oitb's Reviews > The Runaway Duchess

Complicated feelings about this one. I obviously chose to read book 2 in this series after reading the first book, despite my overall dissatisfaction with it, because I thought there was potential with Joanna Lowell. And while I enjoyed this story more than I did book 1, I ultimately found a lot of it frustrating.

The good stuff first: There were some really beautiful moments and passages in this book, primarily each of the character's ruminations over their personalities, over the situation they're each in, and about each other. One particular scene that I enjoyed was in the middle-ish of the book, when the mains are talking on a cliff about snobbishness and what the hero was seeking in a wife. The heroine's insightfulness was thoughtful to me, and the picture of that scene was painted very vividly by the author.

The bad stuff: While some of the character introspection was good, I ultimately didn't feel like it was purposeful or served a broader story goal. And despite all the introspection, I didn't have a better understanding of why Lavinia is the way she is. I was not ultimately convinced one way or the other about why she's spoiled, or what breaks her heart. We're told that she was poorly treated by her first love, and grossly mistreated by her short-lived husband, but what did she learn or make of those experiences? Not to trust men, sure, but that's so uninteresting to me. That things are "not what they seem," re: her relationship with George? Again, meh.

And then on the hero's end, I'm not sure he took away anything from Lavinia pointing out that he's snobbish over his and his family's intellectualism, which I thought was a nice theme to explore. Yes, I get that it means that what he was seeking from the real Muriel Pendrake was not ultimately what "moved" him or what he ended up loving about Lavinia, but why is he willing to forego those things? What DOES he love about Lavinia that's more important than academic rigor, which he previously so highly valued?

Feels like this book was ultimately an intellectual exercise that didn't fully connect with me, and I think the author's note at the end alludes to the fact that this story came about as a way to explore internal biases. Yes, Joanna Lowell explores why we have prejudices against women who are coded as spoiled, immature, or un-intellectual, but I'm not sure what the ultimate takeaway is, other than "things we are taught to dislike in a woman actually do not signify." Okay, and? We are at a point in which I think we should move beyond a conclusion like that.