Minx

One of my all-time favorite JQ books. This was actually the first book of hers that I read, so there may be some first-book-bias, but even after numerous re-reads, it is still laugh-out-loud funny, and Dunford is still my favorite JQ hero. He's handsome, charming, disarming, and a veritable wit, and he's more than met his match in Miss Henrietta "Henry" Barrett. Add the fact that quite a bit of it takes place in Cornwall and you got me.

The first third of the book is very funny, when Dunford learns that he's inherited a title and estate and goes to Cornwall to check it out. Henry has been running things for six years and doesn't care to have a new lord sniffing around, especially if he's a new young lord, so she sets out to oust him in show more quite a few hilarious ways. They manage to become friends almost in spite of themselves, and develop an attraction, and then Dunford learns that he's Henry's guardian and feels it necessary to bring her out into Society.

The scenes in London are also humorous, but the final act of the plot brings this down a notch from squeeful adoration. There's a stupid Big Misunderstanding which more or less ruins all that Dunford and Henry have built up right before their marriage, and their separation is heart-rending (and stupid). If either one of them had just opened their mouths, they wouldn't have had to go through the anger and heartache. But, as this was only JQ's third novel, I suspect she felt she needed to include some of these well-worn tropes. She really hit her stride with the Bridgerton saga about five years after this was published.

There's never been a hero like Dunford, though, and for him, I'm willing to even read the less-than-great ending to this otherwise frothy, fun read. show less

Henrietta Barrett never cared much for convention. She has spent the last several years managing her elderly guardian's estate in Cornwall, and she has done it all wearing breeches and using the name Henry. When her guardian dies and leaves Stannage Park to a distant male cousin, William Dunford, Henry vows to scare him off of the estate for good by making his stay as dreadful as she can. But her resolve wavers with every one of his devastating smiles, and Dunford is determined to turn her into a lady.

I loved the story up until the last 50 pages or so. First a true friendship blossoms between the main characters filled with kindness and lots of teasing. I love that his nickname for her is 'minx'. Despite the way it upset their show more relationship, I liked that Henry misinterpreted Dunford's distance as a lack of desire rather than a surfeit of it. Given that nobody had ever shown her how to act like a girl, this felt very real rather than seeming like a plot device to keep the Happily Ever After at bay for another 100 pages or so.

Henry's conquering of the London 'ton' and her interactions with Dunford's friends are quite charmingly done, though I would have liked to read more about her enjoying herself and less about Dunford's jealousy. But what ruined the story for me is the last misunderstanding. Though handled well and with careful attention to the push-pull between affection, conscience, mistrust and anger, I hate sex as a weapon to 'make someone want you' even if they don't love you. It was very well done here as the desperation and need for love behind the anger and cruelty was shown. It was very human and very believable. But I hate it. And I simply cannot enjoy a book where that sort of thing occurs - it's one of my dealbreakers.

Lovely book, and I'll be keeping it until I have the whole series. Then I'll probably re-read and stop at Chapter 21. But I haven't determined whether I should keep it or not. show less

Light as air and filled with sparkling witty dialogue. Henry, our heroine brought to mind Katherine Hepburn in almost every role she played, and that is all to the good. Dunford was a delightful honorable reformed rake. I did like the first half better than the second. The impediment to our HandH being together was one of those things that could have been easily cleared up and wasn't, and we lost all our witty repartee after that. Still, overall this was delightful.

The heroine is not really plain, but she believes herself to be unattractive because she is a tomboy, and is insecure about her femininity. There is a ton of angst and misunderstandings and other stuff right up my alley. I would LOVE to read more books like this. I loved how Henry just assumed no man would ever want her because she's so independent and brash and wears pants. More like this one, please! (4.5 stars)

The heroine is not really plain, but she believes herself to be unattractive because she is a tomboy, and is insecure about her femininity. There is a ton of angst and misunderstandings and other stuff right up my alley. I would LOVE to read more books like this. I loved how Henry just assumed no man would ever want her because she's so independent and brash and wears pants. More like this one, please! (4.5 stars)

First read in June of 2011. Rating stands up to the re-read!

I loved the relationship between Henry and Dunford. I loved that they became friends first. You really see a progression to love in this story. Henry stayed herself throughout, and I am glad she didn't have to change to make anyone happy. Dunford accepted her as she was. I didn't like the end. I felt like the drama at the end was out of character for both of them. They talked to each other all through the book. Why didn't they talk to each other then?

The only downside of buying ebooks is that it’s harder to work out if you’ve read the book before, particularly if the blurb is vague and generic and/or you have a terrible memory for character names (as I do!)… In this case I had read it. But many, many, years ago so while I quickly remembered the shape of the plot, I didn’t remember all the tiny twists and turns. Damn good fun and a lovely warm read, even if I did want to scream at our hapless couple that they should HAVE A CONVERSATION, DAMMIT!