Book Review - Julia Quinn's An Offer From a Gentleman
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: December 5th, 2000
Format: Kindle, 1053 Pages
Rating: ★
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Sophie Beckett's life was never going to be a fairy tale. She was born illegitimate and unwanted. Yes, her father touted her as his "ward" in order to give her a semblance of respectability, but when he married, his new wife did everything in her power to grind Sophie down. After his death Sophie became nothing more than a servant to those who should have loved and cared for her. Her only joy in life is reading Whistledown and dreaming of the world right outside her door. The parties in ballrooms throughout London where it seems anything could happen. A life she will never be a part of, until the other servants concoct a scheme for Sophie to attend Lady Bridgerton's masked ball. In spangles and silver she enchants all those who see her. But she instantly captures the heart of Benedict Bridgerton, as he does hers. At midnight she flees, never to see that ballroom or Benedict again, or so she thinks. Her life will have to be bearable with the memory of this one perfect night. But then her stepmother discovers her deceit and throws her out onto the street. With nowhere to go she flees to the country and eventually ends up working as a maid in a country house. It's not ideal. She sells her hair for money and loses too much weight, she's unrecognizable to even herself, but she is making do until her master's son and his friends attempt to assault her and she flees right into the arms of Benedict. Benedict has been looking for the mysterious lady from the ball for years. She is the only one he wants to marry and yet she is elusive. The girl he rescues from some louts at a house party is sweet, but not the woman of his dreams. Or is she? As Sophie nurses Benedict back to health after he takes ill after a long ride in the rain, he starts to wonder if perhaps a real flesh and blood girl is better than a figment of his imagination that he has been embellishing for years. The only problem is her station in life. Can they overcome society and a scheming stepmama to get a chance at a happy ending?
Benedict Bridgerton is the apotheosis of white male privilege. He is toxic masculinity hiding behind a veneer of savior complex. Oh, look, he has a rock from the day his dad died, boo hoo, does that humanize him as he tries to defile a woman of a lower station? NO! I just couldn't with Benedict. He is not a romantic hero, he is an ass who is totally incapable of empathy. He can not see that by forcing Sophie to take him as her lover he is destroying her heart and soul. She is incapable of saying no because she is deluded enough to think that she loves him. A delusion born of a time when he thought her his equal and therefore treated her as such. Now that she is "below" him he thinks nothing of taking her to bed despite the very real consequences that could happen. He doesn't get how having a child out of wedlock would destroy her. He just doesn't get it because he is a white man and everything has always gone his way. Consequences are for other people, not him. Oh, how I hated him. I wanted to claw out his eyes. Every interaction he had with Sophie made my skin crawl. And she just takes it. She puts up with his bullshit because, sadly, his bullshit is less horrific than the other bullshit she had to deal with in this very inadequate reimaging of Cinderella. Here's the thing, I think everyone out there, if they know one fairy tale, they know Cinderella. It's like genetically coded into humankind of something. Therefore when it is reinterpreted it really has to get it right because every single one of us has expectations born of genetic knowledge. In my mind there are literally only two that work, the film Ever After, and the book Cinder by Marissa Meyer. That is it. There are no others. The Viscount Who Loved Me doesn't even chart. There is no depth, no truths brought forward by seeing the story in another light, there is just an asshole "prince" who forces himself on his "true love" and I guess they have a happily ever after. Personally if I had to be in a room with Benedict for more than a minute I would not be a happy camper. Lucky for Benedict that Sophie isn't that picky.
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