Minx

Author: Julia Quinn
Published: September 1996 (Avon)
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6/10

Here's the dud for the Splendid and Dancing at Midnight trilogy. Dunford was a great and funny supporting character in those books and he did deserve his own book, especially after Belle bet him a thousand pounds that within a year, he'd be married and blissfully happy with it. At least it wasn't a spectacular, go-down-in-flames kind of dud.

Henrietta Barrett has never followed the dictates of society. She manages her elderly guardian's remote Cornwall estate, wears breeches instead of frocks, and answers to the unlikely name of Henry. But when her guardian passes away, her beloved home falls into the hands of a distant cousin.

William Dunford, London's most elusive bachelor, is stunned to learn that he's inherited property, a title... and a ward bent on making his first visit his last. Henry is determined to continue running Stannage Park without help from the handsome new lord, but Dunford is just as sure he can change things... starting with his wild young ward. But turning Henry into a lady makes her not only the darling of the ton, but an irresistible attraction to the man who thought he could never be tempted.

I was so disappointed because Splendid and Dancing at Midnight were so wonderful. I think it's because I didn't like Henry very much. Well, I tend to dislike female characters who want to go by male names, because it makes for very odd love scenes.

I hated their post-marriage conflict, where Henry believes some woman who was angry she didn't get Dunford, saying that Dunford is keeping a mistress despite his declarations of love and devotion. For such an outspoken young lady, Henry was remarkably dim. Yes, she saw Dunford visit his mistress (he was ending the relationship), but she didn't bother confronting him about it. This was the girl who had no problem duping him into the perception that Stannage Park was a poor farm where he, as baron, would have to muck out stalls, chase after pigs, and eat nothing but porridge and mutton.

And then she makes him believe that she married him just so she wouldn't have to leave Stannage Park and she lied about loving him. I didn't think Dunford would be that dim either, to be such a poor judge of character that he believed everything was faked.

Disappointing, but thankfully, Quinn has so many other books to read.