*** - I'm a fan of bluestocking heroines who are independent-minded. But this one fell pretty flat for me. I don't care for 'mistress' love stories. I don't mind women with experience and such, but to me, the mistress angle often makes me feel as if the heroine is being used. Also, currently I have no patience for commitment-phobes. Letitia Boyce is certainly unconventional. Rather than follow her mother's wishes and join the husband-hunt, Letty decides to open an equally unconventional seminary for well-born young ladies that actually teaches them practical skills and how to hold interesting conversation. The last thing she wants to get involved with is her younger sisters' current escort Lord Seton Rayne.
But Seton isn't used to being ignored, and he finds himself drawn more and more to the intelligent beauty. And he spends more and more time making excuses to spend more time with her.
So - the good: I really liked Letty. She's very clever, a talented writer, and wants much more than to be some man's arm-candy. But just because she doesn't want to be stuck in a very limiting gender role doesn't mean she's not interested in experiencing the joys of courtship and a relationship (emotional and physical) with a man. And I can identify whole-heartedly with that. Letty was fantastic.
But - I couldn't really get behind the whole looking to shock people by becoming Seton's mistress, which will somehow enhance her school's reputation? I'm just not sure I buy it, for starters. Would people really be ok with sending their daughters to be raised by a woman who is openly a nobleman's mistress? Also, as I mentioned above, I don't much care for mistress stories. And somehow, Seton never really worked for me.
There's nothing I can point to particularly that was bad about this story. But despite the great heroine, I just wasn't drawn into the story. It was a decent way to spend an afternoon, but nothing that I found particularly memorable.
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