Rose Lerner

*Not so much a book review as me blathering about my favorite themes and passages from the book

You all did not lead me astray! This was really good, there were some pacing problems in the beginning for me, I like my main couple to be more centric and interacting with one another, but the second half implemented that more and very well. This author's style felt like a cross between Courtney Milan (use of underlining themes and heroines) and Grace Burrowes (full framework of world and show more secondary characters). There were so many themes in this book that I want to start a book club just so I can discuss them all.

Economic status implications and noble poor myth

"I didn’t choose Jack for his money.”
“There’s nothing petty or self-interested in worrying about money,” Phoebe said sharply. “It isn’t easy being poor.” Miss Jessop couldn’t know what it was like, to worry you wouldn’t be able to pay the grocer’s bill next month. To kiss your husband’s forehead and feel that he had a fever, and to have to decide whether to call the doctor, and what you could sell to pay him.

Our heroine Phoebe is a bit brusque, yes, but she's pretty honest with herself, which others can't always handle. When the town rich girl wants to marry Phoebe's less monetary endowed brother-in-law, Phoebe doesn't see "love" through rose colored glasses and tries to share some realism with Miss Jessop.

Acclimating back into civilian life and how to live with the emotional/psychological impact of war

And he believed her; she wanted to know. So few people did. They wanted to shut their eyes and their ears---But was that true? Or was it only what he had told himself, because he didn’t want to tell the story? Would his brothers really have flinched back? His friends from school, his fellow officers? Hell, some of them had asked him, and he’d ignored them or played it off with a joke.

Our hero has been to war and as with many a soldier, he doesn't know how to fit into his new role in life. He doesn't think civilians really want to hear or can handle hearing his stories but when our heroine asks, he begins to see that maybe at least this one person does and that maybe he needs to tell these stories, just as it’s important that civilians hear them.

Family dynamics

“You were good company.” Tony ducked his head shyly. “If you’ve ever a mind to come again, you’d be welcome. Not that you’d probably want to, I know it’s a dashed odd way to spend one’s time, but---“
Just like that, it was all worth it. “I’d love to,” he said, and meant it.

Love wasn’t selfless, and it wasn’t selfish either. Love was equality. It was saying that another person’s self was just as important as yours, and expecting them to feel the same way.

Family dynamics were a huge part of this story and they were there in all their messy glory. No one is an island and even though our couple falls in love and want to be together, their world is messy. This was where the author really shined for me, the character dynamics felt real and were rooted in my favorite color, grey.

People are all the same and in this together

He felt the way he had talking to Miss Jessop or to Mrs. Sparks’s friends---the sudden realization that he wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t Childe Harold with his unfathomable, solitary pain. He was just a man, with ordinary human problems that plenty of other people shared. It was lowering, maybe, but it was a relief.

I don't want to give the impression that there isn't much romance in this book, because there is and the couple's relationship is pretty heartwarming and heated with their open communication sex scenes but there was so much more to the story. The cost of war and family/mother issues I touched on, along with grief, the wild notion that a man and woman can be friends (heroine and brother-in-law) and how two imperfect individuals and their flaws, can make a perfect story. show less

Rose Lerner had me at a title of this book. "Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens." No doubt you've heard this quote at least once in your life. It's from Song of Solomon 2:2 and sets a perfect plot for this love story. Make no mistake; this is one heart pounding, heart wrenching all out heartwarming love story.

Solomon Hathaway's friends from Cambridge thought it was time he lost his virginity, so they brought him to the best whore house in London. Young Solomon show more dreaded as much as he anticipated this encounter. Once left alone with a young woman who to his keen eye looked almost pathetic, he couldn't go through with it and as he's about to bolt out of the room, he throws to her his whole allowance and heads for the proverbial `hills'!

Seven years later, Solomon is in a need of help recovering stolen earrings that belong to his family, and he's pointed in a direction of Lady Serena, who is known to have been a bed partner of many, but now is an inn owner with a lot of ties to the underworld of London. Solomon needs only one look of her in the dark to realize that in front of him is a beautiful woman and not that pathetic girl from long ago.

