Harbinger of Books

Phillip is a miserable man, his wife suffered with chronic depression until she attempted suicide, his children seem unmanageable and he has no idea why or what to do about it for fear he will be as his abusive father was. Phillip believes the best thing he can do is marry a nice woman who will help him manage his life and his children. After the death of his wife Phillip receives an odd correspondence with Eloise who sends her sympathies. Eloise is also having a bit of an identity crisis, while her family is fine with her turning down marriage prospects, Eloise is beginning to feel lonely and life as a spinster suddenly seems quite bleak. After a year of secret correspondence Phillip offers and unusual marriage proposal without ever laying eyes on each other but can a correspondence really turn into friendship and mayhap even love?

Something about this story quite reminds me of British television, where the woman is constantly chatting and the man is trying to keep up with the constant stream of conversation. I did enjoy this book, and it is a bit different from the others in that it seemed like we knew a great deal more about Phillip emotionally than Eloise. Quite honestly I had a lot of sympathy for Phillip, it was like he rather lived in a shell. I also liked all of the noise and bumbling that Eloise brought to his life and his home.

What did not really work for me was Eloise herself. As a character I liked her but I felt like I did not really understand her. It did not make sense to me that she would run away like a thief in the night for an adventure that could ruin her. While I could see Phillip falling in love with Eloise it did not seem much like she loved him. In other books she is witty and funny, perhaps that is due to all of the scenes with Penelope and Hyacinth…which takes me to my next point while it was nice to see the Bridgerton’s brothers where are her sisters and I really missed her meddling mama??

In the end this is an enjoyable and touching story. To me it was a bit of a departure from the other Bridgerton’s books but none the less I still liked it.

3 1/2 stars