the belle of belgrave square mimi matthews

Unlike her friend Evelyn who took centre stage in Siren, she isn’t prone to being bold. On the face of it, she seems an unlikely heroine.

There’s an excellent mystery at the heart of the novel, and it certainly makes it a page turner. To begin with, I was puzzled as to why Captain Blunt could even be considered a romantic hero, but something enticing about the way Matthews writes kept me reading, and I’m glad I did. I won’t ruin any of the twists and turns of this novel, but Mimi Matthews manages to turn the plot of a marriage of convenience into one that is surprising and romantic at every corner. Yes, Julia’s dowry is perhaps the biggest in town, but she is absolutely fascinating: a lover of books, kind and beautiful. But when in London, assessing the dowries on offer, he is stopped in his tracks by Julia. He needs a rich wife to restore the fortunes of his family home in Yorkshire: Goldfinch Hall has fallen to rack and ruin, with few other occupants than his three illegitimate children that he truly wants to do right by. But she is under no illusion that he is looking for a wife for anything other than a huge dowry, and with her anxiety, she struggles to articulate herself in his presence anyway.Ĭaptain Blunt, it turns out, is looking for a wife, and he does have secrets. Scarred from the Crimean War with a terrifying reputation, he both scares and secretly thrills Julia. Her two solaces are reading novels and riding her horse, and whilst she is riding her horse down Rotten Row, she runs into Captain Jasper Blunt. It is June 1862, and Julia Wychwood is alone in London, her three friends way. Isn’t this cover lovely? I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when it’s as stylish as this, it definitely adds to the whole experience!

The belle of belgrave square mimi matthews