Completed Review - Nouveau Book 1: Scandal Broth by Marian Devon

Scandal Broth by Marian Devon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars on Goodreads

A slightly altered version of my Goodreads review follows.

I once read a theory that if the end result of a wait is positive, the one who waits judges the whole of the experience as positive, even if it weren't really. Reading Scandal Broth was a bit like that. The beginning was good, and the ending was good, which almost caused me to rate it three stars ("I liked it"). But in retrospect, the whole was bumpy: I liked aspects of it, and I liked aspects of the author's skill, but overall, I only thought Scandal Broth was "okay." That is why this work is rated two stars.



What I liked: the humor, the premise, and the ability to make secondary female characters interesting.

The book is laced with humor, in the form of witty phrases, insights, and funny situations. The author Marian Devon knows how to use small events in a humorous way.  Examples include the overturning of the stagecoach (both times), characters losing their hats (multiple times), and the number of times the hero (Fitzhugh Denholm) proposes to the heroine. Not only are these good running gags, but they also affected the characters and plot. In fact, this light humor was one of the major reason I kept reading.

But what hooked me, and kept me hooked, was the premise: Denholm not only manages to propose to the wrong Thorpe, but he manages to insult Antonia Thorpe (the heroine) at the same time.

Finally, the author has great skill with female secondary characters. Two in particular (Antonia's grandmother and Denholm's aunt) were compelling and funny, yet believable. Their scenes left me longing for more.

What I didn't like: believability issues and the lack of focus.

While I am no expert on the Recency era, sometimes I felt the hero and heroine acted in ways that did not quite fit with the times. Mostly, I saw these in how they acted in public places, where I would assume they wouldn't be able to interact as they did, especially not without a chaperone or a servant present.

Other than that, most of my believability issues concern secondary characters. For example, Captain Crosland somehow manages to become important to all the principal secondary characters and their plots in the novel. For example, Antonia's cousin confides in the captain her predicament concerning her beau, yet not long ago she didn't know the captain from Adam.  Also, we never see them become close. We only learn of it  secondhand, after the fact.

Tying into all this is the lack of focus. The novel is supposed to be about two problems: 1) Antonia's cousin desires to escape from Denholm's proposal (a marriage of convenience) while wanting to be with someone her father does not approve of. At the same time, 2) Antonia must juggle her cousin's mess while falling for Denholm herself. Yet the cousin's plot is very much in the background of the novel, sometimes arising to affect plot, but for the most part, it and its parties are forgettable. Because of that, the novel uses what should be peripheral events (which spawn more complications) to force the hero and heroine together. It gives the novel a loose feeling.

Finally, interesting secondary characters who are trying to push the hero and heroine together are mostly dropped until convenient to the plot--which is all the more noticeable because of how well they are drawn.

Basically, I think this novel focuses too much on events over plot, and it suffers a little because of it.

Because of these reasons the novel gets two stars. But if I were to rate Devon, who clearly has talent, I would say she is a three, almost four star author. She writes with wit, creativity, and humor. She knows how to complicate an unusual plot and how to craft great secondary female characters. But she is just not quite there on believability or focus.

Genre/Time Period: Regency
Search Categories: matchmaking, refused proposal
Heat Level: sweet
Rating: two stars