An Unreasonable Match

The Steepwood Scandal #7

by Sylvia Andrew

A young woman disappears. A husband is suspected of murder. Stirring times for all the neighborhood.

After a humiliating Season, Hester Perceval hid away and concentrated on stimulating her intellect - since her heart was broken! Indeed, Hester was a beautiful genius who cracked codes and solved puzzles, arousing the interest of a pen pal, "Zeno." When she discovered her enigmatic correspondent was Robert, Lord Dungarron - the man who had caused her shame during her Season - she took flight. But Robert found her and convinced Hester to help him uncover a devious plot. And as they toiled over codes and puzzles, they began to discover an overpowering love that defied all reason.

Regency DramaIntrigue, mischief…and marriage

The Steepwood Scandal

Genres: Historical, Romance, Historical Romance

207 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Sylvia is a great reader, whose preference in fiction is for thrillers and historical romances. She married Simon Andrew, the boy next door, and they have one daughter, Catherine, who is married and works in London. Catherine lives in Maidenhead quite near the river, and they have a small house in Normandy, which they visit whenever they can. They are great travelers — from a shopping weekend in Paris to a three week tour of Vietnam on a bicycle!

They both took early retirement and now live in the West Country with their dog and cat. Simon is an active town councillor in Crewkerne, and very well-known there. Until Sylvia retired she was busy to write, Teaching full-time as vice principal of a large comprehensive sixth form college, while also running a house and a family didn't really give her much time. She never attempted to have anything published before she sent in her first historical romance to Mills & Boon, in the days when the series was called "Masquerade." She was somewhat flabbergasted — though absolutely delighted — when it was accepted. Perdita first appeared in 1991, and she is still surprised at the idea of herself as a writer.

Reviews

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25* at max.
It was pretty good till it started droning.

The synopsis is pretty accurate and the story is about a young opinionated girl (17 yo) who thought she could change the nobility and their apathy towards the poor, and change the world. But, she just gets mocked and labeled a bore, an oddity (sadly, even by people whom she depended upon, like her older brother and his friends including her crush, the H) and flees London in disgrace and heartbroken.

Now, 6 years later, she's wiser to the ways of the world and is more or less happy with her life in the country and has no intentions braving London and its superficial wasteful ways. She's also a nerd/bluestocking of sorts and it's mathematics for our girl rather than literature. No brainer that the other math nerd she's been corresponding and matching wits with turns out to be the H.
Her family coerces her to try another season in London before giving up all ideas of matrimony. She agrees to go but has no intention of changing her mind.
Of course, she gets involved in decoding and deciphering secret French ciphers and papers and we have a mild suspense/thriller angle.

I like the h and I don't blame her for the dip in the story. It's rare for a rebellious, activist sort of h to see the 'error of her ways' but this one analyses her own 'flaws' quite accurately. The older, wiser h realizes that it was stupid of her to expect the set-in-their-ways Society to listen to a 17 yo fresh out of school and a female at that. And moreover, when the message is so radical. Coming from an older, established matron or an elderly philanthropist? Maybe. In a more reasonable, calm voice? Possibly. So, she grows up fast and in a very painful way.
(I contrast this h with another h who's very firebrand but stupid with it, and moralizes publicly and blindly even when it hurts her family.
My review-Lord Rivington's Lady )

And now, she's given up on changing the world and is content with her lot. Her only passion is solving mathematical problems and her succor is her correspondence with her pen-friend, Zeno.
It's sad that the world crushed the passion, the zeal out of her and I wish the author had made her to continue with her convictions but in a more clever, wise way.
Anyways, I wanted to hug her and waited for the H and her older brother to grovel and make peace with her. Because, for me that was so needed to heal the wounds of the past.
I love the relationship the h has with her younger brother, Lowell and enjoyed the escapades they get in.

Problems -
*So, sounds all good and is actually genuinely engrossing till about halfway but then the author seems to run out of ideas and nothing uptick or exciting happens. I had to quite push myself to read on. The ending is a real boooore! The H is fond of that word - bore and actually he's the bore, in the end.

