By: Eva Leigh and
Gentleman Seeks Bride
By: Megan Frampton
First question: are these the exact same books? Technically, the answer is no. Second question: will one author sue the other for plagiarism? Answer: maybe? Third question: do I care enough to glance at the publication date to discern which author is the plagiar-or. Answer: No.
We can blame my local library for making these two books available to me in consecutive order. Because these are basically the same book and, unfortunately, I did not care for either one of them.
In sum, both heroes are very good looking and super-duper fun, and this is difficult for them because no one takes them seriously. The heroines are beautiful women of upstanding, moral character. The heroes have gotten themselves into a pickle and now must find a bride of upstanding, moral character to marry but they CANNOT marry the heroine because the heroine is the sister of their best friend and that would literally be madness. Instead, the more convenient idea is to enter into a secret arrangement with the heroine where the heroine will find the hero an acceptable bride but, in exchange, the hero will need to take the heroine on illicit, nighttime adventures to all of the scandalous parts of London. Obviously and duh.
Eva Leigh’s The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes
This is the first book in the series, but I kept checking because the beginning made me feel that I had missed something. Kieran Ransome is a younger son and a bit of a shit, from what I can gather. For reasons I do not understand at all, he and another brother, Finn, help their best friend and roommate, Dom Kilburn, jilt their own sister at their wedding. What in the what?? Kieran and Finn’s parents have a cold and mercenary marriage and because Dom (also a shit) seems out of sorts before the wedding, they help him escape in order “to save their sister” from a loveless marriage, like their parents. They do this without discussing any of this with their sister either at the wedding ceremony or literally any time before then.
Kieran is then shocked when his parents tell him that was a terrible thing to do and they will be cutting him off from his inheritance until he gets said shit together and marries a respectable woman. Enter Celeste Kilburn, Dom’s younger sister, and a respectable lady. We discover that Celeste and Dom grew up in a poor area of London, but their father’s business dealings have made them one of the wealthier families, although without any aristocratic blood. Celeste is feeling the burden and pressure to ensure their family keeps and maintains a place in society, especially after her brother jilted Kieran’s sister. She feels suffocated by society’s idea of a respectable woman, and longs to experience London’s wilder side, like her brother is allowed to do because of his gender. Kieran and Celeste enter into an agreement where Celeste will use her reputation to allow marriageable women to consider a proposal from Kieran, and Kieran will escort a disguised Celeste or “Salome” to scandalous places.
Celeste is almost betrothed to a Lord (something, I don’t even care to look very hard for this name), who is very wealthy and highly connected in aristocratic society. Now, this part very much confused me. As Celeste is not an aristocrat, there are many people in British society who would believe she was inferior, due to her poor upbringing. Celeste’s father repeatedly mentions that they are all so lucky someone of Lord WhatsHisFace is willing to marry her. But! It turns out that Lord NameICannotRecall knows that Celeste is traipsing around nighttime London as the promiscuous Salome and to save her, he wants to blackmail her into marrying him, even after she desperately tells him she is no longer a virgin. This.Does.Not.Track. While I am not a Victorian historical scholar, I have read my fair share of historical romance novels (you are welcome), and this would just not happen. He would jilt her and it would be a scandal.
Kieran, FWIW, does help Celeste find her groove, or what even ever. He also explains everything to both her overbearing father and her brother, so that they realize the pressure they have been placing on her and how unhappy Celeste is. He had one conversation with each of them and they realized the error of her ways. Celeste, however, never seemed to genuinely try to do that, and instead played the martyr. I do not like conflict that can be resolved by one, simple conversation. Kieran find the hole in Lord GuyWhoDoesNotFollowBritishConvention’s blackmail plan, allowing Celeste and Keran to be together.
This book was meh.
Rating: 2/5
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B095SNR2BW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1649895482&sr=8-1
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-good-girls-guide-to-rakes-eva-leigh/1139566621?ean=9780063086272
Or your local independent bookstore!
Megan Frampton’s Gentleman Needs a Bride
Now, this book is part of a series, but I read it as a standalone and I had no issues following the storyline. Probably because I just finished the book reviewed above. The hero is Thomas Sharpe, a handsome gentleman in desperate need to marry an heiress to save his family’s estate. A few year prior, his father lost all of their money. His parents are older and not in the best of health, and his younger sister is very shy and suffers from what is depicted as social anxiety. In order to keep them all afloat, Thomas needs to marry quickly and marry rich. His issue appears to be that is so, so, so good-looking that eligible young women and their families do not believe he is serious about them (he isn’t though) and he is only interested in them because of their dowry (and that is correct). Therefore, he has been searching for a rich wife for over two years and his family is falling further into a genteel poverty.
Two years ago, Lady Jane Capel, also very beautiful, was jilted by her fiance and, afterwards, she decided to leave her family home and move in with her half-brother, Thomas’s best friend, instead of simply marrying some other respectable gentleman. Her family disowned her, leaving her without a dowry. Thomas sees Jane at a gambling hall, and attempts to escort her home for her own safety. Jane, however, is feeling stifled by society’s expectations of her and she realizes that there may be more to life than tea parties. She offers to help Thomas find a wealthy wife, if Thomas takes her to scandalous places and teaches her about intimacy. Bold Jane! And also, seemingly out of character.
I was confused by this part as Jane is supposedly involved in her own scandals. She is of good birth, but has been disowned by her family. She lives with her illegitimate half-brother. I am not exactly sure how she would be able to influence all these young women of good families to consider Thomas’s suit as she would not have the standing to do so? Thomas also loathes having to marry for money, but does not see any other option…until he does.
Basically, Jane reconciles with her family, but I guess not enough to give her back her dowry so both Jane and Thomas get a job (how did it take so long for this to be an option?) and continue to live with her brother.
Ok. Double meh.
Rating: 2/5
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gentleman-seeks-bride-megan-frampton/1138917133?ean=9780063023109
Or your local independent bookstore!
P.S. I happened to see the publication dates when I was trying to remember Lord BritishNameyGuy’s actual name and Leigh owes Frampton some money, although my opinion is not legally binding.