Review by Kayleigh
This is a laugh out loud ode to gothic romance of yore.
Favourite Quote:
I was trying to sound sophisticated, but to be honest, I felt as if a boulder had settled on my chest. When Burnsby was courting me, he expressed a wish for a companion, which I translated (cynically) into the desire to show off a beautiful, young wife. I had assumed Burnsby was too old for marital intimacies. Apparently not.
Book Synopsis:
In the depths of winter, Lady Genevieve Hughes, her pet piglet, and her septuagenarian husband travel to a haunted abbey in the Scottish Highlands. Evie is excited to meet a ghost (perhaps one of her husband’s three previous wives), but didn’t expect the funny, quirky guests to become the friends she’s never had. And she certainly didn’t imagine meeting Sir Godric Everly, a sardonic, witty solicitor who loathes her husband.
Yet as secrets and lies turn Evie’s world upside down, Sir Godric becomes the one person whom she can trust.
When ghosts, multiple wills, and a shocking marriage certificate bring Lord Burnsby’s past crashing into his present, Burnsby promptly dies, leaving Evie free to remarry…though as a virgin wife, now a virgin widow, she is more unnerved by the marriage bed than a spectral visit.
More importantly, she has to figure out whose identity is false, whose vows are dishonorable, whose truths could destroy her reputation—and where her heart belongs.
Review:
Eloisa James can truly do no wrong for me. I adore her books and know I can always count on them for humour, dynamic characters and a swoony romance. The Last Lady B has a slightly different tang from some of Eloisa’s classic reads, but it still feels like an Eloisa James book. Firstly, you should know that this is a first person, single point of view book, which I can’t recall Eloisa ever doing before. We get very intimate with our heroine, Genevieve Hughes. I adored her and was so happy to spend some time in her head. Secondly, if you didn’t know, Eloisa James is actually the pen name for a respected Shakespearean scholar, and many of her books have reference or pay homage to the bard. This book keeps that trend up, but also plays with the classic gothic romance genre (my favourite as well as Eloise’s is Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen) and plays on the stereotypes, tropes and twists found in these classics. This is a smart, funny book that focuses on Genevieve. There is a strong romantic subplot but I would say it is not the primary plot unlike others of her works.
We meet Genevieve, who is a gorgeous, smart, 25 year old who has just married almost three times her age. No one can really understand why she’d shackle herself to him, especially as she’s now Lord Burnsby’s FOURTH wife. Apparently they don’t last long around him. The reason? Money of course. She wants to ensure that her younger sister is taken care of, and this marriage to the elderly Lord Burnsby is giving her the chance to give her sister a dowry so she can marry for love instead of necessity.
Seven months into the marriage, which is going ok – not great but ok – Genevieve and her husband are travelling up to his remote Scottish estate to celebrate his seventieth birthday. Genevieve has never really been attracted to any man, so this marriage of convenience – with no intimacies – works well for her.
Everything is going as well as she can expect until they get to the estate. There, everything goes sideways. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, because discovering all the zany and terrible things awaiting her is part of the fun but let’s just say the story includes a heaving-bosom mistress, a mad woman in the abbey, a hidden away child and a very, very handsome barrister. Spoiler alert: the elderly and decrepit Lord Burnsby is not the main romantic character that will give Genevieve her HEA.
I loved this romp of a book. It had me laughing, sighing and exhilarating as I journeyed through this adventure with Genevieve. While it’s written a little differently than Eloisa’s other books, it still feels innately like an Eloisa James book. There’s a fabulous cast of characters, terrific banter, and a love interest who’s journey to loving Genevieve is so fulfilling.
If you’re looking for a moody, swoony and funny read, then you need to sit down with The Last Lady B.
