The Paid Companion is a lot of fun, a good combination of romance and suspense set in Regency England. Our heroine Elenora has been cheated of her entire inheritance by her dumb and greedy stepfather and her erstwhile fiance dumped her the minute he heard she lost her fortune.
Sadly this situation happened; in the early 1800s women had no control over their own fortune and their male “guardians” could gamble it away. Elenora was not surprised when the sheriff arrived to kick her out but she was surprised when her fiance broke the engagement.
Meanwhile the hero, Arthur Lancaster, Earl of St. Merryn, has had his fiancee run away to marry another man. One of the best scenes in the book is when Arthur hears that she has bolted while at his club and makes a dry comment about the best way to secure a wife would be to look for a paid companion. Of course his friends think he is cold and unfeeling while in fact he had helped orchestrate the elopement.
Arthur wants to solve his uncle’s murder and does not want to be hounded by marriage-minded mamas and daughters. He hires Elenora to pose as his fiancee. They quickly run afoul of the villain, the mad Parker, who killed the uncle to obtain his snuffbox. The box was one of a set with a pure ruby.
The villain Parker fancies himself a great scientist, “England’s second Newton” and has set up his laboratory in a fascinating part of London, underground, accessible by a “lost river”. Amanda Quick notes that these rivers actually exist, apparently flowing under London and built over.
It’s quickly obvious to the readers and to Arthur the two lead characters are in love, but it’s not so obvious to Elenora. The book has several enjoyable plot twists and secondary characters.
The Good Points
The Paid Companion is a fun, fast read with enjoyable characters. There are secondary villains, such as Elenora’s ex fiance or Arthur’s butler that add greatly to the story. The butler especially was an excellent character; Amanda Quick took care to make him realistic and his actions plausible.
Amanda Quick took time to elaborate the setting and background of Regency England high society. This also added to the story and made it more interesting and vivid.
The Less Good
The ending was a little too pat. We knew Parker would come to a sticky end and we knew Elenora and Arthur would end up with a real engagement. When you know the ending it’s tricky getting to it with any element of surprise.
The other thing I didn’t like were the love scenes. Would a woman in Elenora’s position – a paid companion with few resources in milliue where women had few rights and unwed mothers were viewed as tramps – really risk her future on sexual intercourse? I don’t think so. Plus I don’t care for the current fashion to throw obligatory sex scenes in every novel. Is this really necessary?
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