He’s withdrawn from society, so he has no social network. His in-laws, including his wife’s brother, who had been his best friend, blame Edwin for his wife’s death. Edwin is estranged from everyone since his wife and unborn child died and his older son was taken from him. There is a good deal of heavy emotional content in this book, which is not typically something I enjoy, but for some reason I was really able to sympathize with Edwin–and Gertrude, too, but mostly with Edwin–and I really liked it. Unfortunately he’s falling in love with the daughter of his sworn enemy.

It is a really good thing Gertrude is there so he can get to know his son again. Naturally, though, he has no idea what to say to the son he hasn’t seen since Stephen/August was four, and he makes Pronouncements like things are going to go his way Because He Said So. Lord Angst–I mean Edwin–is one of the most loving fathers I’ve ever read in a romance. And when she gets there, she’s going to stay there. So Gertrude DGAF what Maddock says, she’s going to take Stephen to his new home. But Gertrude, as the sort of bluestocking governess, took care of Stephen when he was young, and she realizes how traumatic the adjustment from gaming hell to Mayfair is going to be for him–especially since he’s not allowed to have any contact with any member of his “family” ever again. Stephen likes both of Gertrude’s sisters better than he likes her, because they’ve got bigger personalities. While it might be fun to read this series all the way through, I wasn’t bothered by not having done so. I had not read the prior books in this series, and apparently some things go down between Edwin, the Marquess, and Gertrude’s brother Roderick, who may have been responsible for all the bad things that happened to the Marquess leading to his child being kidnapped. Gertrude is a member of the Killoran family (tracked in the Wicked Wallflowers series), and after years of being underestimated and treated as fragile by her family, she finally decides to grow a spine when their adopted brother, Stephen, is called to take his rightful place as heir to the Marquess of Maddock.

But when her love of books and learning are considered in the broader picture, particularly when compared to her siblings and their collective inauspicious beginnings, I figured I’d buy it. At first I really didn’t feel like “bluestocking” was an appropriate label for Gertrude, because she doesn’t seem particularly bookish as the story progresses. Plot: Everybody calm down while we figure out the return of the lost heirĬhristi Caldwell was everywhere for me in 2019, so I finally decided to pick up one of her books.

The Bluestocking by Christi Caldwell