A Good Debutante's Guide To Ruin (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Ehhh. I feel like the plot had potential with the "villains," but as it stands they were rather paltry and more annoying than devious. Rosalie didn't have much of a personality (Aurelia did, of course, and I'm sure her book is next seeing as they set her and Camden up pretty blatantly throughout the book), the conversations and plot didn't do much for me at any point in the book. I had to keep picking the book back up after putting it down. Overall, I'm kind of disappointed. I picked this up after reading a review elsewhere and it sounded good. Maybe my expectations were just too high! Oh well. “A Good Debutante’s Guide to Ruin” by Sophie Jordan is the first book in the Debutante Files. No one wants Rosalie Hughes and she’s been ‘forgotten’ at school for over two years until the school mistress takes circumstances in her own hands and dumps Rosalie on the front steps of her step-brother’s house, Declan, the Duke of Banbury. I was struck by the stark reality of Rosalie’s position during this time. She has no money, her mother’s missing, and she’s at the mercy of her only relative. But based on Declan and Rosalie’s past together, he decides to give her a season, bestow a very generous dowry on her, and find her a husband. This was a wonderful story and for the last 75% of this book, I could not put it down. The pacing was perfect and the tension kept my fingers glued to the pages until 2 a.m. The love scenes were well placed and steamy, but there were a few things about Declan that bothered me.On the surface, he seems like your typical Regency hero, rakish and avoiding marriage until he meets the ‘perfect woman’. However, he’s supposed to have experienced a great trauma in his childhood and I didn’t quite believe it. A book where I thought a hero’s childhood abuse was utilized to drive the conflict and motivation very well is “MacRieve” by Kresley Cole. Cole wrote a character who suffered abuse as a child and it tainted everything he did. And the romance between the hero and heroine was moving very fast until she reminded the hero of his abuser. Then, it stained the relationship between the hero and heroine until he had to make a choice to save her life or not. But when I read Declan saying Rosalie reminded him of her mom, his abuser, I never quite believe it. How were the two women even similar? I was never shown any evidence that this was the case, which made Declan’s conflict seem weak and his actions unmotivated. I, as a reader, didn’t feel connected to him and didn’t believe his growth as a character. This book taught me how important backstory is to a character. If a character is to have suffered trauma or abuse, do the research. Talk to people and find out how these experiences have influenced their lives.
What do You think about A Good Debutante's Guide To Ruin (2014)?
Great characters, but a bit overblown at the end with the whole kidnapping and off to Gretna Green
—Quantana
Regency (?) romance. Two wonderful minor characters in Aurelia and Aunt Peregine
—isa_fallen_1D
