His Mistress by Christmas by Victoria Alexander
Review by reacherfan1909
His Mistress by Christmas is an historical romance set in the late 1885 London around the holidays. Like most Christmas-centric romances, this one is light, frothy, fun with a tried a true plot livened by witty dialogue, but not much else.
Lady Veronica Smithson was married briefly, though happily, to an older man who left her a wealthy, independent woman. While her family might want her married again, Veronica has a different idea. She wants none of the drawbacks of marriage – essentially becoming some man’s chattel, but she does miss the pleasures of the marriage bed. She has what she considers the perfect solution – become the mistress of an interesting man who will be amenable to such a discrete arrangement. And she’s found the perfect candidate – Sir Sebastian Hadley-Attwater, explorer, author, world traveler, and currently speaker at the Explorers Club – and handily enough, the cousin of her best friend Portia, Lady Redwell, another young widow.
Sir Sebastian loves traveling and writing, and is happy to oblige the Explorers Club in speaking to members and guests, including a lovely looking woman sitting with his cousin. When taking questions from the audience, he’s challenged about the club’s policy of no female members, but deftly deflects what might be a huge political argument and happily allows Sir Hugo deal with the redoubtable Miss Charlotte Bramwell while he snags an introduction to the woman he’s decided must be his.
Portia is horrified by her friend’s plan. It’s just scandalous, and Sebastian is her cousin! Once they’ve been introduced, it’s obvious the two are destined for each other. The witty remarks fly along with veiled innuendo. Sebastian is delighted to spar with the woman and immediately undertakes to get to know her better by asking her to the theater – even going so far as to invite her Aunt Lotte, who is still locked in argument with Sir Hugo, to accompany them.
So begins their romance, or as Veronica would have it, their relationship. She is smart, clever, loves to spar with words, and has only limited use for society, though she has no desire to make herself a social outcast. A discrete affair is allowed widows and as she has no intention of ever marrying again, it’s a path she’s determined trod. Sir Henry is ready to prove to his family he’s established, mature, and solid member of society, so he might finally get his inheritance from his oldest brother, something denied him while living the life of a vagabond traveler and writer. He’s even acquired a country estate to prove he’s setting down roots. But he also wants a wife. Nothing proves a man is established and mature like property and a wife. It’s obvious that Lady Veronica, as bold and as forward as she is, is not experienced in the matter of affairs, and that’s fine with him. He plans to marry her, but he’s averse to seducing her first.
The plot progress with the standard formula, lot’s of witty, albeit rather shallow, repartee, and the slimmest of plots. Victoria Alexander specializes in intelligent, outspoken, strong minded heroines and always includes plenty of wit and humor, but here the book is froth, not substance, lively but without depth, and lacks any shred of real tension in the story arc. The emotional ‘big misunderstanding’ that is a classic plot device, but here is contrived to the point of silliness. In fact, the whole ‘inheritance’ thing was pretty shaky to start with. Both Sir Sebastian and Veronica were lively, if rather stock characters. Despite all it’s pluses, the book held zero surprises and no original story elements. Though 300 pages, it read like a much shorter work.
There are many ways to describe books like His Mistress by Christmas – ‘a mere bagatelle’ is an expression that springs to mind, possibly due to the historical nature of the book. ‘Slight fluff’ is another expression that suits, as do both ‘predictable’ and ‘charming’. Still, for a holiday read, is does have the kind of wit and sparkle that makes holidays fun, and none of the real emotional angst that can be so depressing. I liked Veronica and Sebastian and Portia, and Sebastian’s family are sure fodder for Ms Alexander’s future books. As a holiday read for romance lovers, it a good choice, full of charm and wit you can almost forget its predictability. My grade is C+ (3.5*)
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