Review by Kayleigh

Series Name: Belles of London, #4

Book Synopsis:

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist—and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother’s pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic…like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who’s ever really seen her.

Aspiring painter Edward “Teddy” Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist’s model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He’ll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience.

After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella’s luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture….

Review:

This is the final book in the Belles of London series and also kind of a finale for Mimi’s Parish Orphans of Devon series as we see both Stella from the Belles and Teddy from Parish Orphans book three meet together in a fabulous combustion. 

Stella is a brilliant free spirit who’s gone prematurely gray and is basically ridiculed for it. Teddy is a brilliant and talented artist who lived a carefree existence until scarlett fever left him paralyzed and his family to treat him like a child. 

The two meet once in an art gallery and then again after Stella tries dying her hair at a house party to try and attract a suitor so she can remove herself from her pious brother’s house.  

Teddy is looking for a muse, Stella is looking for someone to love her for her differences. Teddy becomes obsessed with having Stella as his muse and will stop at nothing to get her to pose for him. What develops is a slow burn friendship that turns into angsty longing. These two take their time discovering their true feelings for each other, and it’s delicious. There’s so much tension. And yet, all I kept wanting was more of them. Their banter in scenes and in letters they write to each other, is terrific. Mimi is such a strong and beautiful writer and I loved watching her bring to life both their passion for each other (albeit slowly) and their focus on supporting each other to be the best they can be. 

As this is kind of a wrap-up of two series, there’s a lot of secondary characters in the book. Teddy’s friends and family are kind of an easter egg – you don’t need to have read that series to enjoy or understand the book, but it was a delight to see them all on page again. I love the Belle series and I think you should read the series to understand how Stella sees her world. 

As always, Mimi does a terrific amount of research in her books. It was fascinating to see Teddy’s disability on the page. There were parallels to The Secret Garden with his frustration and loneliness and how Stella was able to bring light and passion back to his life. Also interesting was the history of wheelchairs that Mimi explores in the book and how hard it especially was for Teddy to move around the world with any bit of freedom because of his paralyzed legs. 

I love Mimi and I was sad to reach the end of The Muse of Maiden Lane. I miss the women and the men who love them already. 

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.