Belle of Belgrave Square

 The Belle of Belgrave Square- Mimi Matthews

Berkley

Release Date: October 11, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Tall, dark, and dour, the notorious Captain Jasper Blunt was once hailed a military hero, but tales abound of his bastard children and his haunted estate in Yorkshire. What he requires now is a rich wife to ornament his isolated ruin, and he has his sights set on the enchanting Julia Wychwood.

For Julia, an incurable romantic cursed with a crippling social anxiety, navigating a London ballroom is absolute torture. The only time Julia feels any degree of confidence is when she’s on her horse. Unfortunately, a young lady can’t spend the whole of her life in the saddle, so Julia makes an impetuous decision to take her future by the reins—she proposes to Captain Blunt.
 
In exchange for her dowry and her hand, Jasper must promise to grant her freedom to do as she pleases. To ride—and to read—as much as she likes without masculine interference. He readily agrees to her conditions, with one provision of his own: Julia is forbidden from going into the tower rooms of his estate and snooping around his affairs. But the more she learns of the beastly former hero, the more intrigued she becomes…

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In this lovely book with inspiration drawn from Beauty and the Beast, the socially anxious Julia Wychwood decides to run away with the darkly mysterious fortune hunter Captain Blunt. He needs her money, she needs to not be under her selfish parents' control anymore. And Julia thinks as long as she has her books and her horse, and no longer has to deal with London Society, she can handle everything else. But even the wildest gothic novel might not prepare her for the secrets her new husband is hiding.

I loved the first book in Mimi Matthews' new series, The Siren of Sussex (okay, I love all Matthews's books but I really loved Siren). Now I have to say I think The Belle of Belgrave Square is my new favorite Mimi Matthews book of all time. Julia is the kind of heroine you don't see much of, but always wonder about: the quiet woman who has social anxiety in a London Season literally designed to put marriageable women in the spotlight, thus being Hell on Earth to those women who can't stand being in the spotlight but still need to be married. How do they manage the Season? Julia manages by riding her horse whenever possible and drawing strength from her few dear friends the rest of the time. But here, her friends are away and she has to face social events by herself. She's kind and caring and an unapologetic novel reader- not just of Dickens and Wilkie Collins but of the penny dreadfuls and gothic horrors and romances. The books that newspaper reviews call tripe and her parents and doctor think are harmful to young ladies. But she has an unexpected ally in Captain Jasper Blunt: a man who reads novels, rides horses, sees her when others see only her money, and has a reputation for incredible cruelty on the battlefield. His secrets have secrets and you spend much of the book trying to figure out what his truths will be. It was really great to be kept guessing. Every time I thought I had the answer, Matthews would come up with something else to make me question if I had all the secrets, right up until the big reveal at the end. What was never in doubt was that Jasper wanted Julia, and not just for her money. Their scenes together, even before their marriage, are filled with a tenderness and sweetness that was wonderful. Watching them come together was like watching a dance- steps closer together and further apart but knowing in the end they were going to be a perfect match, their strengths and weaknesses a perfect fit when they worked together. 

I loved watching both Julia and Jasper grow in confidence, and watching the love grow between them was beautiful. Gorgeously written and full of emotion, a book I never wanted to put down, The Belle of Belgrave Square may be Mimi Matthews' best book yet!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review