You are the plucky but penniless heroine in the center of eighteenth-century society, courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand. Will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet Sir Benedict Granville? Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, horse-loving highlander Captain Angus McTaggart? Or perhaps race through the chapters chasing a good (and arousing) man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, Lord Garraway Craven? Or read on recklessly and take to the Continent as the “traveling companion” of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline? Or yet some other intriguing fate? Make choices, turn pages, and discover all the daring delights of the multiple (and intertwining!) storylines. And in every path you pick, beguiling illustrations bring all the lust and love to life.
Ah, a choose-your-own-adventure romance novel. What a world we do live in.
I’m reluctant to call My Lady’s Choosing a send-up, because I’m afraid that implies too high a degree of ridicule. But it’s certainly aware of the tropes and trends in historical romance novels, and it finds a good balance between partaking in all of them (in various adventures) and poking gentle fun at the same time. From your beginnings as a poor but honest lady’s companion, you’re variously able to jaunt off to Egypt for adventures with your wealthy lady friend (who it turns out is also quite sexy) and to undertake work as governess to a dark, stern, and mysterious lord with a Secret.
(One of my favorite things about this book is that a lot of the adventures might be happening simultaneously. Just because you don’t happen to find out this time around that Lord Craven is [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS], that doesn’t mean he’s not secretly [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] in every iteration of the story.)
My Lady’s Choosing is deeply and fundamentally silly. You can tell from the get-go that everything’s going to be absurd, as your high-spirited best friend’s name is Lady Evangeline Youngblood, and you’re warned away from the frightening Lord Garraway Craven. Your mileage may vary as to whether you find this charming or annoying — to me, it read like a most delightful homage to the fun and silly elements of romance novels, which I unapologetically adore.
I should note that I have no idea what happened on any of the tracks that required me to have interest in Mac, the big-hearted Scottish ?lord maybe? war veteran? who ran a home for orphans. Or something with moppets and puppies. I never ever read Scottish romance novels and I shall not break that streak just because a book is waging a charm offensive against me.
(I received My Lady’s Choosing from the publisher for review consideration.)