Review: Phoebe

Phoebe by Minerva Spencer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Phoebe Bellamy is the small, plump, ordinary sister in a family of beauties and extraordinary talents. Their father is an inveterate gambler and spendthrift who is in danger of losing everything if he can't find a tenant for the family's ancestral home.

Viscount Paul Needham might have a title, but he's only the second man to hold it and he knows that everyone regards him as 'trade', especially with his dark features and big nose, he's hardly an oil painting (which is a funny saying because often oil paintings are warts and all).

When Paul agrees to lease the dilapidated house from the Bellamys it gives the family a small respite. But Phoebe's father sees Paul's fabulous wealth and is determined that Paul should marry one of his daughters, that way he can contrive with Paul to break the entail and sell the property outright (thus robbing his son Doddy of his inheritance).

Paul is aware of Phoebe's father machinations, and delights in informing the family that his mistress and illegitimate daughter will be joining him at the house once it has been repaired, but even that isn't enough to stop Phoebe's parents from matchmaking. On his part, Paul realises that the only way to stop the aristocracy from looking down their noses at him is to marry one of them, but he doesn't have to like them. Realising that if she doesn't do something one of her sisters will be forced to marry Paul Phoebe offers herself as tribute (sorry wrong book).

Paul and Phoebe may have gotten off on the wrong foot but the sparks fly when they argue, which is near on constantly. But how long until Paul installs another mistress in the house, or more by-blows? Phoebe knows she must guard her heart before he breaks it entirely.

This felt very slow, I recall looking at my kindle and seeing I was 71% through the book and pretty much nothing had happened. They got married, they argued, Paul introduced Phoebe to physical pleasure, they argued, she gets the wrong end of the stick (gosh I'm ploughing through these old phrases today), they make love, blah, bah, blah.

Then all of a sudden the plot explodes and there is high drama and danger aplenty.

I did enjoy this, but I couldn't help drawing comparisons to the one and only Georgette Heyer who has done may similar storylines and (obviously) this is not as good, although still a good historical romance.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews