Evelyn Pryce
Historical Romance
Published in 2016
H/h - Jonathan Vane, Viscount Thaxton/Cassandra Seton
Setting: England, 1884.
Read in April, 2016.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
I was introduced to Evelyn Pryce’s writing thru a sometimes funny, yet sexy and dramatic little debut novel called A Man Above Reproach.
The book was quite surprising TBH; unpredictable and kept me hooked
till the end. Evelyn’s writing was simple, yet elegant and smooth. I was
impressed with this debut author.
Fast forward 3 something
years. I waited... and waited some more. There was no news of a new book
or even a sequel to A Man Above Reproach. That one had some interesting
secondary characters just waiting to tell their stories! I wasn’t sure
why she wasn’t publishing anymore but RL happens and we get caught up in
it. So when I heard she’s (finally!) publishing another novel this
year, I was intrigued beyond words. I was thinking it maybe the
anticipated sequel....... However, it’s not. It’s a completely new story
which has no ties to AMAR. Can’t say I’m not disappointed but hey, I
found that The Thirteenth Earl was a fab story and Jonathan could still
manage to be adorable even with all his vulnerabilities surrounding him
like a dark mantle.
Much like A Man Above Reproach, The Thirteenth Earl
was a smooth and elegant read. The story isn’t very long, but it’s
longer than your average novella where Evelyn manages to keep you
entertained even within the short storyline and a limited setting.
As
we read, we find that it all happened in a country house party thrown
by Percival, the Earl of Spencer and his new wife, Eliza, Lady Spencer.
They’re a lovely couple, an obvious love-match (Right now I’m hating
that I don’t know what exactly he botched up while trying to woo
Eliza... I want to read their story too :<), who can’t keep their
eyes off of each-other, among other things that is. What they didn’t
expect was that their first house party thrown as a married couple would
change some lives irrevocably.
Jonathan Vane, Viscount Thaxton,
was invited not because of his unsavory reputation as someone who is
going mad (according to the gossip because it’s his so-called family
legacy), not because he’s known as The Ghost (a man no one sees much in
the society, who is also, morbidly fascinated by death and does
everything short of a suicide to call it onto him) but solely because
he’s Percival’s closest of buddies, his childhood friend. Through
everything, Percival has supported Jonathan, though he has no idea how
to pull the man out of this miasma of despair he seems to cling on to.
Jonathan
is handsome, or would be if he’d stop drinking, eat more and clean up a
little. He’d always known he’d be mad because “it runs in the
family”. His father is mad, has been ever since his mother died in
childbirth—while giving birth to him. Jonathan has no other siblings so
he’s the sole issue; heir and spare and everything that matters. And
he’s been anticipating his death even before he knew what life
really was. After all, his beloved father told him to
never to fall in love. So Jonathan has decided never to marry and
continue Vane line. He’s determined it’ll die with him, and so would the
“family curse”. No more mad Earl roaming the hallways, no more Countess
Vanes dying, snuffed out of their lives for one too young.
Enter
Cassandra Seton, daughter of an Earl, who doesn’t want the honorifics.
The fiancée of Jonathan’s most hated cousin, Miles, who is now
rusticating somewhere in Scotland. Who hasn’t been around to see his
fiancée for the past 9 yrs. or so. Eh, why would Jonathan care? As it
turns out, he’s forced to care because he finds that Miss Seton has set
his heart on fire! :p Cassandra is beautiful, smart and
straightforward. No simpering miss is our Miss Seton, nah-uh! She calls a
spade a spade and never backs off. The only thing she dislikes is
communicating with her step-mother who’d love it dearly if she can boot
Cassandra out of the house. Hence, this marriage that was made when both
Miles and Cassandra were barely out of the cradle, is going to take
place whether the parties involved liked it or not.
Cassandra is
supremely unhappy. It seems Miles is returning “home” to claim his
bride. Well, Cassandra could care less. There was a time when they were
very young and she was most impressionable, she thought Miles handsome
and charming. But that was before he ran away to Scotland with the
excuse to “restore his father’s dilapidating mansion” and stayed there,
leaving Cassandra to face all the snickering and cruel comments... worst
of all, the pity because her fiancé, it seemed, had abandoned her. So
Cassandra could care less about Miles’s prodigal return. However, she
has no idea how to extricate herself from this situation.
The
answer was Jonathan Vane, but not quite. When Cassandra met him, she
thought he’s unkempt, possesses a glib tongue; definitely no gentleman.
She’d also heard of his “reputation”, some of it is courtesy of Miles
himself, had also been warned by her stepmother to stay away from him.
Yet, the more she gets to know him, Cassandra found that the man underneath
all that witticisms is in pain. And in despair. Everything he does is to
hide away from the real world. And though Jonathan thought he’d find
pity in Cassandra’s eyes, which would’ve killed him anyway (hence
granting his wish), he’s relieved to find that that’s not how she feels
about it all. By then, Cassandra knew her match with Miles to be the
worst possible thing ever. It wasn’t just because of his abandonment of
her for such a long time, but because of who Miles really is; a whiny
brat. He does whatever he wants, never considering the repercussions of
his actions. And he’s callous as hell! Cassandra is nothing but a
property in his eyes. She’s not even sure if this is the Miles she’d
known from before or he’d changed in Scotland. The answer came from
Jonathan. Nope, Miles had always been a brat and a bully and caused many
griefs to Jonathan when they were boys.
As the story progressed,
our H and h find themselves in a fine dilemma. They’re attracted to
each-other, no question about it. Their stolen kisses told them far more
than words could have. Yet they had clue what to do about it.
Cassandra, by then, had no intentions of marrying Miles and Jonathan had
no intentions of letting it happen either. They didn’t know how to go
about it seeing his own reputation won’t make him a good husband
material. And he’d rather die first than seeing Cassandra dying so young
before his eyes. Or marrying Miles Markwick (hear him growl even at the
possibility :p). What to do? WHAT to do?
As it happens, Miles
himself, unwittingly, creates an opportunity for Jonathan and Cassandra
when he brings his Scottish mistress, Lucy, there under the ruse of
spirit calling. A wail in the middle night had everyone concerned of the
“Ghost” of Spencer House and they needed to find out more. A séance was
in order and who better than Lucy, who was a known medium in Scotland?
Or so Miles had claimed. Things would go awry from there, one thing
after another happening... even an almost duel :o, and it has nothing
and everything to do with a Ghost. ;)
Want to know more? Go ahead and give The Thirteenth Earl
a try. Once again, another read from Evelyn that had me surprised when I
was least expecting it. The best thing for me was that in such a short
span and limited setting, how Evelyn managed to give me not only a
complete set of characters, but also a story where the HEA was extremely
believable, even considering the fact that the H and the h just met in
that house party. It wasn’t even a love at first sight but oh boy, when
it developed, it just did and swept them away! Jonathan was no alpha
a$$; he was just a man who fell in love and didn’t know where else to
look. There was only Cassandra and he was possessive of her. Cassandra
understood him, sympathized with him... and she couldn’t love him any
more even if she tried. Even when he and Miles were being obnoxious,
head-butting like 2 school boys. I gotta say I probably would’ve loved a
few more chapters but I’m not at all unhappy the way everything
resolved in the end. 4 stars.
I heard there’d be a sequel? Eagerly waiting for it!
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