Review: The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine by Jayne Fresine
Posted in Review on June 26th, 2012
The Most Improper Miss Sophie Valentine by Jayne Fresine. Sourcebooks Casablanca (June 1, 2012). ISBN: 978-1402265976. Mass Market Paperback. (Amazon: $6.99 / Kindle $5.94).
It all started when Sophie Valentine, in a bid for independence, and sick of hearing how she and her Aunt Finn where a dreadful drag on her brother, Henry Valentine, and his wife, Lavinia’s, expenses, placed a simple and straightforward advertisement in the Farmer’s Gazette:
Wanted: one husband, not too particular. Small dowry, several books, sundry furnishings, and elderly aunt included. Idlers, timewasters, and gentlemen with other attachments need not apply. — Miss Sophie Valentine.
Actually, it started long before she wrote that advertisement. Sophie just didn’t fit in. She wanted more but no matter what she did, she was either causing problems or not acting properly. That’s why, while waiting for James Hartley to fetch her a cool drink, she’d jumped off the balcony. She still didn’t understand why she jumped — but it left her with a scarred face and banishment to the country estate of her brother.
It was there that Lazarus Kane came in reply to her advertisement. Lazarus is actually looking for a wife and he’s rented the small estate next door to the Valentines. He intends to marry Sophia and doesn’t care how long it takes to win her.
It’s the 1800s, and women don’t have a lot of freedom of any sort. Since her jump, Sophia has been made to feel as if she’s a simpleton. She fills her time by teaching at the local school. Her brother tolerates this aberration, but he and his wife are continually telling Sophia what to do and how to act, and that teaching is not a proper occupation for a lady. Sophia is smothering under tons of shouldn’t do that and must not do this and worst of all act like a lady.
The Most Improper Miss Sophia Valentine is a romance. However, it is also a peek into the life of a woman who doesn’t fit in her society. The time period is just when education for the lower classes was being considered a good thing for the country, though many of the landed gentry thought education would give them ideas above their station. Women didn’t have much scope for their talents or education in the upper classes except to be a proper accessory to their husbands — running the household, giving parties, and begin a gracious hostess to her husbands friends. Money went from son to son and women had to be cared for by their male relatives or, as Mrs. Bennet would say, “starve in the hedgerows.”
Fresina tells the story from the point of view of Sophia and Lazarus, depending on which view will give the reader the information that the reader should have. Fresina manages to give the reader a taste of the time period (with a few exceptions for plot) and the place of women at that time.
The Most Improper Miss Sophia Valentine is delightful as Sophia and Lazarus spar with each other, her brother tries to keep control of the situation, and all the neighbors maneuver to enjoy the show. For all her unconventionality, I found it difficult to believe that it took Sophia so long to trust herself.
On the other hand, Aunt Finn was hilarious. Finn never married and is considered the black sheep of the family. Sophia is often told she’ll turn out like her Aunt Finn. Finn may be a bit dotty, but she’s certainly a lot sharper than she lets on to her nephew, and she does trust Sophia to make her own choices.
This is a light story that will entertain you on a dreary day.