A Most Peculiar Circumstance


A Most Peculiar Circumstance
Jen Turano
Bethany House

So I had a feeling this book might annoy me a bit when I learned it was about a suffragette (I certainly have nothing against women voting! But the suffragette movement kind of opened a can of worms in regards to women’s rights, and brought on a lot of feministic influences that I don’t like at all) however, I had quite enjoyed Jen Turano’s novella that I had read a while back, and since I wasn’t able to get my hands on her first novel, A Change of Fortune, I decided A Most Peculiar Circumstance would just have to do.

Again, I have mixed feelings. This book really did have some humorous, funny parts, and though it was romance, it wasn’t all physical, mushy, lots-of-kissing type of stuff, which I appreciated. However –yes, a however- I’m tired of stories about modern-minded women bucking traditional women’s roles and making the old-fashioned men look…oppressive. Though it’s true that this book’s hero was “old-fashioned” and the author didn’t change his ideas and make him come to the conclusion that Arabella, the heroine, was correct in her assumptions (something novels often do) there were still some ideas in here that I just didn’t agree with. (And it kind of bugged me that Arabella, the feminist, was the strong Christian, while Theodore, the old-fashioned gentlemen, wasn’t overly concerned with God {of course, that changes over the course of the story, but still}. Arabella did some deceptive things and disobeyed her parents, and though there were consequences to her actions and she did learn she was wrong about some things, it still bothered me that she *did* them, ‘cause goodness, she did some doozies!)

There were some parts that I felt the author –intentionally or unintentionally, I don’t know- showed a few of the problem’s with Arabella’s worldview (for instance, she wants women to be able to do whatever men can do, and then doesn’t understand the men’s lack of sympathy when she gets emotional and acts like, well, a woman. They thought she wanted to be treated like a man.) But again, I’m not sure exactly how I feel about some of the stuff in there.

The fact of the matter remains, though, that Jen Turano is an engaging author. I didn’t care for the most of this book, but I’d still be willing to read more by this author, and hopefully I’ll like her other novels better. I wouldn’t say this book is super-historically accurate (some things seemed a little far-fetched) but it did have some fun parts.

Objectionable content: Arabella and her friends help the prostitutes in the city, and then they break up a human trafficking ring. There is a kiss.

Rating: 6 ½


I received this book for free from netgalley.com in exchange for my honest review.

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