Wendy the Super Librarian‘s review of Notorious Eliza by Barbara Monajem
Historical romance short story ebook released by Harlequin Historical Undone 01 Jan 2010

Thanks to Georgette Heyer, the Regency time period has been romanticized to within an inch of it’s life.  This is great fun for readers who enjoy that sort of thing – proper young ladies, rakes reformed by true love, endless balls, galas and trips to Almack’s.  Then there are readers like me who get worn out from all the shiny, and go turning over rocks looking for the seedy underbelly.  Barbara Monajem ‘s debut short story for Harlequin Historical Undone can’t really be classified as “gritty” – but it’s so breathtakingly refreshing that I can even overlook the fact that the heroine commits one of my hot button pet peeves.

Eliza Daughtry has a notorious reputation.  Before her husband died, they delighted in flaunting convention, thumbing their noses at society, and doing as they pleased.  It’s all come back to haunt her now though.  Her husband’s death left their finances in chaos, and she’s been earning a living painting nude portraits of other men’s mistresses.  Since “good girls” shouldn’t know what nude bodies look like (even their own), and she very comfortably paints pictures of whores, well that means she must be one.  But our girl really has no other option.  She’s an extremely gift painter, the job pays exceedingly well, and she’s a single mother to a young son.

Patrick Felham is a rake, who married a woman whose reputation was just as wild as his own.  When she dies in an accident, that makes him a single father to their young daughter.  The girl needs a mother, so Patrick has been making the rounds looking for a suitable, proper, gentle born wife.  Unfortunately, none are forthcoming.  Not because of his reputation, but because all these “acceptable” beauties end up showing their true colors before he pops the question.  Then he gets word that his uncle has hired Eliza to paint over some scandalous portraits.  Patrick was great friends with Eliza’s late husband, and even rescued a nude self-portrait of Eliza from an auction house.  Now the delectable woman is right under his nose, at his uncle’s estate.  What to do, what to do?

Take everything you know about Regency historicals in Romance Novel Land, and throw it out the window right now.  Patrick adored his scandalous wife, and the rumors surrounding her death have hurt him deeply.  Eliza actually ::gasp:: loved her late husband, and ::double gasp:: enjoyed having sex with him, and ::triple gasp, dead faint:: misses having sex!  She’s also fed up with painting nudes, and more than past fed up of thwarting the advances of the men who hire her.  Patrick is the first man to cross her path in five long years that kicks her libido into overdrive, but she’s well aware of how the world works, and knows full well a brief affair is all it can ever be.  Or can it?

Where this story stumbles is after the first sexual encounter, and Eliza’s reaction to it.  For someone so smart, her reaction to the lack of “prevention” (yeah, let’s call it that) was insipid, insulting and out of character.  Frankly, she starts out incredibly refreshing and that one scene has her reverting back to common clap-trap found in countless romance novels I’ve thrown against walls over the years.

That huge, massive misstep aside, I really did enjoy this story.  If ever a romantic couple were made for each other, it’s Eliza and Patrick.  It was also nice to read a Regency-set tale that was the flip-side to the stories we mostly tend to see in the genre.  It was naughty, sexy, and while not perfect, was a very good show indeed.

Grade: B-

Summary:
Eliza Dauntry was infamous. Most people assumed she was a wanton because she supported herself and her son by painting portraits of courtesans. Yet Eliza hadn’t been tempted by a man since her husband’s death…until she met Patrick Felham. An old friend of her husband and a one-time rake, Patrick awakened a yearning in Eliza that demanded to be satisfied at once….

Patrick was looking for an upright woman to become his wife and stepmother to his daughter, not a siren like Eliza Dauntry! But Eliza had aroused his desire ever since he saved her scandalous self-portrait from the auction house. The chance of an affair with the alluring widow was irresistible, but this notorious woman could also turn out to be his perfect bride…

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