So this book is a sequel to It Takes Two to Tumble, and it focuses on Ben Sedgwick's younger brother Hartley and his misadventures in London. At the end of the first book, we had discovered that a Sir Humphrey Easterbrook had left his home to Hartley Sedgwick, his godson, instead of to his son Martin. In revenge, Martin published letters that suggested that Hartley had actually been sleeping with Easterbrook (which he had been) and that his father had disinherited him in favor of his kept boy. Hartley had done all of that because the instability of his home with his bohemian father and four brothers had convinced him that he really needed to become rich and join the upper classes, but Martin ruined his reputation so at the start of the sequel all Hartley really has is his money, not his status.
There's a lot happening even before this book begins! And some of it, if I'm frank, is a bit ridiculous! I never quite believe that Hartley actually wants to be part of the aristocracy, although I definitely believe that he wants a kind of stability he never had as a child. But anyway! That is his backstory, and it's all falling apart (servants are leaving his employ, he never goes out and sees anyone, etc.), when Sam Fox shows up in his life.
Sam is the owner of a public house and a former boxer. The bar used to belong to his father, who was also a boxer, and it's also something of a meeting place for Black London, where black people can meet and get a good meal cooked by Sam's brother, and if they're having a rough time Sam won't always charge them. His path intersects with Hartley when his brother's fiancee Kate tells Sam that she won't marry his brother because of a nude painting she sat for when she had no money--she doesn't want that to be out there in the future. And of course, the man who requested the painting was Easterbrook, so Sam goes to his house to see if he can find it and get it back.
There's a fair amount of plot in this book, as they attempt to figure out where Easterbrook's collection of exploitative paintings are now, and Sam attempts to keep the public house afloat and avoid catching the notice of the terrible neighborhood constable, and Hartley takes in basically two urchins who are his servants now and gets worse and worse at being an aristocrat. But really it's just a lovely little story about two people finding each other, and I really love the depiction of Sam's London, and while there's definitely a bit of the too convenient in the ending, I still like the two of them as a couple enough to go with it all. Hartley's logistical conflicts never quite landed for me, but his emotional ones did, and I really enjoyed where the story goes with him and Sam together.
Grade: B
There's a lot happening even before this book begins! And some of it, if I'm frank, is a bit ridiculous! I never quite believe that Hartley actually wants to be part of the aristocracy, although I definitely believe that he wants a kind of stability he never had as a child. But anyway! That is his backstory, and it's all falling apart (servants are leaving his employ, he never goes out and sees anyone, etc.), when Sam Fox shows up in his life.
Sam is the owner of a public house and a former boxer. The bar used to belong to his father, who was also a boxer, and it's also something of a meeting place for Black London, where black people can meet and get a good meal cooked by Sam's brother, and if they're having a rough time Sam won't always charge them. His path intersects with Hartley when his brother's fiancee Kate tells Sam that she won't marry his brother because of a nude painting she sat for when she had no money--she doesn't want that to be out there in the future. And of course, the man who requested the painting was Easterbrook, so Sam goes to his house to see if he can find it and get it back.
There's a fair amount of plot in this book, as they attempt to figure out where Easterbrook's collection of exploitative paintings are now, and Sam attempts to keep the public house afloat and avoid catching the notice of the terrible neighborhood constable, and Hartley takes in basically two urchins who are his servants now and gets worse and worse at being an aristocrat. But really it's just a lovely little story about two people finding each other, and I really love the depiction of Sam's London, and while there's definitely a bit of the too convenient in the ending, I still like the two of them as a couple enough to go with it all. Hartley's logistical conflicts never quite landed for me, but his emotional ones did, and I really enjoyed where the story goes with him and Sam together.
Grade: B
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