The Summer Bride

This one is so hard for me to rate.

Here's the deal: I loved most of it. I loved Daisy, and her fierce determination, and her love for her family. And I loved Flynn, and his matching determination to win Daisy.

But there was one - literally just tossed in - twist at the 90% mark that really pissed me off. I'm choosing to mostly ignore it, for the rating, but I'm for damn sure going to talk about it.

Okay, so here's what happened.

Daisy was determined to start her own dress-making shop, and as we've seen through the series, she certainly has the talent for it. And she was determined to do it on her own. She was arguably a little stubborn about it, but her reasons were sound. Getting into business with a man as a partner is a horrible choice for a woman in those times - in any legal dispute, the man wins. And her family - what they had was wonderful, but for a girl who had basically lived in the gutter all her life, until a year ago, it is perfectly reasonable for Daisy to be afraid to rely on it, or to take advantage of it for setting up her business. Further, I think her primary concern - I mean, she said this to Max and Freddy directly - was that ... having a family, people she loved and who loved her, it was so dear to her that she didn't want to risk those relationships on her business. Because if it failed, would she lose her dream business AND her family? That would be unbelievably devastating.

So I think Daisy's approach, though stubborn, was reasonable.

A wealthy widow approached her about partnering - she had money to spare, and she was horribly bored - and Daisy decided to do that... because she DID understand that having financial backing benefits her, and because this is a woman she has no attachment to, so it is JUST a business relationship.

Keep in mind, too, that the men's business partnership evolved in a similar way. Max and Flynn did not know each other - Flynn says they didn't even like each other at first - but they became business partners, and it was a solid working relationship.

Anyway, this was magnificent, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Daisy showed sense - Flynn sold her on the idea of a silent partner, because it was sensible. But in her own judgment - which I 100% agree with - it was best to find a partner outside her family and close friends. And not a man, so she'd be on even legal footing. And secondly, Daisy was a success. She was a success in her own right. She didn't need a man to throw her money, or to tell her how she should be doing things, or to step in and manage her. It was empowering and wonderful.

So then at the 90% mark, as Flynn and Daisy are heading towards their HEA, Flynn reveals that HE is her actual partner. That he gave the money to the widow, and set all this up. Now, the book blows this reveal off. Daisy is miffed for a moment, but within, like, a single page... she concludes that she was being overly stubborn, and look at all the good that came out of it, so who cares.

That made me really angry.

It completely undercut Daisy. Basically, the message here is

"Silly woman, of course you need a man to manage you! And if you are too foolish to realize that, he'll just go around you and manage you without you knowing about it. Because that's the only way you're going to succeed - if a man is arranging things in the background."

I'm disgusted. And I'm disgusted that she just didn't even care. It was horrible, and it was utterly unnecessary. Seriously, why did this need to even be a plot point? I could see it if it came out earlier, and was the cause of their big fight... but like this? It's ridiculous, it makes Daisy look ridiculous, it makes Flynn look horribly high-handed, and it makes the firm point that she will NEVER actually be in charge.

It honestly ruined the book for me. Which is really upsetting, because I loved the rest of it, and I adored the wrap-up of the series, with Lady Beatrice. I guess, because it was a 1-page thing that the author just tossed out there, I'm going to just pretend it never happened.

*sigh*