A Proper Charade

He had no idea how such a bizarre maid had passed Mrs. Bates's approval, but she was perfect. Cleaned up, she would be as beautiful as any young lady at any upcoming ball. And she already held herself as if she was better than anyone else around her.

Synopsis

Lady Patience Kendrick was born to a life of privilege, and with the London Season looming, she finds herself facing uprecedented pressure to adhere to the rules of society. Unfortunately, the free-spirited young woman is anything but proper. Patience's elder brother, a former military man, bemoans his sister's antics-but when he accuses her of incurable frivolity, it is simply more than she can bear. Determined to prove her brother wrong, Patience undertakes a drastic experiment: she will disguise herself as a maid and demonstrate her ability to work as hard as anyone.

Taken on as household staff by her brother's former general, Patience soon learns that willigness and ability are two very different things. While her plan sounded promising in theory, the reality is that she is out of her depth-and the irresistibly charming son of the house isn't helping matters. Patience soon finds herself embroiled in a charade far more complicated than she imagined. With both her pride and her heart at stake, she is determined to prove her brother wrong-even as her plans spiral delightfully out of control.

Thoughts & Feelings

One thing books will always have over movies is that the sequels are almost always just as amazing as the first in the series. Esther Hatch has proven my theory correct with the second novel in her Proper Scandals series. I absolutely loved A Proper Charade. It was so different from A Proper Scandal but was just as much fun and swoony. My love for them is on equal footing...ok, I may have loved A Proper Charade slightly more. But just slightly.

One thing I absolutely loved, that may not matter to anyone else, was the fact that our leading lady, Patience, is a redhead! Beyond just having red hair, Patience is kind and funny and I imagine that she giggles a lot. I'm not sure if you've noticed this but redheads are typically really mean or seriously dimwitted in books and movies. So it makes my heart so happy when "we" actually get a character that you can love. I know that that is so silly but my heart was happy each time Patience's hair was mentioned so I had to mention the red hair here for all my fellow red heads.

Speaking of Patience I absolutely loved her character. To be honest, I would be shocked if there was someone out there that didn't like Patience and how she was written/portrayed. She is sunshine and happiness personified. Not to say that she doesn't have her moments of anger or despair but she is genuinely a happy and caring person. She can naturally bring out smiles in happiness in those around her just by being herself. To quote one of the household staff (I won't say who because their relationship building is the BEST)

...Patience was different. She never seemed to know her place, and yet she somehow made a place for everyone around her.

Don't we all want to be spoken of so kindly by others? I adored Patience and all the relationships she builds throughout the novel.

I also love the references and connections to the story The Ugly Duckling. The whole thing is so adorable. I can't say much because I refuse to spoil the story and these wonderful gems but just know you are going to absolutely LOVE The Ugly Duckling after reading this book. And you will want to tell everyone that they smile like a duck.

I cannot say enough amazing things about this novel. It was truly amazing and more than I could have hoped for. Trust me on this one, you need to read it.

Book Tags

Langauge

clean

Steam Level

kissing

Content & Trigger Warnings

At the time that this book begins, Patience's father passed away a little over two years ago. The mourning period is mentioned several times as is the grief that the family still feels.