* The H and her brother are real ass****s and they never got redeemed in my eyes. The brother never brought up the past and her hurt and his role in it, in all these 6 years. We get the glimpse of a guy too busy enjoying London to care about his family and inheritance back home in Northampton (and he gets a book of his own.)
The H still thinks her 'a bore' and a 'dull' person and it continues way past it's acceptable in a romance. His 'grovel' does not come till he's 'in love with her' and so his saying that he 'always regretted' doing 'that' to her is quite unbelievable.
And what 'that' is?
They made fun of her and generally dissected her behavior behind her back - a group of older men who should have known better and it included the H and her brother. She over hears and is heartbroken.
But, the main crime imo is that after she gets molested by a lecherous older man, they shout at her! The H slaps her out of her hysteria. The 17 yo h is traumatized, her dress torn and these two guys blame her, tear into her, slap her - and send her off. The brother never addresses it again.
Very very unforgivable.
The H never was a hero to me after that and i waited for his sincere and clearcut (and sooner) apology but the author preferred to distribute the blame around.

Oh, another thing that levels up the score a bit is the anonymous book - written by her and secretly lifted and published by Lowell - that lampoons all those who hurt her. Yess!

[Ligaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un libro sencillo, interesante y bonito. Hester no es la joven de época habitual, se cartea con un matemático y tras pasarlo fatal en su presentación, decide que lo único que quiere es vivir tranquila y soltera. Así que es una protagonista que me ha gustado mucho. Es cierto que todo de podría haber desarrollado algo más, pero para mí ha sido breve y bueno 😊

[F. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book seems to be a competition to see which character is more loathsome 🤢😖... The only one I feel sorry for is the main female character: Hester Perceval.

I will put the extracts of the book 📘 in Spanish, since it is the language in which I read it 🤷🏻‍♀️...

LORD ROBERT DUNGARRAN (Main male character and friend of Hugo Perceval)

How to describe the "hero"? 🤔

ARROGANT
"—¡Ja! ¿Acaso no me ha visto como a una CHICA ESTÚPIDA y aburrida desde entonces?
—Sí, bueno, pero eso fue antes de…"


CRUEL
"—Habla con la señora Perceval, amigo. La actitud de tu hermana no le está haciendo ningún bien a nadie. Es demasiado joven e ingenua para esta clase de vida.
Convence a tu madre para que se la lleve de vuelta a Nottingham, o a Northampton, O DE DONDE QUIERA QUE HAYA SALIDO. Tal vez el aire campestre le borre algunas de sus IDEAS RIDÍCULAS. TRÁELA CUANDO HAYA APRENDIDO A COMPORTARSE. Pero, por favor, que no sea antes."

" —Porque es… es… MUY ABURRIDA. Sí, eso es. SOSA y ABURRIDA."

"¿Cómo era posible que Hugo, un hombre refinado y divertido, tuviera UNA HERMANA TAN INSÍPIDA?, se preguntó, intentando acomodarse en el asiento para dormir."


MALE CHAUVINIST
"—No son tonterías, pero VINIENDO DE TU HERMANA SON RIDICULECES —replicó Dungarran—. Sus ideas son más propias de un viejo barrigudo que de una cría recién salida de la escuela. Y ADEMÁS MUJER."

"—Mira —continuó él, irritado—, Euclides tiene una mente ágil y flexible, propia de los mejores descifradores. HESTER PERCEVAL ES TAN RÍGIDA EN SUS IDEAS COMO
CUALQUIER MUJER. (...)"

"(...) ¿POR QUÉ EUCLIDES TUVO QUE SER UNA MUJER?"


MANIPULATOR
"(...) Dungarran la había
chantajeado para trabajar con él en contra de su voluntad, eso era cierto.(...)"


SUPERFICIAL
"(...) Pero si vamos a
convencer a la sociedad de que te sientes atraído por ella… —guardó silencio..."


VIOLENT
Scene that happens after Hester's attempted rape:

"—¡Es… es usted un salvaje! —masculló—. ¡Pegarle a una dama…!
—¿A una dama? —repitió él en tono burlón—. ¿Usted? ¡Escúcheme, señorita Perceval! ¡Si usted es una dama, yo soy el emperador de la China! No es más que una cría testaruda, maleducada e ignorante. Compadezco al pobre Hugo por tener a una hermana tan tonta. Lamento si se ha molestado por lo que ha oído esta noche, pero no me retracto de nada. Haría bien en convencer a su madre para que la sacara de Londres y la llevara a cualquier parte donde pueda aprender buenos modales. Y
ahora, si no le importa, me quedaré en la puerta hasta que llegue su madre."


WOMANIZER
"(...) Robert había tenido muchas
amantes,..."

"(...) Ha tenido muchas amantes, naturalmente,..."


