The last in the Halifax Hellions series.
Plot: Winnie’s mother was a con woman who through various means was able to finance her life and the life of her daughter by stealing shit from the aristocracy. This never sat well with Winnie, so when she was 20, she broke off to set her own course. Being an impoverished commoner though, she did need to use a little of her mother’s ill gotten gains, and being a single woman trying to start a business in regency era Wales, a little of her mother’s tricks too. So she invented a husband. And a decade later, the dude shows up. Shenanigans ensue.
This is the last novella in the series and the final tease for Vasti’s first full length novel. It is as fun and funny as the proceeding two, and likewise manages to eschew some deeply tedious tropes. Our heroes are honest, straight forward, logical, and don’t hold grudges. The pace is brisk, but not rushed, and despite the length of the novel, I found the journey from strangers to lovers to be entirely believable. The audio is fantastic.
I did find this to be weaker than the previous books for a few reasons.
I’ll start at the end, but I promise this isn’t a spoiler. Winnie is a self described obsessive – and what she’s obsessed with is sheep. She risked everything to start a sheep farm in Wales. This is literally the first thing we learn about her. What happened to this farm when she goes off to London? Why don’t we know? Why make such a huge deal about this farm if we’re not even going to give a cursory hand wave explanation as to its fate and how Winnie feels about it?
Next, I’m going to slightly contradict myself. I said that I found Winnie and Spencer’s journey believable. But it is not as believable as the first two. There are so many contrivances. They trust each other so quickly, especially Spencer, who has no reason at all to trust this stranger and every reason under the sun not to.
It’s a fun, quick romp and I will happily pick up her first full length novel – given how much she’s demonstrated she can accomplish with a novella, I’m wildly curious as to what she can do with a bit more room to breath.