REVIEW: All’s Fayre in Love and War by Sheri Cobb South
Determined not to be a burden to her family, twenty-seven-year-old widow Caroline Fayre Cummings takes a position of governess to the Earl of Westermain’s motherless children in order to provide for her six-year-old son. She soon discovers, however, that something is terribly wrong in the earl’s Park Lane establishment.
Lord Westermain spends most of his time at the War Office in Whitehall, but his absence hardly seems to matter: when he is home, he ignores his heir, thirteen-year-old Edward, Viscount Tarleton, and treats his seventeen-year-old daughter, Lady Lucia, with contempt. As for Lucia, is she really so fascinated by the stable cat’s newborn kittens, or do her frequent visits to the mews have more to do with the handsome young stable hand who works there?
When a trip to Bartholomew Fair reveals the truth about the late Lady Westermain, Caroline knows she must do what she can to help this troubled family find its way back to one another—even if it means opening her own heart once again to the dual risks of love and loss.
CW/TW – attempted sexual assault
Dear Ms. Cobb South,
I knew after last year’s first book in this series, “Fairest of the Fayre,” that the next one would feature widowed Caroline as the heroine. For readers who have not read that book, it’s okay. This one occurs simultaneously to and mainly independently of it
Caroline’s beloved husband James, the vicar, left her and their son Benjy in straitened circumstances because — vicar. But with the death of her father, the Fayre patriarch, the whole family is now feeling the pinch. Caroline had been allowed to make a love match but she’s practical and after “making do” and always playing the piano-forte for others rather than dancing herself, she knows how to do her duty. If taking a position as a governess will not only lessen her mother’s household expenses but also help Caroline build a fund to be able to send her son for the education he’ll need in order to make his own way in the world, then that is what Caroline will do.
In the middle of her interview with the prospective employer, Caroline realizes this household needs her or at least these two children need someone on their side. It’s not that their father neglects their needs but perhaps he isn’t on top of their emotional wants. If butting heads with the lofty Earl is what is needed to get him to see that his children aren’t babies then that is what Caroline will do. She also realizes there is something simmering beneath the surface, something that she doesn’t understand until a conversation clears the air. If pointing out the obvious to the Earl will get him to see what is under his nose, then that is what Caroline will do. Then she’ll help him navigate his new relationships. But she won’t let him inquire for another to see if she wants to marry that fellow. Really Lord Westermain needs to step up to that proposal himself.
I like Caroline. She’s got sense and tact. She knows how to carefully navigate the household hierarchy of her new employer while also getting two not so young children to accept her authority. When young Master Edward slips up in addressing a senior member of staff, Caroline can get him to realize his error and meaningfully apologize – as later his father does as well in regard to Phipps, the butler. Noblesse Oblige, Edward. Caroline also easily sees that these aren’t bad children she’s charged with teaching and with a light touch, she instructs them as well as looks out for them.
Lord Westermain is a bit of a pill at first. He’s got a bee in his bonnet over something though it will take a little while before Caroline knows the full story of Westermain’s past emotional hurt – and it’s bad and he’s entitled to feel badly done by. However, the way he initially treats his daughter is a struggle for Caroline – and me – to understand. Thankfully, once he sees the truth of the matter, he is a changed man. Readers need to cut him just a bit of slack until then and remember that we’ve all been hurt.
One thing that Caroline keeps an eye on and warns Westermain about is how his ‘almost a young lady’ daughter is susceptible to men paying her attention if her father won’t. This subplot grows in danger as poor Lucia flounders under her newly awakened feelings. I’ll go ahead and say
Spoiler: Show
Spoiler: Show
I was delighted that Caroline and her first husband enjoyed a warm and loving relationship. Caroline misses the marriage bed, too. So when she and the Earl exchange some passionate kisses a few times over the course of the story, I’m okay with that. She’s no young miss who doesn’t realize what could happen and she does know that other governesses have come and gone after trying to throw their bonnets at the Earl so she tries to make it clear to him that this isn’t what she’s doing. It takes Caroline a little while to also see that she needs this family as much as they need her.
Westermain bristles at first as this woman points out things to him about his children that he ought to know yet he begins to take that in stride. He discovers that having dinner with his offspring is enjoyable and can even let his hair down (pun intended) a bit and joke with them. After he gets his head straight about Lucia, his is the internal voice of a father desperate not to lose his daughter to marriage too soon.
It does, however, take a while for Caroline and Westermain to be on the same page at the same time. There is the difference in their stations in life, Caroline doesn’t want to be seen as an Earl hunting hussy, and Westermain feels that he botched his first shot at marriage and isn’t gung-ho on trying again. But eventually it’s clear that Westermain – Caroline really must get used to calling him Julian – is and wants to be the man who will bring her an umbrella when she gets caught in the rain. And that, as she tells Lucia, is the man one wants as a husband. B
~Jayne
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Sheri Cobb South wrote mysteries featuring series character John Pickett which remain favorites of mine. I enjoyed your review, thank you for directing my attention to her Bartholomew Fayre series. In one of the oddities (to me) of publishing, this book is available with KU, but the first book in the series is not.
@LML: Maybe the first one was available through KU at one time? I honestly can’t recall but yes, it’s odd at times that some books in a series are and some aren’t. I would also love to see more of John Pickett because he’s wonderful. Or maybe his younger brother …
Jayne, thanks for your lovely review! I’m experimenting with KU for this series, so this book, like the first one, will be available through Kindle Unlimited for the required 3-month period of exclusivity before becoming available through other ebook platforms around the first of the year. (The exclusivity proviso doesn’t apply to paperbacks, though, so it will be available in trade paper as soon as the formatting and cover are done.)
@Sheri Cobb South: I thought I remembered the first one being in KU for a while. I’m looking forward to book 3 in the series.