49. Miss Newbury's List

Miss Newbury's List (Proper Romance) Megan Walker. 2023. 280 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: I leaned over the trunk at the foot of my bed in a desperate, frantic search. 

Premise/plot: Miss Newbury's List is a Regency romance novel by Megan Walker. It is in the Proper Romance (clean) line of books published by Shadow Mountain. Our heroine, Rosalind Newbury, is engaged to marry the Duke of Marlow. It's not a love match--for either of them. They've only met twice. Her parents are incredibly excited--beyond thrilled--with the match. Marrying nobility is a dream that has been passed down for generations. Their daughter is the one who will make her parents dreams come true. That's good, right? Well, maybe. 

Rosalind Newbury has a best friend, Liza, and Liza has a visiting cousin, Charlie. Charlie and Rosalind (or Ros) grow closer as her wedding draws near. You see, Miss Newbury has....a [bucket] list. When she was a child--perhaps ten?--she wrote a list of things [about ten???] she wanted to accomplish before she got married. Her bucket list is probably unusual for the times. First, I'm not sure anyone--male or female--wrote out "bucket lists" (not that it is ever in any way called a bucket list) of things to accomplish before marriage [or while they were young]. Second, even if men did have a "bucket" list of things they wanted to accomplish...I'm not sure young women would have. Third, the items on the list are unusual. In that almost all of the items on the list challenge the norms. 

My thoughts: In all honesty, I thought all of the items on Rosalind's list were out of place, out of time, a bit off. Like is Rosalind really a young woman born circa 1800??? Or is she a twenty-first century woman wearing bonnets and petticoats? Perhaps "all" is too strong. I thought most of them were ridiculous. By extension, I then began thinking of Rosalind as ridiculous. [For example, when Rosalind decides to "learn to swim" by sneaking out early in the morning, going off by herself, and jumping into a pond having no plan, no idea, no help if things go wrong. That just seems high risk for little reward. Of course, she almost drowns and ends this whole list business.]

As for Charlie, I do like Charlie for the most part. I don't like his interest in boxing. (Though I'm guessing that aspect of sport/hobby is historically accurate). But he's a good guy.

The book is super-predictable. I typically do not mind in any way a predictable romance. I don't. The more I love the couple, the more predictability I want, expect, need. 

For readers who embrace this notion of a bucket list and a free-spirited, quirky young heroine, this one offers a sweet, clean romance.  

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews