soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2018-11-29 07:17 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2018-11-29 07:17 pm
In For A Penny, by Rose Lerner
A nice solid enjoyable romance novel. Doesn't reach the heights of delight of some romance novels I've read have in the past (such as Rose Lerner's True Pretenses) but I also have no major complaints which honestly is doing great.
Nev is a titled young man who's never applied himself to anything serious in his life but suddenly has to apply himself because his father died and he has inherited a massive pile of debt and and a failing estate, and needs to turn things around. Penny is practical, smart, and a very rich heiress to a manufacturing fortune, and finds herself charmed by Nev even though she has no reason to trust he'd be a good match. They marry for practical reasons and then have to a) figure out their feelings for each other, b) deal with poverty and resulting violent unrest among the labourers on their estate, c) thwart the other local landowner who is a total asshole, d) fix Nev's friendships. Among other things.
There was...a lot going on. It all more or less tied in to each other so it all worked together, but it was still a lot!
What I liked best about the book was seeing Penny figure out for herself that she doesn't actually have to always be that 100% serious practical person she'd always aspired to be and which Edward brought out in her. I really liked her, and watching her interact with Nev and both of them becoming a better and happier version of themselves through what they learn from their relationship.
One thing I didn't think worked quite as well was the plotline about the labourers. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated that this romance about nobility and rich people recognized the needs and feelings of the common folk, but I also feel like the book did not have enough space to adequately address everything that was brought up in this regard, and so I ended the book feeling a little uncomfortable. Everything's gonna be fine going forward now because they have GOOD rich/noble people overseeing the property? Hmmm. Yes, that solves the problem for these specific people and for one generation's length of time but the inescapable flaws in the system have been definitively shown! But the book isn't quite up to addressing what it itself has raised.
Oh well. Overall I enjoyed myself throughout the book so it succeeded at that at any rate!
Nev is a titled young man who's never applied himself to anything serious in his life but suddenly has to apply himself because his father died and he has inherited a massive pile of debt and and a failing estate, and needs to turn things around. Penny is practical, smart, and a very rich heiress to a manufacturing fortune, and finds herself charmed by Nev even though she has no reason to trust he'd be a good match. They marry for practical reasons and then have to a) figure out their feelings for each other, b) deal with poverty and resulting violent unrest among the labourers on their estate, c) thwart the other local landowner who is a total asshole, d) fix Nev's friendships. Among other things.
There was...a lot going on. It all more or less tied in to each other so it all worked together, but it was still a lot!
What I liked best about the book was seeing Penny figure out for herself that she doesn't actually have to always be that 100% serious practical person she'd always aspired to be and which Edward brought out in her. I really liked her, and watching her interact with Nev and both of them becoming a better and happier version of themselves through what they learn from their relationship.
One thing I didn't think worked quite as well was the plotline about the labourers. Don't get me wrong, I appreciated that this romance about nobility and rich people recognized the needs and feelings of the common folk, but I also feel like the book did not have enough space to adequately address everything that was brought up in this regard, and so I ended the book feeling a little uncomfortable. Everything's gonna be fine going forward now because they have GOOD rich/noble people overseeing the property? Hmmm. Yes, that solves the problem for these specific people and for one generation's length of time but the inescapable flaws in the system have been definitively shown! But the book isn't quite up to addressing what it itself has raised.
Oh well. Overall I enjoyed myself throughout the book so it succeeded at that at any rate!