SIR JAMES PERCEVAL (Hester's father, female main character)

"—Dungarran, no pretendo entender lo que está pasando —dijo con el ceño
fruncido—. Pero ¿TE TOMAS EN SERIO LO QUE HA DICHO MI HIJA?"

With a father like this... 😖


HUGO PERCEVAL (Hester's older brother, female main character)
"—No estaba preparada para esto, y lo lamento —dijo Hugo, muy rígido—. No
sé en qué estaba pensando mi madre al traerla a Londres con LA CABEZA LLENA DE TONTERÍAS."

"—No sé qué deciros. Es mi hermana y SUPONGO QUE LA QUIERO. Pero, creedme, cuando os pedí que le dispensarais una buena acogida en la temporada, NUNCA IMAGINÉ EL ESFUERZO TAN GRANDE QUE SUPONDRÍA. HABÉIS DEMOSTRADO UN AGUANTE DIGNO DE TROYANOS."

Without a doubt, HESTER describes his brother HUGO VERY WELL:
"—Mamá, Hugo estaba más preocupado por su dignidad que por mi reputación.
Lo dejé en muy mal lugar delante de… delante de sus amigos."

With a brother like this... 😖😖


LADY PERCEVAL (Mother of HESTER, HUGO and LOWELL)
"—Por supuesto. Cumplirás veinticuatro años en noviembre, Hester.
¡VEINTICUATRO AÑOS Y SIN COMPROMISO! Tenía la esperanza de que Wyndham se fijara en ti, aunque apenas ha estado recientemente en Bredington. Pero he oído que ha encontrado a otra persona. Y ahora India y Beatrice Roade también se han casado…
las dos con buenos maridos…"

"—Querida mía, ya he oído eso otras veces, y te lo vuelvo a asegurar… EL ÚNICO FUTURO DE UNA MUJER ES EL MATRIMONIO. ¿O PREFIERES VIVIR A EXPENSAS DE HUGO CUANDO TU PADRE Y YO YA NO ESTEMOS?"

"—Hester, jamás se me ocurriría sugerirle algo tan ridículo a tu padre. ¡Se echaría a reír! NUESTRA OBLIGACIÓN ES VERTE CASADA con un buen marido, y el mejor lugar para encontrarlo es la temporada de Londres —miró con aprobación a su hija—. PODRÍAS SER UNA CHICA MUY INTERESANTE Y ATRACTIVA, SI TAN SÓLO HICIERAS UN PEQUEÑO ESFUERZO. Ya sabes que tu dote no es gran cosa, pero SIN DUDA HABRÁ ALGUIEN EN ALGUNA PARTE QUE QUIERA CASARSE CONTIGO."

With a mother like this... 😖😖😖


LOWELL PERCEVAL (HESTER's youngest brother, female main character)
Hester wrote a book based on her painful and humiliating presentation in society at the age of seventeen, writing it was her way of doing catharsis, of trying to heal ... Her brother Lowell, in a clearly SELFISH and INDIFFERENT act, faced with the suffering of his sister, and without thinking at all about the consequences; he steals the manuscript, modifies it at his will, making it totally vulgar, and sells it to a publisher. The following extracts, in my opinion, paint him in body and soul ... SELFISH and INDIFFERENT

"—¡Claro que lo sabes, maldito truhán! ¿Cómo pudiste encontrarlo? ¿Y qué hiciste con él?
—Oh, ¿te refieres a El malvado marqués? Lo vendí."

"—Había que darle un POCO MÁS DE SABOR para que pudiera ser publicado,
naturalmente, de modo que lo hice. También lo actualicé convenientemente. Creo
que no me quedó tan mal. El tipo al que se lo vendí se quedó muy impresionado al leerlo."

When she demands that he show it to her, LOWELL only thinks about going on a spree with his friend:
"—Tengo que verlo… inmediatamente. ¡Esta noche!
—No lo creo, Hes. Gaines y yo vamos a ir a Astley esta noche. Mañana mejor."
"—Lo siento, papá. Gaines se marcha mañana de la ciudad. Tiene que ir a Devon para unas cuantas semanas. Hoy es la única noche que podemos salir, y llevábamos mucho tiempo con esta cita pendiente. Estaré aquí mañana… sobre el mediodía."

