Book 5: Cupboard Kisses by Barbara Metzger

Cupboard Kisses by Barbara Metzger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars on Goodreads

Modified from Goodreads review; will contain a few spoilers.

There is so much to enjoy about this novel. Such as the first meeting between the hero (Captain Chase/Lord Winstoke) and heroine (Cristobel Swann), although I have to admit I don't like have his rakish behavior thrown so hard in my face. The two get off on the wrong foot right away, but in such a funny way (including some literal tripping over Cristobel's harp)! But how could things not get off on the wrong foot, given that he "stole" (won in a card game) her inheritance. I can't help but think how differently this novel would have gone if Chase could have seen her, but I'm glad he didn't. Anyway, despite the less than pleasant meeting, Chase is a good guy. He tries to help Cristobel.



But of course, with Metzger, things don't get better before they get worse. The lodging house Chase gives her is actually a bordello, a fact which Chase didn't know and that the residents and current managers do their best to hide from her. And then when Cristobel does find out, things get even worse for her.  She tosses out the women and the managers, and one of the latter keeps trying to shoot her with funny results.  But suffice it to say, from beginning of her plight to this point and beyond, Cristobel handles it with strength, so while I sympathize with her, I know she is a capable woman.

And of course, there is also the romance, which starts off, once again, on the wrong foot--for the two do not recognize each other!  Though this time, they have time to interact and to start falling in love, despite the fact that at first Chase thinks in terms of indecent proposals until he discovers who she is. But even so, throughout, he acts pretty decently to her.

Overall, the whole novel is great. So great that I read it in two days, and I was left with few regrets. One regret is the aforementioned rakish incident I did not like all that much.  Namely, we see the hero in flagrante delicto.  But it is so brief and minor, and whitewashed with enough humor, that it is scarcely worth holding against Chase. Another is Cristobel's former employer (a woman "with a heart so coal-black it could stoke the fires of hell a good long while" (14)). Metzger wrote her so well, I expected and wanted to see more of her, but we never see her after the beginning, except for a few mentions that taper off as the novel progresses. Finally, there is the resolution of a few plot-lines, one being the antagonist's (the shooter's) and another being the discovery of who Chase is, that felt a little rushed, maybe a tad not believable. But even so, these fit with the overall light, funny tone of the novel, so they are not enough to deprive this work of its fifth star. 

And so there it is.  A five-star Regency well worth the read.

Cite: Metzger, Barbara. Cupboard Kisses. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1989.  Print.
Genre/Time Period: Regency
Search Categories: mistaken identities, in trade, bordello, indecent proposal
Heat Level: mostly sweet. You will see a little heat in the situation (the bordello) but nothing explicit. Also the rakish incident, a few kisses, and pondering of an indecent (non-marriage) proposal.
Rating: five stars