Erica’s review of In the Arms of the Heiress (Ladies Unlaced #1) by Maggie Robinson
It’s all fun and games until someone falls in love…Independent heiress Louisa Stratton is going home to Rosemont for the holidays and, at the family’s request, she’s bringing her new husband Maximillian Norwich, art connoisseur and artful lover, the man she’s written of so glowingly. There’s one hitch—he doesn’t exist. Louisa needs a fake husband, and fast, to make the proper impression.Charles Cooper, captain of the Boer War and with a background far from silver spoons or gilded cages, is so hard up that even Louisa’s crazy scheme appeals to him. It’s only thirty days, not till death do them part. What’s so difficult about impersonating a husband, even if he doesn’t know a Rembrandt from a Rousseau?The real difficulty is keeping his hands off Louisa once there’s nobody around to see through their ruse. And then there’s the small problem of someone at Rosemont trying to kill him. Keeping his wits about him and defending Louisa brings out the honor he thought he’d left on the battlefield. But when Louisa tries to protect him, Charles knows he’s found a way to face his future — in the arms of his heiress.
It was seriously so lovely. It’s a historical romance, but it’s not a Regency. I enjoy Regency as much as the next girl, but it was so refreshing to see a different era. It’s set in the early 1900s (if you’re not a not a history buff and can’t just rattle off the dates of the Boer War from the top of your head), and there were some great details to make it feel accurate to the period.Louisa is a freakin’ amazing heroine. She’s a bit wild, a bit impulsive, smart, a proto-feminist, adorable, and extremely awesome. That being said, we didn’t see a lot of her madcap adventures in the story, because her family sucks a lot, and she becomes quiet and subdued around them. This could have been annoying, but I totally understood why she was acting the way she was. Also, I think a lot of her wildness has been a reaction to her family, so her being a bit more thoughtful, to me, read as someone growing up and not just rebelling for the sake of rebelling.Charles is seriously screwed up. He has seen some terrible things and he’s haunted by them and the things he’s done. I loved that he talked about his trauma early in the story, and that he wasn’t magically healed immediately. He does *think* that he’s been healed, which means that when symptoms of his PTSD manifest later in the story, he totally freaks out and pulls away from Louisa out of fear that he’ll never be normal. I thought this was awesome, because PTSD is a complicated problem, and it is not often addressed realistically in romance. I don’t this was realistic, per se, but it was the closest to realistic that I’ve seen. I loved how he felt like a real guy. I just totally loved him.Their chemistry was smokin’. Their conversations were hilarious. I freakin’ loved them. I loved them so much. They were so adorable. They had real issues, and they worked them out, and even when Charles decided to be a douche for a second, Louisa was patient and talked to him and they worked through it.
So the relationship was freaking amazing. Amazing. The plot was interesting. There was good stuff abounding.
In the book, there are some examples of weak writing. There are some POVs from some characters who I don’t really need to hear about. I assume the only reason why they’re included is to establish some dramatic irony by having the reader know things that Charles and Louisa don’t, but once they learn the information, the POVs from these other characters are dropped. Which, to me, shows that they weren’t necessary. It wasn’t completely egregious, it was just weak and kind of meh, and I loved the rest of the story so much that I am definitely willing to forgive this.The character of Mary Evensong, the chick who runs the Evensong Agency, is fascinating. From the excerpt in the back, she’s going to be a major character in the next book in the series, and I am dying to know more about her.So, while this book had issues, I almost didn’t care because I loved the rest of it so damn much. I will definitely be picking up more books in this series. However much I loved it, I can’t give this book a full 5.0, because the ending was so disappointing and annoying. Darn it. So, because of the ending, I give this a 4.0.Rating: 4 out of 5
This title is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I read this ItAoH a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I thought the couple were so well matched, and especially loved Louisa. I thought the time period was a breath of fresh air, as while Louisa had some freedom of the constraints of English aristocracy due to her wealth, she still battled those expectations with her family. As for the ending, I hate to admit, I don’t remember it clearly 2 weeks out, except I know Louisa and Charles get their HEA. I will definately read the follow up book.