Appointment in Bath

Last Updated: July 27, 2023Tags: Clean & Wholesome, family fued, forbidden romance, Light sweet romance, Mimi Matthews, Victorian

3 / 5

Voice & Style

Pleasant readable style, but overall a lackluster feel.

Characters & Plot

A charming young couple but not characterized in depth. Weak plot, overly reliant on misunderstanding.

Period Authenticity

Setting is not a prominent feature of this short romance. Some generic period wallpaper.

Merit in Sub-genre

Mediocre in the sub-genre and not typical of the author’s usual rewarding stories.

Editing

Professionally edited. Some tiny punctuation errors. Top 10% for editing quality.

Book Description

Shy and stammering Meg Burton-Smythe has spent the whole of her life living on the fringes of local society. She’s more comfortable with her daydreams than she is with people. But when a dashing, golden-haired hero rides to her rescue one morning, she dares to hope that her dreams might finally come true. There’s only one problem: her handsome rescuer is the son of her father’s sworn enemy.

Ivo Beresford doesn’t believe in clinging to the past. Freshly returned from a lengthy grand tour, he’s looking to the future, eager to spearhead the building of a new railway extension in Somersetshire. But an unexpected encounter with Meg Burton-Smythe, the isolated only daughter of his parents’ oldest foe, sets the past and the future colliding.

Resolved to put ancient grudges to rest—at least where innocent young ladies are concerned—Ivo encourages lonely Meg to embark on a secret friendship. After all, what harm can a friendship do? It isn’t as though there’s any danger of the two of them falling in love…

Pam’s Take

Mimi Matthews is the consummate Regency romance professional. Her blend of elegant whimsy, compelling characters, clever plot twists, and pervasive romantic tension has been a winning formula for the past seven years. Consistency is part of her brand, and the first two books in her handsomely jacketed Somerset Stories were no exception. A Work of Art and Gentleman Jim were strongly told light romances rated highly by R. Chronicle reviewers.

No one can hit it out of the park with every swing, and Book 3 Return to Satterthwaite Court was a miss for me. The plot never got off the ground and the characters were not as rounded as the author’s usual. Bad news, peeps: although Book 4, Appointment in Bath is a slick, very quick read and is more engaging than Book 3, I found it weirdly bloodless and lacking in depth and surprises. The story centers on two pleasant characters we met in Satterthwaite Court: Meg Burton-Smythe, 18, and Ivo Beresford, 5 years older.

Ivo returns from two years abroad on his Grand Tour, having matured into a dreamboat. He is just in time to come to the aid of beautiful and now marriageable Meg, daughter of the Beresford’s detestable neighbor, Sir Frederick Burton-Smythe. Readers will remember him as the villain who framed Nicholas (the stablehand who later became John Beresford, heir to the earldom) in Gentleman Jim, and who also tried to sexually assault his ward Margaret Honeywell (rescued by, and then married to John Beresford).

Not surprisingly there is bad blood between the families, but Meg and Ivo are not a Romeo and Juliet couple. Their passion is more frowned-upon than forbidden. Theirs is a friends-to-lovers story with a family feud element. Being young and in proximity appears to be the main reason they fall in love, as there is precious little chemistry in the lead up to their sudden dual viewpoint emotional lightening bolts. A dragged out misunderstanding substitutes for a plot, a serving of formulaic charm makes for a painless read, and a ho-hum resolution ties up loose ends. No author ever went broke doling out more of the same to ardent fans. If that works for you, enjoy!

This is a brief review because there is not a lot to talk about, to be perfectly candid. Here’s hoping the next installment gets this series back on track!