The Last Bachelor (Mistress #1)

[vintageromancereader]

SHE CREATED A STIR

Some found her ingenious, others diabolical. But no one could argue with the success of Lady Antonia Paxton's technique. For the beautiful young widow had made a career out of helping destitute women marry well -- by trapping London's richest young bachelors in compromising positions with her willing ladies, then forcing them to marry.

HE CREATED A SCANDAL

The darkly handsome Remington Carr, ninth Earl of Landon, was as controversial for his radical views on women's rights as he was for his decadent way of life. If the rakish earl had his way, all women would work for a living and marriage would be abolished. He was the ultimate London bachelor and the answer to the prayers of a select group of gentlemen -- Antonia's matrimonial victims -- all too eager to put a stop to the widow's schemes....

THE LAST BACHELOR

When the pair meet in the halls of Parliament, the sparks fly -- and a wager is made: If Remington will subject himself to two weeks of "women's work," Antonia will put in two weeks of "men's work." And then they will see who has the harder lot in life. The battle is on. And the stakes are nothing less than their hearts....

Original Publisher: Bantam
Original Year of Publication: 1994
Page Count: 528

I made it 460 pages in and I just had to give up. It was beyond verging on the point of ridiculousness - it had tipped over into a full-blown soap opera, and not in a good way.

The first half of the book was delightful. Antonia and Remington are on opposite sides of the marriage question: Antonia sees it as the last bastion of protection for women, whereas Remington sees it as a trap. They make their "woman's wager," where Remington promised to do a fortnight of women's work and if he changed his mind about women, then Antonia would do a fortnight of men's work.

Remington getting his comeuppance as he learns the real trials and tribulations of an average late Victorian woman was something to relish. HIs goal during this was to seduce Antonia, and he manages to do that, too, though he is no longer out for revenge on the Dragon of Decency. He calls off his side wager, but manages to horribly betray Antonia anyway, and the book just goes downhill from there.

The newspapers have covered the wager in salacious terms, and it gets all the way up to the Queen, who takes a personal interest in their case for some reason. She takes it as a personal affront that Remington doesn't do the honorable thing after compromising a lady - offering marriage - and basically forces him to do it. Antonia won't hear of it, and they end up on the opposite side of where they started: Antonia doing anything to get out of marriage, while Remington declares its the only solution.

He decides that he's going to bend Antonia to her will and forces her to go through with her half of the wager so he can spend time alone with her and seduce her again. I was not buying it this time. She had no trust in him, and he never earned it back - it basically became a battle of wills and she was the one who had to surrender. I didn't care for that at all. There was not enough grovelling for me, and their declarations of love rang false.

The whole media spectacle blows up, threatens to ruin Remington's business interests (what was a peer of the realm doing with business interests, anyway?), and he's arrested on a morals charge, and that's where I gave up because I can only take so much before my eyes permanently roll out of my head. Less than 100 pages to the end, and I just couldn't take it anymore.

Maybe if battle-of-the-sexes or enemies-to-lovers were my kinda tropes, I would've enjoyed this more. The writer is superb (if a bit preachy) and has done thorough research into the question of the institution of marriage. If the book at ended at its first natural ending place, it wouldn't been A++ for me, but instead this whole media sideline got way too much attention and eventually dragged the plot straight off the rails.

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