Then when she manages to force him to explain her ... Read it by yourself:
"—Un día te… te estaba esperando en el desván. Tardabas en aparecer, de modo que me puse a… explorar. La llave estaba en lo alto del armario, y… y…
—Lo abriste. Y robaste el manuscrito.
—¡No digas eso! Lo leí allí mismo. No era una novela muy larga. Si me hubieras sorprendido leyéndola, no habría hecho nada. Pero creo que estabas en la aldea,
porque tuve mucho tiempo para acabarla. NO PODÍA DEJAR DE REÍR. ¡Era genial!
—¡De reír! —repitió Hester, exacerbada.
—Bueno, SUPONGO QUE NO TENÍAS GANAS DE REÍR CUANDO LA ESCRIBISTE. (...) TODO LONDRES SE MUERE DE LA RISA. ¡No sé por qué te lo tomas tan mal, Hester!"

It's absolutely ... LOWELL doesn't apologize for what he did to HIS OWN SISTER.

With a brother like this... 😖😖😖😖


CANFORD (Minor male character)
I know unfortunately at that time it was accepted 🤢, but this guy is a violent pedophile 😖😖. Didn't he know who HESTER was? 🤔 Older men with power and money used to rape girls who worked for them but who will try to abuse the daughter of a "pair" ...? 👀

This attempted rape by CANFORD on HESTER follows the brutal and ruthless conversation that HUGO has with his friends (I exposed excerpts above to describe LORD ROBERT DUNGARRAN and HUGO himself) and that HESTER hears. She wants to think about something else, forget the terrible words of those "gentlemen" ... She moves away from everyone and then CANFORD takes advantage.

In this aspect, I am astonished at how the writer works and develops it 👀👀👀... I am not going to go deeper, I prefer that you get your own conclusions.

I will leave the analysis here 🙅🏻‍♀️. I am extending myself too much 🤦🏻‍♀️... However, I want to add in relation to Hester, the female main character, that I like that she was cunning, intelligent and ironic ... But really, otherwise ... I only feel sorry, sorry 😔and a lot of anger 😡😡😡😡.

[Nelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has 12 chapters. And I DNFed close to the end of chapter 9: I was THAT fed up with it!

The story is boring, like really boring... I'm on vacay and I have nothing to do so I can read a book in a day. But this one, I started yesterday and I had to pause and come back and read 2 paragraphs, and pause again and come back...
Ugh! The story is so tepid. The plot held a lot of promises: Hester and Robert met 6 years ago. The way he was described at first you would believe he compromised her or spread nasty rumors about her. But no, nothing at all! Hester is Hugo's sister, and Robert is friend with Hugo. So when Hugo asks him to help his 17 years old sister make her debut in London, of course Robert and all the other friends agreed.
He taught her to dance, he took her to the park for rides, he was her companion in balls... and somehow she fell in love with him, thinking he was feeling the same.

But Hester was a feminist, a revolutionist and quite immature to be honest. She wanted to reform the society, but was really aggressive in her approach and tactless. Consequently, the ton saw her as boring and her season was becoming a failure. One night she heard Hugo's friends laughing at her and Robert told Hugo to send her back and bring her when she is more mature, more feminine, more ready for a debut. Because isn't that the point for a season, to snag a husband?
Well Hester is mad and now blames Robert because he didn't defend her. They were all laughing but somehow Robert is the one who led the mockery (SMH...)

Then she let an old man take her to the library and almost compromise her, and when Hugo comes to the rescue and finally ask Robert to stay with her, she lashed at him, blaming him for what happened because he made her fall in love with him and causing her to go with the old man to be ruined after she heard him laughing at her...
He reacted poorly, he hit her and said mean stuff but that was his only blame in my opinion!
He was NOT the architect of her ruin like the story misleads us to believe.

I like a good redemption romance but in that case, I couldn't even be mad a Robert or anticipate him groveling. Because Hester had a HUGE chip on her shoulder. God she was annoying -_-
Mad because the young men, especially Robert, thaught her boring and dull, but then she was doing her best to look dull and boring because she didn't want to attract the attention of any eligible man.
And she was so judgemental: she thought all of the men idiots, because they were fashionable... But at the same time, she didn't like the way the ton judged her because she was ''smart'' unlike the other women -_-


Then the ''romance'' was non existent! Like, it was so slow during the 1st 7 or 8 chapters. Zero tension between them, even when they fought, there was no tension or that little something we all love in those hate to love stories. It was boring and dull, exactly like Hester.
The plot of two anonymous writers finally meeting and falling in love after a long time antagonism was promising, but the author failed to develop it properly.

