So I wasn’t a fan of Sir Phillip right from the prologue - he admits he never loved his wife who was obviously suffering from depression (and tried to kill herself) and he clearly didn’t know anything about her or their two children. I tried to keep an open mind but realized it wasn’t going to get better and basically just ended up hate reading this.

After his wife dies, Sir Phillip immediately decides he needs a new wife - “almost any wife would do” - because he doesn’t want to deal with his own children. So he proposes to Eloise by letter without ever having met her, since he assumes she’s a desperate spinster who will take anything and will raise his kids for him. She comes to visit and she thinks he’s super sexy even though he’s a recluse who is super controlling and has anger issues and neglects his children (who he conveniently forget to even mention during their year of correspondence) and doesn’t want to hear her talking. What girl wouldn’t swoon?? He also then basically admits to raping his first wife who he didn't love (though he didn’t tell her that part, I guess). (No wonder the first wife was miserable!)

So because Eloise has no sense and went to his house without a chaperone, Sir Phillip and Eloise are forced to get married and she’s stuck watching his children. Really, my estimation of Eloise completely tanked after this book. (I guess I was right to be annoyed with her for being shocked that someone would propose to Penelope…) Her big flaw is falling for Sir Phillip - despite the hundreds of red flags because he is THE WORST. But she also she bends over backwards to accommodate whatever he wants even when he’s absolutely in the wrong. I couldn’t handle her whole attitude and how she dealt with the kids. She basically dared them to play tricks on her, and then was surprised when they placed a trip wire in the hall! And for all her talk about growing up with 4 brothers and knowing how to handle herself, the kids totally won every encounter! Still I didn’t care for the kids or any of the scenes with the kids, which should have been the redeeming point of this book. But they were just kind of annoying.

Also I’ll note that the little excerpts at the beginning of the chapters just don’t hit the same as the Whistledown openers.