Title: The Scandalous Suffragette
Author: Eliza Redgold
Publish Date: March 1, 2019
Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Format: Ebook
Page Count: 288 pages
Source: NOOK store
Date Read: April 9-14, 2020
Review
Look, this book was on my radar because it involved a suffragette. It's hard enough to find Harlequin Historical (HH) with an Edwardian-era story, but one involving a suffragette to boot? Yeah, it was on my NOOK the first time it went on sale. With that said, this was a standard HH that was elevated by great writing. The pulse beats that are so familiar with category romance readers are there, but there is a definite shift away from the male characters being alpha-holes and over the top "protective."
Violet Coombes, heiress to the Coombes chocolate fortune, is an isolated suffragette. She wants not only the right to vote, but she also has eyes on labor and living reforms. Yet, as a heiress to a VERY large fortune, she has to keep her suffragette activities on the down-low. As the story opens, Violet is trying to tie a "Votes for Women!" banner to the second floor balcony of what she thinks is the gentlemen's club. Turns out, it is the private home of one Adam Beaufort, who catches her in the act and then catches her when she slips and falls from the edge of the balcony. They meet again at a ball at his home, where they had a magical dance and then she escapes to tie another set of banners where everyone in high society can see when they leave the ball. This is the scandal in the book - "Votes for Women!" banners at a ball. Sure....I guess that is a scandal on a slow news day maybe.
Anyway, everyone at the ball is scandalized by seeing the purple, white, and green banners and it causes bad feelings towards the Coombes, who are noveau rich (ugh, scandalous and aren't even from here (London) - they are from....Manchester! *Gasp* So Violet is like "guess my chances of marrying well is screwed for this season" emoji shrug, but her parents are very upset and that makes her feel guilty. Adam knew who put those banners up and decided to make Violet a marriage of convenience; he will provide her his good name and marriage to cover her, she will give him money enough to pay his deceased dad's debts and pay for upkeep and fixes for his family's manor house/lands in Kent. They have a long discussion and come to an agreement to marry. It was this conversation, more so than the physical attraction detailed in their meet cute, that made me really believe in their eventual HEA. They treated each other like adults, and ones that respected each other and the situations they found themselves in. It was the beginning of a real partnership, which is not found in these type of books.
Everything works in this story - the characters, the plot points (including a discussion of militant suffragette versus the more polite suffragist), and the HEA. I wanted a little more story fleshed out when Violet returns to Manchester, but then the story wouldn't be a category. I also wanted to see how a secondary character's change that became a plot device to bring Adam and Violet back together happened. I was very happy to see Violet continue her suffragette activity even when she had her HEA.
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