxter staked his future on a gardening commission at a country estate. But the spoiled heiress living there—the very delectable spoiled heiress—has other ideas. After a brief but scorching kiss, when Lawrence glimpses a passionate creature beneath her conceited exterior, she ruins his livelihood in a fit of spite, and he vows vengeance.

When Arabella loses her memory in an accident and is left destitute by her treacherous family, Lawrence seizes the opportunity to take her home to work off her debt—provided he can stomach her foul temper, and she can manage his unruly family. But as Arabella adapts to a life filled with chores and children, Lawrence finds himself falling in love with the woman who rises to each increasingly difficult challenge he gives her—the woman who, beneath the harpy, is intelligent, resourceful, and kind.

But their life is a lie. Lawrence owes Arabella the truth—even if the truth will cost him the woman he loves.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Lady Arabella Ponsford, being stuck back in her country estate is a bore, so when the handsome new gardener arrives, she decides to have her fun. Lawrence Baxter is a widowed father, who needs this job, and could do without an arrogant and pretentious young miss getting in his way. So when she decides to kiss him and then get him fired, Lawrence sets out for revenge, and it is far too easy as Arabella soon gets into an accident and loses all of her memories. Pretending she is his wife, and mother to his children, Lawrence put her work to pay off the debt her family owes. Lawrence soon realises he's enjoying her being in his home, mothering his children, a little too much.

I really didn't like this book. I loved the previous one, and had high hopes for this one, but the story was just unpalatable at times. Every time we had seen Arabella in the previous books, she'd been the mean girl and I wasn't too sure how her story would go. I felt like she would have a redemption arc of some sort, and yeah okay, she did in this book, but the way it happened was honestly a bit disgusting for me. Lawrence getting his children to pretend Arabella was their mother, including the youngest who honestly believed it, was cruel. Then there's the way that Arabella couldn't really consent to what happened when she was Lawrence's 'wife' which just sickened me. I know I will read the other books in the series, but only because I'm hoping for better, and I was to clear them from my NG shelf. Not a book I can recommend.

Dates Read:
November 15-16, 2024

Rating
2 Stars

3 Stars

ARC Review: Oddity of the Ton (Misfits of the Ton #4) by Emily Royal

13:00

Oddity of the Ton
Series: Misfits of the Ton #4
Author: Emily Royal
Published April 27th 2024 by Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.

Goodreads Synopsis
An unlikely pairing becomes the perfect match.

Eleanor Howard has never fitted in. To her, Society is an unfathomable world where success is measured by the number of suitors’ names on her dance card. And her card is always empty. Constantly outshone by her younger sister, and continually criticized by her ambitious mother, Eleanor yearns to be loved for herself, not what others expect her to be. Her secret infatuation with the Duke of Whitcombe—who’d never deign to notice, much less court her—would, if revealed, make her the laughingstock of the ton.

Until he strides across a crowded ballroom and offers his hand.

Montague FitzRoy, fifth Duke of Whitcombe, is unwilling to surrender the pleasures of bachelorhood. When his mother, insistent on finding him a duchess of the right pedigree, forces his hand, he decides on impulse to punish her by kneeling before the least desirable woman in the room.

Only Miss Howard believes his proposal to be genuine.

The solution? A false betrothal that keeps Monty’s mother in check, and lifts Miss Howard’s prospects. Monty can weather a few weeks’ ridicule over an engagement to a woman whose eccentricities are gossiped about. And a betrothal—even short-lived—to a duke will ensure that Miss Howard’s dance card is never empty again.

But beneath Eleanor’s awkward exterior lies a passionate, intelligent woman, misunderstood and unappreciated, who challenges Monty’s notions of duty, life, and love—and with whom he’s falling in love himself.

As the end of the Season, and their inevitable parting, approaches, Monty is faced with a choice—surrender to duty, or follow his heart.

Oddity of the Ton is an own voices romance with an autistic heroine.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

For Eleanor Howard, the season is more of a chore than a joy. She's always on the outskirts of a ballroom, where her younger sister Juliette grabs all of the attention. However, she does enjoy ton events when she gets to see Montague FitzRoy, fifth Duke of Whitcombe. He doesn't know she even exists, but Eleanor is drawn to him like none else. So when Monty walks up to her in a ballroom, and proposes, Eleanor doesn't know what to think. And the fact that he did it only to spire his own mother makes the situation even more complicated. They are complete opposites, but somehow they might just be made for each other.

I don't actually think I've read a book, and especially not a historical romance, which has portrayed an autistic FMC so well. I'm autistic, and I felt seen so much in Eleanor - to the point I wanted to cry. Emily, thank you so much for this book! I wasn't overly keen on the fact that Monty proposed as a joke to Eleanor. Okay, he didn't know just how important that would be to Eleanor, but it was still a crappy thing to do. He did make up for it though, and the fact that he saw Eleanor, rather than being taken in by her mother or sister, and recognised when she struggled, and when she was enjoying herself, was perfect for the couple. I thought book 3 was my favourite, but I was wrong. This one is definitely the best of the whole series!

Dates Read:
November 14, 2024

Rating
3 Stars

3 Stars