5 stars I received an ARC from Wolf Publishing, and I was excited to read about Clarity's younger sister, Purity. I loved it! Truth be told, Purity seemed like the better match for Clarity’s eventual husband, but he needed someone fun and willing to break the rules and Purity needed someone like that as well—Baron Matthew Foxford, dubbed the Bachelor Baron at times, and at other times Foxy or the Fox. Needless to say, he is a rake who sets his sights on Purity, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and determines she will be his bride. Of course, being exceedingly proper, she wants nothing to do with him. Similarly to the storyline in Clarity, Matthew begs Purity to teach him to be proper, and the more time she spends around him, the more she comes to see the man underneath the persona. What I noticed immediately about this book was the author’s frequent use of archaic terms that were popular at the time. Although I could figure out words based on context, I nevertheless found myself looking up words and phrases simply because I wanted to know more information. There were things like: “beard-splitter,” gimcrack ewes, tipping the velvet, royster, nip-cheese, tweague, rantum-scantum, spoony loggerhead, grinagog, fustilugs, lewd bobtail, game pullet, green gown in a dark garden, looby, lobcock, danced the blanket hornpipe, having a proper smack, pully hawly, “a muff is a tuzzy-muzzy is a quim all the same,” flourish in the bushes, whore’s bird, primsy-pate, thundering buck, “landing a nosegay or even a full floorer,” feather bed jig, buttered bun, wapped, “cove of a man,” toss off, “long-tongued, chaff-cutter of a mouth,” given him the mitten, tweague, swabbers, “half seas over,” “living under the cat’s foot,” sway a-plenty, betwattled, aigrette, rantipole, buck dangler, rum husband, bandbox, Carvel’s ring. At one point, I wondered where Bailey found a dictionary of these terms and why she was using so many of them, almost to the point of showing off. But I was so amused by them, I really didn’t mind. It encouraged me to learn a few new phrases and do some additional research of my own. I wonder, did she use the 1811 Dictionary in the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose? Even if she did, there were many phrases not included. For example, there was this complete sentence, “He was drunk as David’s sow, sucking the monkey for a fortnight straight before he sobered up.” Although it was easy enough to figure this out, I still wanted to look up the various elements of the sentence to understand the origins. I loved Matthew, the polar opposite of stuffy and proper Purity (who turned out not to be, after all). He was surprisingly pure for someone so impure. With a nickname like Fox, it’s no shock he was frequently featured in the gossip section of the newspaper. Still, he managed to bounce through life happily as if every day were a new adventure, and he didn’t seem to have a mean bone in his body. He genuinely never intended to hurt anyone. Meanwhile, Purity was, in a word, pure. She did everything properly and would never end up in the gossip pages. Until she did. The two of them are a perfect balance, with him encouraging her to push the boundaries while she strives to teach him the importance of societal limitations. Early on, she admonishes him that he must not be flippant. “‘Flippant?’ Matthew asked. He might have to remain silent for his normal everyday parlance was ripe with flippancy.” And that’s what made him so much fun. Matthew is a fan of the double entendre, but he cannot get a rise out of Purity. She explains to him, “When presented with a double entendre, a lady has two choices. She can remain silent because she has not heard you, even if she has, or she may say ‘I do not understand you.’” Her voice rose. “And then she can only pray you shut your vulgar potato trap!” This was funny, but I found it much more amusing when, during a different conversation, she simply said, “Cease your nonsense.” Matthew is not one to be easily discouraged. When he suggests they go for a walk in the garden, Purity responds sarcastically that she’s sure her mother won’t mind them wandering around in the dark. He questions whether the book of etiquette she is so fond of quoting offers some kind of warning about sarcasm. “Probably,” she said. “Accordingly, if you can behave, I will curb my tongue. He responds, “Without access to your tongue, I suppose I shall have to behave.” By the time they are married, Purity is no longer shocked by his comments. She worries about her hairpins allowing one of them to be pricked, and that she will be to blame. He replies, “I assure you, lady wife, you shall be pricked, but the blame will be mine.” This time she laughs, finally acknowledging she understands. Matthew teases Purity mercilessly, nicknaming her “Kitten” the first time he meets her, which she repeatedly asks him not to do. But it’s all in good fun. During a dance, he calls her Purity and she is aghast because he uses her “given name. He grinned at her. ‘It slipped out. Do you prefer kitten after all?’” The conversation continues until she accuses him of going too far, saying, “Now I know you are testing me with your impudence.” And he says, “Or is it imprudence?” It is with great difficulty that she remains serious. Because every romance must contain an element of uncertainty, often through some kind of misunderstanding between the main characters, Matthew goes to his club to get drunk and is found there by his friend Quinn. “‘Another,” he (Matthew) called out to the waiter. ‘You're speaking to a floor lamp,’ Quinn said. ‘Blast!’ He looked again. No wonder the chap hadn’t moved the last two times he’d demanded liquor. ‘I don’t think the lamp knows where the best brandy is stored.’” There is not really any subterfuge with Matthew. What you see is what you get, and I think that’s what makes him so lovable. He doesn’t hide what he wants and he asks for it, which is probably why he has had so many conquests prior to meeting Purity. Even in his interactions with her, he pretends to need her help with etiquette, but he quickly admits it’s because he wants her to be his wife and that was the best way he could think of to be near her. Lucky Purity. May 30, 2022
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Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
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