Sandy M’s Retro Review of My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway
Historical Romance released by Dell 6 Jul 98

Welcome to the new and improved Retro Reviews at TGTBTU, A Duckie Looks Back. When revisiting some of our old faves or even first-times reads for a few of us here at the Pond, this is how our reviews will now look for any books published before 2005. These are the books that are classic romance that everyone should read at least once. So sit back and relax with a comfort read you enjoyed years ago or with that book you were always going to get to but you just never quite made it. What forgotten books are still sitting on your TBR shelf that you’ve yet to break open to find new friends who have a story to tell?

I have a friend who always tells me about this book when we talk about Connie Brockway. So when I was recently between books and pilfering through a drawer to find a book to read, I came across My Dearest Enemy and figured now is as good a time as any to finally read it myself and see what my friend has been talking about all these years.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters, this one isn’t a keeper for me like it is for said friend. So far my favorite Brockways are her three Rose Hunters books. But there are plenty of things in this book that make it worthwhile reading, one of which is the way the hero and the heroine communicate for a good portion of the book, all by letter.

Lillian is given the chance to have Mill House, Avery Thorne’s inheritance, for her own when Avery’s uncle inserts a stipulation in his will that she must turn a profit for five years while running the estate and she must stay away from the women suffragists that Lillian congregates with. Never having had a home of her own, Lillian takes on the challenge, even knowing she’s stepping on Avery’s toes when it comes to his future.

Avery is confident Mill House will be his in five years, there’s no way on earth Lillian will be able to handle the day-to-day running of the estate, so he hightails it out of England to run around the playground of the world while he waits for the home he’s wanted since he was a kid. During his travels he and Lillian keep in contact by letter, continuing their bickering and bantering as if they were face to face.  Life goes on for each of them, and suddenly five years has run its course, Avery has returned home, unexplained events begin to happen that keep Lillian from making her usual profit until nothing more can be done to keep her loss of Mill House at bay.

I enjoyed both of these characters. Both are quick witted and their repartee is quite fun, even in their aforementioned correspondence. I did feel that Lillian takes a little too long to let her feelings go, and I admired Avery for his restraint in just wanting to take her and never let her go. There’s a scene near the end of the book when he wants to do nothing but reach out and grab Lillian, thinking she’s there to say goodbye that is just simply full of emotion and brilliantly done. I wasn’t quite convinced of the culprit at the end, however. It seemed too easy, too convenient. But, hey, I was still entertained and that’s always the bottom line.

Grade: B+

Summary:
Dear Mr. Thorne,

I give you fair warning. I intend to do whatever I must to abide by your late uncle’s will and win Mill House. Though I know he never expected me to succeed, and for whatever reasons is using me to shame you, I accept his challenge. For the next five years, I will profitably manage this estate. I will deliver to you an allowance and I will prove that women are just as capable as men. And at the end, I shall accept Mill House as my reward.
Sincerely,
Lillian Bede
My Dear Miss Bede,
Forgive me if I fail to shudder. Pray, do whatever you bloody well want, can, or must. I shall look forward to making your acquaintance in my lawyer’s office five years hence, when I take possession of Mill House.
Avery Thorne

Read an excerpt.