There’s an acronym for a certain kind of heroine: TSTL. It stands for too stupid to live, and much as I hate to say it, Lady Morgan Bedwyn falls into that category. She’s only eighteen, so I ought to cut her some slack, but she keeps reminding herself that she’s a Bedwyn and she’s up to all the rakish tricks of the guy targeting her, and then she goes right ahead and allows him to manipulate her anyway. Sample (paraphrased):
Him: Let’s leave this well-lit path and disappear into the dark forest so I can steal a kiss from you.
Her: You must think I’m stupid! Take a hike.
Him: I see what it is, you’re afraid.
Her: I am so not afraid! What an idea! Let’s leave this well-lit path and disappear into the dark forest. I might even let you kiss me…
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Does she not know what happens to girls of eighteen who disappear into dark forests with hardened rakes? And then when it’s obvious that there’s going to be a big battle and that she’ll be caught up in it if she stays, she refuses all efforts to get her to safety and stays on anyway. Madness.
Here’s the premise: Morgan is bored out of her mind by her first season in London, so when the opportunity offers to travel to Brussels with a friend and her family, she grasps it eagerly. But Brussels, she finds, is just as caught up in meaningless frivolity, despite the likelihood of a battle with the escaped Bonaparte in the very near future. Here, however, she’s spotted by Gervase, the Earl of Rosthorn, who sees her as the perfect vehicle for his revenge against her brother, the Duke of Bewcastle. He sets out to tempt her off the narrow path of propriety and damage her reputation. And she lets him. {Rolls eyes} And then she refuses to leave on the eve of battle because her brother is missing. {Rolls eyes even harder} This is so stupid, it’s clearly just a plot device to throw the hero and heroine together.
And thrown together they are, as she helps the wives of various military men tend the wounded and he tries to find her brother, to no avail. And when it seems as if Alleyne is dead, Gervase escorts her home, where they discover that her brother the duke is seriously unamused by all this. Gervase very properly offers for her, the duke refuses out of hand. But when Morgan finds out, and realises that he targeted her purely to revenge himself on the duke, she agrees to marry him anyway, and exact her own revenge on him. Which is all pretty stupid. And of course, like seemingly all Balogh heroines, she lusts after him and allows him to seduce her, or at least to take advantage of her naivety. Do these women never think of the possible consequences of what they’re doing?
So, I’m sorry, even though it’s Balogh and therefore a wonderful read in many ways, the stupidity of the heroine keeps it to three stars. And I’m not much taken with a supposed hero who takes revenge on people who’ve injured him by hurting someone who had nothing at all to do with it. Yuk.
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