You can feel Christopher’s pain, his horror, his loss of humanity. I loved that Kleypas didn’t sugar coat the Crimean war. Bea becomes his lifeline, his guiding star, his reason to survive the hell he’s living in.Īnd hell it is. She writes Captain Christopher Phelan back in Pru’s stead, pretending to be her. Bea, who is the opposite of Prudence in every way imaginable, decides that it can’t go unanswered. When he writes her a letter from the front lines, clearly shell shocked and in need of some normalcy, she decides not to write back, because who wants to read about someone complaining about losing their best friend? Or being penned in by enemy soldiers and barely escaping? Also, she’s a thundercunt. And so when the young man she was flirting with departs for the Crimean war, she moves on. She’s also the youngest of five children (like myself), and she’s not afraid to speak her mind and challenge social conventions (like myself).īea’s best friend Prudence is a thundercunt. Everyone around her puts up with it because she doesn’t give them a choice (like myself). It focuses on Bea, the youngest, most eccentric, and by far my favorite Hathaway.īea is an animal lover (like myself), she rescues creatures big and small and brings them to the dinner table (like myself). Well, I probably could have BUT I DIDN’T WANT TO BECAUSE THERE WERE MORE HATHAWAYS TO READ ABOUT. Up until this point I haven’t even been able to properly review these books. Cleanliness? Who cares? I’ll shower when I’m good and ready, damn it.

Grocery shopping? That would require me to change out of sweatpants. I had things to do this weekend, but instead I mistakenly started this series and spent four days straight sitting on my couch. What began as Beatrix's innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled love-and a passion that can't be denied. and when Christopher comes home, he's determined to claim the woman he loves.

Soon the correspondence between Beatrix and Christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep.

When Beatrix learns of Pru's disappointment, she decides to help by concocting Pru's letters to Christopher for her. But, as he explains in his letters to Pru, life on the battlefield has darkened his soul-and it's becoming clear that Christopher won't come back as the same man. Has the time come for the most unconventional of the Hathaway sisters to settle for an ordinary man-just to avoid spinsterhood?Ĭaptain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrix's friend, the vivacious flirt Prudence Mercer, when he returns from fighting abroad. and she has resigned herself to the fate of never finding love. Even though she participated in the London season in the past, the classic beauty and free-spirited Beatrix has never been swept away or seriously courted. As a lover of animals and nature, Beatrix Hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in the ballroom.

Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas