The Valet's Secret

I knew when I picked up Josi S. Kilpack's novel The Valet's Secret (#1,079) at the library, that I was probably going to have issues with it.  I did.  First of all, "Proper Romance" was just above the title on the cover.  Secondly (and I haven't talked about this in a while!) I hated the cover art.  This was billed as a Regency romance.  Why are the couple on the cover wearing ugly Victorian period clothing?  To me, that's just sloppy if the cover artists don't even bother to try to get it right.

The premise here is that the heir to an earldom switches clothes with his valet in order to get the lay of the land he will be inheriting.  His horse knocks down a woman on the path, and he introduces himself as said valet.  Cue endless complications.

But here again, Kenneth Winterton, the earl presumptive, is forty-eight years old, a former Naval Officer during the Napoleonic War, and owner of his own small estate in Sussex.  Yet his uncle, the Earl who lost his son during the War, wants to treat him as a wet-behind-the-ears stripling.  According to British life expectancy tables, the average life span for a man in 1819, the year this novel is set, was forty-two.  Which means that Kenneth himself is already in his waning years.  His character never rang true for me.

As for Rebecca Parker, the lead female, her actions did not reflect her moral primness.  Throw in a grown daughter now in service at a local manse, a physically and emotionally abusive father, and a totally unacknowledged hidden talent as a silhouette artist (all work being signed by her father!) and you have the "hapless" heroine.

The couple were continually "invigorated" by their close contacts with each other, which was laughable code for feeling desire.  Couldn't have that!  Enter noble self sacrifice on both party's parts.

I found the book so annoying on so many levels I can't quite believe I actually finished it!  Maybe it is my noble ambition in life to have read it for you so that you won't have to bother.  Amen.