A great premise for a book that fell a little flat for me. The romance was so sweet and I really felt for Francesca but her husband falling for a young woman (not even 20!!!) who is exactly like Fran and he’s suddenly just okay with it??? Max ick. It ruined the book for me. Still giving 3 stars because I loved James.

Can honestly say this is the first regency-era romance I’ve read about a divorce and it did not disappoint.

Fran is ten years into a sham of a marriage with her cheating husband Edward. Instead of doing what society expects her to and just accepting his awful behavior, she files for divorce. Even though this means getting the cut direct from her relatives and most of society and the legal barriers she has to overcome require her to basically be a pious saint.

In the midst of this she does quite possibly the worst thing for her case — she starts to fall for her husbands best friend James. The two just can’t seem to say away from one another, despite the consequences.

This book was filled with nuanced and complex characters that felt both modern but appropriate for the era they were in. The book also felt incredibly well-researched from a legal standpoint. I loved getting a glimpse into each of the main characters motivations, even when they were contradictory and confusing at times.

A unique read for this genre & I thoroughly enjoyed.

Genre: historical romance
London, 1882

Mr and Mrs Thorne are horribly suited for one another. James Standish knew it from before he saw his friend Edward Thorne married to the young Francesca, in whom Edward believed he had found the perfect wife. Only James saw Fran’s lively spirit and knew they would never be remotely happy or even satisfied. Ten years after their marriage - two in misery and eight apart - Fran has requested a divorce on the grounds of Edward’s infidelity. But Edward insists it’s simply “not done” and requests that James plead his case for Fran to basically “shut up and deal with her lot in life.” Of course, James has been half in love with Fran for ten years, and finds that beneath their longstanding acquaintance something more than admiration and respect stirs.

I was a little nervous at the outset, with one main character trapped in a loveless marriage and the other a close friend of the estranged husband and half-engaged to someone else, but this is a novel where you trust the writer to take you where the characters need to be and not worry about propriety. You understand at the outset that Fran and Edward are miserable and that theirs has no hope of being a real marriage ever again.

You also quickly realize just how unfair it is for women in the Victorian era to seek a divorce, even for blatant infidelity. My blood boiled as Francesca speaks with her lawyer and realizes she’ll have to prove he has harmed her while Edward only has to give suspicion of her own infidelity and she’ll lose her case. This is probably the first historical romance in which I’ve read at length about divorce, and it really emphasizes the importance for women to have access to divorce rights.

If Edward is made out to be a piece of work, James isn’t all that much better. He’s a bit lazy and loves living in comfort as heir to a wealthy aunt. But his friendship with Fran makes him want to do better and prove himself. He realizes very quickly as his aunt thrusts a new debutante in his path that there really hasn’t been anyone but Francesca for ten years. And yet as the story progresses, James has a refreshing change of heart. He is desperate to prove himself to Fran at any cost.

Francesca is fascinating, because at the outset of the book, we assume she is exactly what Edward wants in a bride, and it turns out Edward is too young and Fran not precisely biddable. She’s not stereotypically-romance-heroine-feisty or bluestocking (though she is both of those things in her own subtle ways), she just wants more out of life than a loveless marriage. I found her clever and kind, and remarkably mature as she looks to create boundaries for herself in search of true freedom.

And yet none of the characters are truly bad or good. They are multi-dimensional people who have complex needs and desires. Even Edward (who quite rightfully deserves a punch to the face) isn’t entirely bad. Despicable, maybe, but not bad. These realistic qualities bring the book to life. There isn’t a lot of driving plot, and it doesn’t matter because the character development and social interactions move the story along.

4.5 stars*

Thank you so much to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

The worst woman in London? More like the worst MAN in London aka Edward Thorne!!!

I found this to be very unique, for it's genre. I have never read Evie Dunmore's series (I will now) but I suspect that if you liked that, you will also really enjoy this.

We follow Francesca who married Edward after 6 weeks of knowing him and now, 10 years later, wants to divorce him (I would too if I were her). However, Edward does not want to divorce Fran, (because what would people think... how dare they, so scandalous... I mean they haven't lived together for the last 8 years and all Edward does is go around cheating on Francesca... but divorce, that's just too much for the 19th century) and asks his good friend, Edward (who by the way so this whole divorce coming from the moment he met Fran) to make Francesca a proposition.

Through this proposition, Edward and Fran realize that there's definitely some chemistry between them and the story goes on from them. All I can tell you it that Edward is so swoony, I mean:

"There's no one for me but you. I'm in love with you, you silly woman."

Also, this is coming from a law student, but seeing how the law worked back then and how women where held to a much higher standard then men was infuriating, ofc, but also very interesting.