Lady Serena made a mistake seven years ago by falling in love with a young footman in her father's house and by trying to run way with him she sealed her fate and took a hold of the rains of her future by becoming a prostitute. On that long ago, but never forgotten night, when a young man showed her compassion by giving her his purse filled with a lot of money, she makes the decision to become her own person, however flawed.

Seven years later, she remembers it all like it happened the day before and her feelings are confusing her. This woman is not a meek person. She's strong, fiercely independent and she never wants or needs any man to lord over her. She's not used to showing her feelings and affections not because she can't or won't but because she doesn't know how. She's never received hugs or words of love, so once she gets exposed to it, she's literally in a panic and her physical reaction of being suffocated is something she is unable to control.

No way in hell can you read this love story and not feel for these two. Their HEA is fraught with intrigue, pain, regrets and suffering, but neither was willing to give up on each other until they faced the only enemy that stood in their way-Serena's fear of losing her self-worth.

Everything in this book was superb, from the writing, the dialogue, and the plot and secondary characters. It all flowed seamlessly with a perfect pace. Speaking of secondary players, I loved them all. From Rene, the French Spy to Sophy, her right hand at the `Arms'; from his family to her `family' of misfits! All of them pulled at my heartstrings, especially the secondary love story of two spies. Even that was pulled off with grace and such wonderful care!

If you're in a mood for a character driven love story full of intrigue, passion and plenty of suspense, I recommend this book with all my heart! Now, I need to get me Ms. Lerner's first book "In For a Penny". I have no doubt that I'll love it as much as this one.


* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review* show less

I randomly came across this book on Goodreads, read the summary and was mildly intrigued. Then - I saw the cover, complete with a blurb from Lauren Willig. That was enough to make me immediately obtain and read it.

The social status of Penelope Brown, our heroine, is a difficult one. Her family became rich via her father's brewery. This means they are allowed to travel in aristocratic circles, but it doesn't mean they are accepted. I've read books with this particular prejudice before, show more Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas being the first that comes to mind. It adds an interesting layer of complication to the story, and one I appreciate.

Anyway, I loved Penny. She was a fantastic heroine...very smart and self-aware. When she receives an offer of marriage from Nev, she knows the reasons ($$) and she accepts them. They are both aware of why he is marrying her and I love the awareness of their relationship. It makes it easier for them to be honest and open with each other from the beginning. I loved seeing that - the way Nev knew that Penny (very cutesy nicknames, I know) would not only be able to help him try and rescue his family's country estate...but that she would be a necessity.

The complications that arise with the estate's tenants and neighbors are very captivating and kept the story constantly moving forward. They also added a very colorful and unique cast of secondary characters to the story. I love the roles they played and the way everyone interacted with each other.

Like I said before, the level of honesty between our MCs was very unique. I fell in love with both of them and loved watching as their relationship progressed. It is impossible not to root for both of them, so don't even bother trying to take sides.

Definitely a worthy addition to the multitudes of historical romance out there, and this is an author I'll be keeping track of! show less

GOTHIC as in Moody With a Haunting Atmosphere.

A Sapphic Jane Eyre with Jewish mc's

This book is heavy - heavy in theme and heavy in details (check CW's please). I felt like I could cut the building tension with shears - I loved every word. Chapters end abruptly or end on cliffhangers so you are encouraged to keep going bc OOOOH the suspense- and I actually really loved this. From what I understand, this was an audiobook first and I think reading this via audio would have made that device show more even more suspenseful. Anyway, I was in need of a gothicky tale and this delivered.

Also, something I have come to admire about Rose Lerner's books featuring Jewish characters, is that they are often Sephardic or Dutch Jews. Jewish folks are under-represnted in media, and any Jewish group outside of Ashenazi descent receives even less representation. Most Jewish people are defaulted to Ashkenazi Jews in media and most cultural Jewishisms are Ashkenazi in origin - think all the Yiddishisms we use. So to have Sephardic and Dutch Jewish representation is meaningful because their minhagim and languages are vibrant and distinct from Ashkenazim.

Bang In the Night Bingo #ReadGayDoCrimes

CW: gaslighting, domestic abuse, anti-Semitism, mentions of torture and death by fire. show less