Always the Bluestocking by Emily E K Murdoch
Always the bluestocking and never the bride – not that any woman should have to choose…
Miss Mariah Wynn was adopted and has spent her life attempting to prove herself worthy. Intelligent and witty, it’s nonetheless not a good idea to let a gentleman know you actually have brains. After all, no one marries the bluestocking, even if she is beautiful and but twenty one.
One man who laughs in the face of bluestockings is Patrick O’Leary, Viscount Donal. He knows the woman’s place, and that is most certainly in the home.
Until, that is, he sees Mariah attending a lecture at his alma mater. A woman – at university. He’s determined she won’t get an education. She’s ready to face down any ignorant man, title or no. A battle of intellect storms while a battle of desire fights under the surface.
Will Mariah and Patrick have enough focus to argue while every bone in their bodies wants to make love?
- File Name:always-the-bluestocking-by-emily-e-k-murdoch.epub
- Original Title:Always the Bluestocking (Never the Bride Book 6)
- Creator:Emily E K Murdoch
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B08FYTM8Z5
- Publisher:Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
- Date:2020-09-09T16:00:00+00:00
- Subject:Fiction,Historical,romance
- File Size:251.935 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Copyright Page
- 3. Publisher’s Note
- 4. Additional Dragonblade books by Author Emily E K Murdoch
- 5. Table of Contents
- 6. Chapter One
- 7. Chapter Two
- 8. Chapter Three
- 9. Chapter Four
- 10. Chapter Five
- 11. Chapter Six
- 12. Chapter Seven
- 13. Chapter Eight
- 14. Chapter Nine
- 15. Chapter Ten
- 16. Chapter Eleven
- 17. Chapter Twelve
- 18. Chapter Thirteen
- 19. Chapter Fourteen
- 20. Chapter Fifteen
- 21. Chapter Sixteen
- 22. Chapter Seventeen
- 23. Chapter Eighteen
- 24. Chapter Nineteen
- 25. Epilogue
- 26. About Emily E K Murdoch
Always the Bluestocking, Book 6 of the Never the Bride series, was about Miss Mariah Wynn, adopted sister of Lord Edward Wynn, the Viscount of Stulsemere (or Viscount Wynn, depending on where you get the information), and Lord Patrick O’Leary, Viscount Donal. Mariah was a 21-year-old bluestocking who longed to find a gentleman who understood that not all women were empty-headed lame-brains; that there were some women who wanted more than just a husband, home, and children, who wanted an education that took them even further and complemented their home life. Patrick, an Irishman who had attended Oxford, was every bit an old-school male. He believed women should stay home, have babies, and not worry about getting an education...that women had neither the constitution nor the intellect for higher learning. When he met Mariah, first at her brother's wedding and then again at a lecture at Oxford, where she was promptly thrown out, he whole-heartedly supported her removal. The more he got to know her, though, the more he began to realize that just maybe he was wrong in his thoughts. When Patrick realized he was developing feelings for Mariah, he believed the only way to rid himself of said feelings was to bed her...and then return to Ireland. He didn't want to care for her, as he believed to do so would be to put her in the same position as his mother, who died giving birth to him. To his way of thinking, it was wrong to cause a woman to suffer so much for another person as to give her very life for another by bringing them into existence. He thought "all he needed was to satisfy that physical craving, and any emotions that had developed would disappear". I can't say I enjoyed this book...at all. In fact, it took me longer to read than the last five books combined, it was that boring and, to be honest, irritating. It took me two full days to reach chapter 13 when, on any other day and with any other book, I would have already consumed the contents of two or three other books. I just could not get interested in it. It was like being stuck in the marshlands of Scotland and trying to wade to the edge to save myself...it just didn't work. The fact that Patrick didn't fully support Mariah in her beliefs, that he refused to defend her in the face of adversity, proved that he was not worthy to be the Hero of any book. He was a shallow, worthless man bent on only the pleasures of the flesh and nothing more. He had very little backbone, no maturity, and decidedly no integrity to be worthy of the position of the main male character. When they were alone, he had no issue with supporting her but put him on display in public and he caved like the coward he was. He was more concerned with preserving his family name than with standing up for what was right. Mariah, though she was an awesome Heroine and champion for her cause, was a little too brash and naive even with all her intelligence. Certainly, she was a bright young woman with the desire to better herself and make the world better for other women, but she was also blind to the fact that, though she wanted men to aid her in her cause, they also had their hands tied due to the laws of the land. While she wanted those laws changed, she never took into consideration that they would not change as fast as she demanded...or expected. While I applaud her resilience and desire to stand up for women's rights, it would have been nice if the author had portrayed her in a more realistic light in that she should have had a bit more understanding of what it would mean to the men who supported her to do so publicly. Both main characters acted selfishly in one way or the other and both nearly missed out on what they were blind to because of it. There was more drama and angst in this book than was necessary, very little humor, and only a touch of chemistry and passion between the two main characters. Most of the book was devoted to Mariah's cause, almost as if it was the author's own cause that she had to tout and display as a romance novel. Anger, regret, and despair were among the negative emotions written into the storyline. Hardly any positive emotions flowed through the pages of this short novel, and it was devoid of anything that might bring enjoyment to the reader. It was a sad excuse for a romance novel and did not merit even a two-star rating.
Mariah was determined and what she had to endure just to be heard. Bravo! Patrick had some hard lessons to learn, but he learned them. I always wish for longer epilogues with a two or more years timeline.
Good read. Mariah is absolutely fantastic 👏.