Appointment in Bath

 

Appointment in Bath- Mimi Matthews

Perfectly Proper Press

Release Date: June 27, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Shy and stammering Meg Burton-Smythe has spent the whole of her life living on the fringes of local society. She’s more comfortable with her daydreams than she is with people. But when a dashing, golden-haired hero rides to her rescue one morning, she dares to hope that her dreams might finally come true. There’s only one problem: her handsome rescuer is the son of her father’s sworn enemy.

Ivo Beresford doesn’t believe in clinging to the past. Freshly returned from a lengthy grand tour, he’s looking to the future, eager to spearhead the building of a new railway extension in Somersetshire. But an unexpected encounter with Meg Burton-Smythe, the isolated only daughter of his parents’ oldest foe, sets the past and the future colliding.

Resolved to put ancient grudges to rest—at least where innocent young ladies are concerned—Ivo encourages lonely Meg to embark on a secret friendship. After all, what harm can a friendship do? It isn’t as though there’s any danger of the two of them falling in love…

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I always enjoy Mimi Matthews' books and Appointment in Bath does not disappoint! This is the story of Ivo Beresford and Meg Burton-Smythe, whose parents (Gentleman Jim) have a long-standing feud. But Ivo believes in looking to the future, not the past, and befriends Meg anyway. 

Meg starts out almost painfully shy from being so isolated- her only companions have really always been a few servants, her governess who has now left to get married, and her father- a man who is as much an entitled bully now as he was as a younger man. In her head, Meg thinks of him as Henry VIII, only without the power to chop people's heads off. Thanks to her unlikely friendship with Ivo, she slowly grows in confidence, and watching that was really delightful. Ivo is impetuous and full of plans for the future, sure his was is best and ready to hurry everyone else to get there. He has a good heart and good intentions, is always helping others, but still needs some experience when it comes to people. 

Meg and Ivo are younger than Matthews' usual main characters (18 and 23 years old) or most main characters that I've read recently. This gave them a different feel occasionally- though in a realistic way, not a bad way. They are fresh and optimistic, Ivo in particular is sure he can change the world by dragging everyone into the future with him and his railroad friends. 

Meg and Ivo feel like that second-chance couple who magically didn't need a second chance but were able to have their families, circumstances, and their own hearts line up to give them their happily ever after the first time around.

This book overlaps Return to Satterwaite Court, and refers to the past created in Gentleman Jim, but while both are wonderful books and I completely recommend them, you don't necessarily need to read them in order to enjoy Appointment in Bath.

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