In chapter 9 a new character is introduced and that's when Rob and Hes finally kissed, but at this point I lost interest in them. I don't even care. Too little too late, I give up!

[Eri | Encrucijadas cotidianas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hester a los 17 años paso por un inicio de temporada muy malo... humillada por toda la situación se encerró y empezó a trabajar en lo que más le gustaba, las matemáticas. Para la época en la que está ambientada la historia debo decir, que es muy sorprendente tener una historia con una protagonista con una mentalidad matemática como la que se describe en la historia, o al menos yo no había leído nada similar, y la mejor parte, es encontrar en su enemigo, a la persona que la desafiaba constantemente mediante mensajes extraños... ¡Pero cual seria su sorpresa al saber más de la historia!
El trabajo codo a codo hizo que su enemistad cada vez fuera menor, pero aun así hay cosas que no pueden olvidarse y es aquí donde Robert deberá dar todo de si para conquistar al amor de su vida...
Un poco de cliché nunca me viene mal, por eso la sorpresa al encontrar esta historia con códigos matemáticos de por medio que me hubiese encantado fuese un poco más explicado, pero que aun así, le dieron un toque de frescura a la historia.
"Quiero que seas mi compañera, mi pareja, y te ofrezco un hogar, hijos, una vida entera de amor, respeto y devoción."

[suzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the interaction of the whole Perceval family specially Hester and Lowell. I feel like the hero should grovel more because I felt like he was such an asshole at the start. The heroine did give it a satisfying (for me) amount of time to reconsider her views of the hero though.

[Jesica · Rating 5 out of 5]

CLASIFICACION: 4.5 ESTRELLAS

Este es el mejor libro de la saga, Hester y Lord Dungarron tuvieron buenos dialogos y me encanto como comenzaron su relacion.

[Griffinyarn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

As a maths teacher, I enjoyed the novelty of having a mathematically-minded heroine and a romance conducted over ciphers.

The author did a good job of highlighting the frustration the heroine feels over the senseless restrictions Regency society enforces purely due to gender. Although I love this time period, I am most grateful that I didn't live back then.

What I didn't like: Since my sympathies were fully with the heroine, I found the hero a bit too... Regency male.

When he had first seen her coming round the corner with her cousins she had seemed a different creature altogether. Laughing, animated, capable. It had taken a minute or two to remember what a bore she had been — and the devilishly awkward circumstances of their last meeting... Still, if what she had said about not coming to town for the Season was right, he wouldn't have to see her again... How did Hugo, the most polished of men, and a damned amusing companion, come to have such a dull stick for a sister?

Yes, I know that the heroine was too enthusiastic in trying to reform society, but as the hero himself is portrayed as a brilliant mathematician acting the part of the bored London gentleman, I would have thought he could have been more compassionate. And it's really only the last chapter that he tries to make amends - not nearly enough grovelling for my taste!

Overall, recommended for those who want a clean, light read.

[Kiki Z · Rating 1 out of 5]

1) Too many exclamation points. And ellipses. These characters all talk in exclamations and trailing thoughts. This is not the author's first book, so I would have expected some better writing.

2) A heroine whose wishes are overridden by her parents, her brother, and her love interest.

3) A love interest who spends half of the book deriding the heroine.

4) A love interest who is rude and arrogant, without any sense of how he hurt the heroine, as he is a man, and therefore whatever he said must be in her best interests, even though it's quite clear he has never bothered to pay the slightest bit of attention to her.

5) A random mystery thrown in at chapter eight--out of twelve--so that the book can finally reach a romance, although how I'm supposed to find this love interest romantic is beyond me. I gave up at this point, but it seems that the mystery's sole point in to keep our reluctant heroine in London so our asshole "hero" can get the girl in the end. And he definitely does not deserve her.

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this, but it could have used a bit more angst IMO. I liked the cipher plot, but I feel like it and some of the side characters occasionally overshadowed the romance. I was a bit surprised by Hester’s lack of insecurity and I would have liked more groveling, but overall enjoyed it.

[La Lectora Escritora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque la protagonista podía con mi paciencia en algunas ocasiones, ha sido una lectura entretenida, y sorprendentemente, más centrada en la trama que en el romance. El final ha sido un poco precipitado, pero puede pasar.

[Sahanaa Elangovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic romance with rather intriguing ,beautifully explained womenhood!