For book club this month, we each chose a different “cheesy” romance novel to read and then presented our book to the group. None of us are regular consumers of the true romance genre, so this was fun!

My first takeaway is that this book is written really well. Waite’s use of language is really beautiful and there were quite a few quotes I highlighted because of their poignancy. There was also a great balance between descriptive and expositional text, which was great because romance can either get lost in the weeds of flowery language or fall into the “all dialogue and action” trap of poor writing. Lady’s Guide thread that needle really well!

The only complaint I really have, which is not insignificant, is that the relationship itself wasn’t very compelling. There’s already the implicit strife of wlw in Regency England, of course, but even that is sort of (hand wave) because they’re women and that means people don’t give as much of a shit. Seriously, so many people in this book apparently have absolutely no problem with lesbians, it’s bizarre. But I guess I’m not reading this for the historical accuracy. The relationship, however, felt rushed into with not as much build up as I’d like and their only real angsty struggle was by miscommunication, which is one of my least favorite tropes.

On top of that, the plot itself was a little boring. I suppose I need a little more action in my books if the relationship isn’t going to be intriguing enough to keep my interest. Ah well.

Overall, a fun book that I’m glad I read and by far the better among the romance novels my club members chose for theirs!