Tough love
“Lily” by Patricia Gaffney
A word of caution: if you’re repelled by alpha jerk heroes or think that old skool romances should be relegated to the doghouse along with bicycle shorts and tofu, don’t even dream of picking up this one. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for soap opera plots, a down-trodden heroine and a jerk(off) hero, follow me down the rabbit hole, as we embark on yet another book in my Patricia Gaffney glom.
Lily Trehearne is a gently-reared lady. Well brought up but not particularly wealthy or well-connected, she’s nonetheless quite content with her life. Unfortunately for her, her wicked uncle (add yet another one to the running tab we’re keeping of this) wants her to marry his son, for reasons unbeknownst to Lily. She injures her uncle while in a fight and thinking he’s dead, goes on the lam.
She turns up at Darkstone Manor in Cornwall, an isolated mansion inhabited by the dark and brooding viscount, Devon Darkwell, whom she first encounters when he takes a pistol and fires it at a lightbulb. You know I’m just as lazy as the next person, but c’mon dude, flick the switch! But I guess this is for Dramatic Effect and to show us How Dangerous The Hero Is.
There are definite shades of Jane Eyre and Rebecca here, as Lily signs on as a maid in Devon’s household. Devon is attracted to his pretty young kitchen maid (Lily isn’t even a parlour maid) and this incurs the wrath of the dogmatic and sociopath housekeeper Mrs Howe (who undoubtedly comes from the same gene pool as Mrs Danvers from “Rebeccaâ€).
Poor Lily. It must be tough to be her, what with all the trials and tribulations she goes through. But what fun it is to read! Because every torment she endures at the hands of our hero, (hopefully) means resultant grovel/heart twinge for moi. And Devon is one of the most alpha, cruel, deliberately obtuse heroes I’ve read in a while. Which sucks for you if that isn’t your cup of oolong, but I happen to love that kind of thing. He never trusts Lily even though she’s proved herself to be dependable and honest time and time again. Of course, he’s had the prerequisite tormented background to explain his loutish behaviour. Side-note: wouldn’t it be funny if for once, a jerk hero tells the heroine, “Love, I haven’t been scarred by a woman before and I haven’t some dramatic and painful episode in my dark past to explain my behaviour. Let’s just say I’m acting this way because I’m a pr*ck, and let’s leave it at that.†Now that’s honest.
Anyway, misfortune after misfortune is heaped on poor Lily and most of the time, this is caused by (a) Devon’s behaviour (b) Devon’s words (c) Devon’s household staff. Of course, Devon doesn’t want to marry Lily, because he thinks he’s too good for her. Which I don’t have a problem with, because I find this pretty realistic and true to the time-period. And it’s also realistic how Lily’s romance with Devon wasn’t well-regarded by the household staff. Disney type romances where the maid marries the master immediately and the other maids, footmen, butler and singing mice rejoice and cartoon birds dress her in a gown made out of unicorn skin are pretty farcical I think.
But Devon comes pretty close to physically abusing Lily at one point. *Spoiler* After they’ve settled down into a pretty blissful life, someone shoots Devon’s brother in the head, and Devon discovers a note under his brother’s hand, which implicates Lily. At this point, you kinda want to go “D’oh†and shake him until his kneecaps fall off because really, how has Lily not proven herself to him by now? Devon drags Lily off and imprisons her in her bedroom and I think he’s quite rough with her. So just to let you know, if this is a deal-breaker for you, you might pick up the book and fling it against the wall. But because Lola is made of sterner stuff, I persevere, in the hopes that at the end of the rainbow, little leprechauns dance around my pot of grovel.
Eventually Lily runs away and is tracked down by Devon, who’s still oblivious to the truth. He humiliates Lily on the eve of her wedding to another man, and by this time, I’m mentally rubbing my hands in glee, because it’s as if I can hear the theme song to 2001: A Space Odyssey playing and see the word “GROVEL†moulded out of rock, looming in the background. Of course, Devon discovers the truth and has to try and scramble his way back into Lily’s life.
All I can say is, Patricia Gaffney gives good grovel. Pages and pages worth. It’s a matter of opinion whether the grovel is enough to make up for Devon’s earlier caveman behaviour, when he scorned Lily’s love as being unimportant. I happen to think it was. I always figure that bad behaviour earlier on the part of the hero acts as a nice contrast when he has to grovel his way to China later on. Lola thought he was genuinely sorry and in the face of his abject despair and profound distress, all Lola can say is “Nyahahaha!†and settle in to enjoy myself. As Devon pleads with her, “Love me again, Lily, let me back in. I need you,†well, I can tell you that I picked up my pillow and screamed into it. In a good way of course. And when Devon recites all the harm he has done to Lily (as if we could forget), you do get the sense that he’s learned his lesson.
So, I loved “Lily.†I think “To Have and To Hold†is better, but so far it’s 2 for 2! Where has Patricia Gaffney been all Lola’s romance-reading life? If you guys are tired of reading reviews of Patricia Gaffney’s books, you’d better throw yourself on Sheridan’s mercy (ha!) and ask her to blog about something else.
lynette said,
February 1, 2008 @ 5:35 am
Shot a lightbulb - what era is this book set in???
Jill D. said,
February 3, 2008 @ 4:52 am
I read To Have and To Hold last year and really like it. But it was the second book in a trilogy; To Love and To Cherish being the first. Since I liked To Have and To Hold so much I recently decided to read TLATC. I am sorry to say that I did not like it. While you are on your Gaffney glom (try saying that three times fast) I would avoid this one. Christy (the hero) is no alpha male. He is very sweet and a preacher for crying out loud. Definitely no groveling will ensue, because he is perfect. Just thought I would warn you. Its such a shame to because Gaffney is very talented and her books are well written.
I might have to check out Lily though.
La Lola said,
February 3, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
Hey Lynette, t’s one of those romances where you can’t really tell which period it is: Regency, Victorian or Georgian. But I’m not really to fussed about historical inaccuracies in my romance novels. It has to be something really glaring for me to care. Like one of the characters watching American Idol.
La Lola said,
February 3, 2008 @ 3:25 pm
Thanks for the warning Jill D. I don’t have TLATC, it not being one of the books which I’ve managed to scoop up. But I do have my reservations about the minister hero anyway. Read a book by Sandra Brown once with a minister hero and thought it was pretty awful. You might also like “Sweet Everlasting” by Patricia Gaffney. Thought that was quite a good read.
Jill D. said,
February 4, 2008 @ 5:31 am
Thanks La Lola, I will add “Lily” and “Sweet Everlasting” to my growing list.