Marguerite (M)'s Reviews > Beautiful Things

now that I have a reading journal, I don't need to use Goodreads to keep track of my reading but here is it...

this book was kinda cool, okay?

imagine a regency RH with jane austen's feels all over. it's not perfect, there's a lot of anachronistic language here and there and it's clearly not believable...
but damn if it doesn't feel good.

rosalie was a refreshing character. she's a bit too modern, 100% a feminist of her era, but a lovely person to follow. you can't help to root for her, for her to get the freedom she craves, see her love blossom and change the people around her before she goes tackling society itself.

+ third person, multiple povs
+ jealousy
+ 100% ow drama cause you know, marriage of convenience and stuff
+ kinda fast burn, kinda slow burn

and then there's the fact that the author obviously loves jane austen and did not want to deviate too much from a beloved story; it's rh, it was written in 2022 but nothing happens.
and that's just how it should be.
but it also really tackles how ladies were conditioned to have no thoughts whatsoever and only wish for the best marriage they could.
hey, regency books are awesome and all-time guilty pleasures of everybody but it's definitely not pro women's rights...

anyhoo.
the romance is good. it's dramatic, it's sweet, and it's totally forbidden. rosalie is even less of a prospective bride than our dear lizzie bennet as she is a penniless orphan and not a virgin!
good thing she does not want to get married. why would she tie herself to a husband when she finally has no men to make decisions for her?

the book ended rather dramatically and it will be up to rosalie to pick up the pieces, and hopefully her third gentleman. I cannot wait to get my hands on the second part of this duology; I both wished this story would end at the last chapter and would last so much longer...