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Minx – Julia Quinn

AVON, September 1996
ISBN-13: 978-0380785629
ISBN-10: 0380785625

Reviewed by Laurel
August 2005

Have you ever been right into a novel and its story is charming, perfect, cute or maybe it’s just quaint? Then all of sudden the rug is pulled out from under you and it becomes instead a typical and standard romance novel. This happened to me while reading Minx. I thought for sure I was going to finish this novel with a feeling of “oh this novel is different”, not so. I struggled with the last 50 pages or so. The sheer stupidity of the heroine and hero came out of nowhere and so far out in left field that I am still scratching my head over it going what just happened here? Never before have I read two characters that are both strong, charming, brilliant and even funny loose all their brain cells over a misunderstanding, if I can even call it that.

Henrietta Barret was raised on a sheep farm in Cornwell far away from London Society, she loves her surroundings and she loves her home. When her guardian passed away, Henry (As she likes to be called) devises a scheme to scare off her new guardian so she could remain in her beloved home, Stannage Park. It almost worked, she had the new owner mucking out stalls, building pigpens and even had him convinced that their water was in short supply and could only bathe once a week, all that in addition to the sorry meals of porridge and mutton. She never counted on her new guardian being young and handsome, nor did she expect him to find her charming or that she would fall in love with him.

William Dunford is shocked when he inherits a title and property in Cornwell from some distant cousin. Travelling there to investigate the lands he discovers he is also a guardian to a young headstrong woman who prefers to wear breeches and looks after his Estate better than any man he could think to employ. She is self-assured and calculating in her attempts to run him off his land. He finds her charming and her manner amuses him, he catches on to what she is doing and plays along for awhile. A friendship builds up between the two and he convinces her to go to London for a season. Then in London he realizes that no man but him can have her.

The Countess of Wentworth is sponsoring Henry, while there she becomes a beautiful Lady leaving the farm girl behind. She learns her comportment lessons, masters the art of flirting and has made some wonderful friends out of Belle and Emma, who take her under their wing and introduce her to Society. I liked these two ladies and will be reading their stories. I found them both likable and both are old friends of Dunford’s. They see him falling in love with Henry and couldn’t be happier. While Henry is becoming the hit of the season and receiving many suitors, Dunford is showing funny and tender fits of jealousy. One of the most beautiful scenes in this book was when Dunford declared his love and asked her to marry him. It was a sweet novel up until this point. During a party it started taking an absurd and bizarre turn. The pettiness of Lady Wolcott whose appearance in this book is so minor I find it hard to believe that her one comment “he has a mistress” caused so much turmoil.

What follows is where I struggled. Instead of talking to Dunford, Henry gets sneaky and plans a trap, enacts it and puts her happiness at risk. Dunford was no better either with his jumping to wild conclusions in these last 50 pages. This novel had such potential and it would have been nice if for once an author used another plot line to create conflict in a novel. Maybe I am being too hard on the author being that it’s her third novel published. But I saw no need for this added plot development. It was out of character for the characters and served no purpose than to create confusion, angst and hard feelings between Dunford and Henry. It’s like they just both went stupid and forgot the emotions, the words, feelings and love they shared between each other. Where did the self-doubts, second-guessing, and I have to “protect my heart” come from? The characters were in love, their love was not forced, it was not rushed, it was not arranged, it was a natural love and sweet, the chemistry was undeniable and it read beautifully. Henry and Dunford in the end though did make a good match and they were a great couple even after their brush with character stupidity. MINX was an enjoyable read, with one of the sweetest “I Love You” scenes I’ve read in a while, I just think it would’ve been better without the out of nowhere conflict.

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