I rather enjoyed the last third of A Lady Would Know Better. Granted, I read that last third of it at about 2AM while trapped in the bathroom (health problems) and while substantially hopped up on prescription painkillers (use only under care of a physician please; the opioid crisis is real). Is it a coincidence that this was the part I most enjoyed? I think not.

The rest of the story suffered due to heroic doltishness, a heroine who turns into a plot device, a romance plagued by insta-lust, two protagonists who are Too Stupid To Live, a plot that didn’t make much sense, and an inconsistency of tone that takes a sharp turn in the last third – which is when I started enjoying it.

So here’s the deal. Jasper, the Earl of Belhaven, is mourning his parents, his wife, and his brother-in-law, all of whom died within the last few years. One snowy day he finds a woman unconscious in the snow. He and his sisters nurse her back to health, but she has, wait for it…

AMNESIA!

Sorry, I have made a personal vow to type that word in that way whenever I find myself forced to use it.

The family calls the woman “Jane” and she befriends them all with her kind and charming ways. But Jasper wonders if maybe she’s trying to swindle him, or whether she’s in danger – after all, as she lay fainting gracefully in the snow, she said, “Don’t let them get me.”  Jasper chooses not to share this little phrase with Jane or anyone in his family because Jasper is not the sharpest tool in the shed. Jasper can’t stop smouldering in Jane’s direction and doing things like spending the night watching over her unchaperoned in her bedroom (!?!?!?!?!) and carrying her up stairs. But alas Jasper is mourning and has vowed never to love again. Oh no, what will come of this?

Jane is charming and, dare I use the word – feisty.

She instantly becomes friends with Jasper’s sisters who keep loaning her clothes that don’t require hemming even though they are all taller than her. They just magically fit. They are also perfectly flattering, because this is a romance novel, and I’ll be honest, I like a bit of fashion porn just as much as the next person.

Jane is supposed to be intelligent (after all, she reads Jane Austen) but she considers running off into Snow Storm II to be a mark of independence and self-respect and self-sacrifice when it’s actually just very stupid. She is wildly attracted to Jasper and they spend a lot of time lusting after one another while saying, “Oh no, I couldn’t possibly.”

This book falls into a specific kind of historical romance.

There are historicals that make some kind of effort to be precise representations of the time, with or without the trimmings of fashion and popular culture.

Then there are historical romances in which, although magic is not actually a thing, a unicorn could prance through a room and fit right in. I rather enjoy both kinds of historicals, but I always like to know which kind I’m getting into.

There’s no particular basis in reality in this book, aside from some specific timely references, which is fine as long as you know that going in. Everyone uses first names. The characters mention the need for a chaperone and proceed to ignore it. They defy common sense and caution at every opportunity. The Earl is very good to his tenants – see, feudalism is fine! Don’t worry about it!

Astute readers will catch on to the subtle nods to Jane Austen. I’m kidding:  I’ve seen literal car crashes that had more subtlety than the references here.

Now I did start off saying that I rather enjoyed the novel, and here’s why. I loved Isobel, one of Jasper’s sisters, especially when she sparred verbally with her older Aunt.

But mostly, I got into the novel somewhere around the last third or so, when 2 things happened:

1. The painkiller I took kicked in, giving everything under my purview a certain glowing charm (do not take without consulting a physician).
2. The novel finally went full gothic.

In my not even remotely humble opinion, a book containing AMNESIA! is probably doomed if I am the reader, but it has some chance of success if it goes all-out unhinged gothic.  The book knows that AMNESIA! is ridiculous and must perforce match the AMNESIA! with the most messy plot imaginable. For most of the book, the tone is painfully earnest.

However, if you hang in there until the drugs take hold the last third, you will be treated to the kind of bonkers stuff that I should have had all along, like kidnapping and a gloomy old mansion and scheming relatives who plot.. The gothic over-the-topness of the final events allowed me to just let go and enjoy the ride. It’s ridiculous. It’s fine.

I can’t recommend this as a good book, but it might be a good comfort read for people wanting something lighter than air. Anything that can sustain me when feeling both slightly high and very miserable gets some points from me. All of the characters want so badly to be Good, and in a world full of cynicism that’s nice to see.