The Sport of Baronets, Theresa Romain

The reason I have a private book reviewing blog (and by private I mean not linked from the twitter where I talk about romance) is because when a book rubs me the wrong way I want to complain about it, and it's super weird to do that somewhere the author might notice. This, for example, seems to be a fairly popular novella by a well-liked author, but I have a list of complaints.

• It's a novella, so we never really get a chance to know the hero or heroine except when they say stuff like, "oh, I NEVER do this kind of thing!" So he's never flirted with a lady before, claims he gets all awkward and weird, but is just fine with her (and sure does know how to get her off with just his mouth and hands under her dress later). And she's always wanted to be freeeeee, although... why didn't she get a season? Why is she so put upon by her father who relies so heavily on her? I feel like I don't know, because we only ever saw them doing things they claimed never to have done.
• The book opens by mentioning the decades-old rivalry between their two families. They can never trust each other! They hate the very sight of each other! Her father tried to kill his mother! Everyone in London knows they are mortal enemies!!!!! But then later on it turns out not that much really happened, no one's really sure why they hate each other, and the whole thing turns into kind of a shrug. 
• This is one of those Regency romances where everyone is a modern person who just happens to be playing olde tyme dress up. She's totally cool with sneaking off to have sex with him, with no particular worry about the consequences or the scandal. He's an awkward dude (...maybe a virgin? He says he's never flirted successful with a lady, but no one clarified this for me) who knows just how to go to town on a lady with oral the first time they're together. She's all about being free, and living her own life, and seeing the world, and also horse racing, and being forthright, and having sex. I don't mind a liberated heroine in a Regency, in fact, I love it, but she has to feel like she could actually have been alive at the time the book takes place.

I don't know. Your mileage may vary, depending on how much those particular things bother you. I really liked the hero and heroine, and I suspect I might have loved this book if it were a full-length novella that got into the family backstory, and gave either of them a friend or companion to talk to and demonstrate what their normal behavior was supposed to be like. I totally bought their romance and liked them together. I just couldn't deal with a bunch of the details and background stuff, because it felt so unreal.

Also: horses smell terrible. That's cool, if you love horses, and love hanging out in stables, but the smell of a stable seems like a strange turn-on, especially when you specifically mention manure. Ick.

Grade: C

#25 in 2016