He’s the only man she’s ever loved…
For ages it seems advice columnist Annabelle Swift has loved Derek Knightly, editor-owner of The London Weekly from a distance. Determined to finally attract her employer’s attention, she seeks advice from her loyal readers—who offer Annabelle myriad suggestions…from lower-cut bodices (success!) and sultry gazes (disaster!) to a surprise midnight rendezvous (wicked!).
She’s the only woman he never noticed…
Derek never really took note of his shy, wallflower lady writer. But suddenly she’s exquisite…and he can’t get Annabelle out of his mind! She must be pursuing someone, but who? For some inexplicable reason, the thought of her with another man makes Knightly insanely jealous.
Will Dear Annabelle find her happy ending?
But Knightly’s scandalous periodical has been targeted for destruction by a vengeful Lord Marsden, and the beleaguered editor now faces a devastating choice: either marry Marsden’s sister to save his beloved newspaper…or follow his heart and wed his Writing Girl.
The heroine is as smart as a rock and a-quiver over the lack of attentions from the man she ‘loves’ despite never having had a conversation with him. Entertaining setup and I suppose her blundering is somewhat endearing? Unfortunately she’s also dull and a pushover who lets herself get treated like shit by her family. She is extremely proud of herself for using a slightly rude word to describe someone in print. I wish she’d had a little more going for her, because I have a hard time believing a sharp editor-in-chief is going to fall head over heels with someone for being brave when she can’t carry on an intelligent conversation, has no grasp on any higher machinations or motivations, is naive and clueless, and mostly writes articles about etiquette.
Her self sacrifice at the end is a disappointing regression in personality, and the ending serves to give him the empowering moment, not her. She just suffers more of the same treatment and gives up, when I think storywise she needed to fully embrace her new personality traits and pursue what she wanted. Her physical and personality transformation makes me think of Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, where she reverts back to her old lady form when she disses herself and accepts things without fighting for herself. Sophie was given power by her ending, whereas this book would be like her waiting around at the hatshop being bombed in her old lady form and never trying to help.
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