Sarah MacLean (1) (1978–)

May 2023 addendum: skip this book and read Sherry Thomas's Not Quite a Husband instead which is superior to (and clearly inspired) The Day of the Duchess.

March 2023 original review:
2.5 stars

My first Sarah MacLean! lol and likely my last. I gave her a good shot, but I kind of knew going in that her writing likely wouldn't be for me. Sorry but her dialogue is a cringe-fest to me. So much, "Hello Husband!" "Yes, WIFE!" get me out of here!

There is a lot of white feminism moments in this book that feels oppressive in its heavy-handedness. Like HEY DID YOU KNOW THIS IS A FEMINIST BOOK ABOUT FEMINISTS DOING FEMINISM IN A FEMINIST GIRL GANG??? This is THE book where I realized I don't like girl gangs in histrom - they are tedious. The whole old wife pick me a new wife at our country estate didn't really work well. It was lazy. I also wanted more for Sera during her time traveling, like maybe a relationship with other people? (there was ample opportunity with the American she met and traveled back to England with, for instance - I don't care that he ends up with another member of the girl gang in a different book. It would have been so fucking brave for Sera to have taken a lover and brought him back with her, even if they were just friends by that point. give me THAT book.) Anyway, Sera supposedly comes back a new person, completely unlike her previous self. But I did not feel this in the pages I read. And I don't find MacLean's sex scenes sexy at all.

I liked that the author wrote a cheating story; I'd like to see more, actually! I enjoy reading about infidelity in my romance books because it is still such a taboo and also because I think cheating provides so much potential for character work. It's sad that it is undervalued by readers. This book about infidelity just fell terribly short for me.
… (mere)

I wanted to like this more than I did.

I haven't read this kind of pure historical romance in a while and I was hoping to love it (I've liked this author in the past) this just didn't really do it for me. It was repetitive in annoying ways (how many times do you need to tell me there is a dagger on her thigh?) and lacking in the kind of interaction that makes the sexy payoff worth it in the end. There was some.....just not enough. This all felt rushed to me.

Still, I have read worse and it's easy to breeze right through a book like this so there's not much time invested in a ho-hum story.… (mere)