A Modest Independence

Oh hi everyone! have you always wanted to read what goes through my mind 24 hours a day?

Welcome to this book: aka the Heart of Rachel's lifelong issues reconciling her desire for independence and not conforming to anything and not being caged as well as being a hopeless romantic.

I mean hello thing I might have said myself:
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering who I might have been if only I'd had a little time on my own. A chance to exert myself in a manner of my own choosing without reference to the expectations of a father or a brother or an employer Without that, how could I ever commit myself to anyone? It wouldn't be fair to you or to myself."



I think that everyone has those books that they sink into feeling each word was written for them. Much in the same way that Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood challenged me to confront questions and validated me in so many ways... so Modest Independence made me feel like I had a sense of purpose and community. That I was not alone.

The best books are the ones that grab us, tug us in, and introduce us to characters who become friends but also act as mouthpieces for the feelings, thoughts and doubts that are rampant through our mind.

Those who know me and follow me on social media know that after I finished the amazing Matrimonial Advertisement, I gobbled up Matthews's previous books. They are all lovely. But this... this book is something more. This book is one of the books that crawled so deeply inside me that it was the best reading experience. The type of experience that makes me crave more like it and makes every other book taste flat for weeks after.


Revisiting peripheral characters from Matrimonial Advertisement (though the book can be read as a standalone), Jenny Holloway, a former lady's maid is given a rare dream: the means to live a comfortably independent life away from servitude. It is not that Jenny was unhappy as companion to Lady Helena, rather that a constricted upbringing as a minister's daughter at the whim and will of men with poor judgment has made her feel caged. While Jenny is attracted to the idea of sharing a communion of minds with another soul---perhaps even her new barrister and friend Tom Finchley--- she wants a taste of liberty, to travel...to make choices long denied her.

She visits Tom who is to handle her affairs and arranges a trip to Colonial India via Egypt in hopes of tasting a bit of the world and spreading her horizons but also of locating Lady Helena's long-lost brother (believed dead) Giles, Earl of Castleton.

Tom Finchley, smart, bookish and reserved is an orphan whose greatest wish is the tenderness denied him due to his lack of family. Although Jenny and Tom have swum in similar social circles and he is attracted to her, nothing in his forthright or to-the-letter nature will allow him to take advantage of a woman when he is married to his cause, his mentor, and the law.

So, after a fateful night when Tom falls asleep on the sofa in Jenny's parlour after a late business meeting and he feels the grace of her hand on his hair, he spirals his life into a different direction and accompanies her on the trip across the world.


What we have here is not a slow burn romance of the will-they-won't-they type or the kind that is rift with misunderstandings because there is a long trail to open communication. Instead, we're given a romance that is wrapped in a soft philosophy: encouraging the reader to go to places--figuratively and emotionally-and mull on the nature of love while gorgeous settings unfurl in a perfectly worded canvas.

This is not a typical romantic experience --at least as far as the rational aspect is concerned. The setting, the sights and smells and sense of adventure tug the reader into a romantic atmosphere of its initial sense while Tom and Jenny confront growing attraction pitted against their deepest desires. Both crave a life of independence. Both are afraid of submission. Both want control. Both very much desire the other.


Both meeting in the middle of separate and very different circumstances while recognizing the counterbalance of what makes them well suited. Alike. "The same rules and expectations that give you strength were a prison to me. They didn't make me feel as if I had power. They robbed me of my power. Perhaps it's so for all women. Our lives are a series of cages: daughter, wife, mother. It isn't a structure designed for being oneself."



Couched in scenes and conversations both vulnerable and introspective and fraught with the tug-and-pull tension of challenged willpower and restraint, Tom and Jenny traverse reconciling their dreams and desires with their ultimately growing attraction and ANGELS HAVE COME TO BLESS US ALL talk about it EVERY LAST STEP OF THE WAY!

They respect each other enough to lay their cards down as equals. As they leave England for Calais, as they train through France and onward to the ocean and a too-tight steam packet that finds them again and again in close quarters exploring the physical tenets of their mutual desire to feel some romance, tenderness, passion even while keeping the other carefully at bay.

Everything in this book is perfectly outlined in a series of moments that are timeless in a reader's pursuit of understanding the multi-faceted layers of our natures. I identified SO deeply with two people who want to step into love and choose it and find companionship while still so deeply clinging to the independence they have earned. The hard fought for and achingly won ability to see the world and find new experiences and mould the world to themselves rather than have them shaped by circumstances forged outside of their control.

I so deeply connected with this book and it reached such a vulnerable place inside me that I felt myself checking if my apartment was bugged and someone had read my late night diaries, had peeked into my brain, had cut open parts of my heart.


And it is so beautifully shaped--- this exploration of love and submission, of the strength and beauty of independent thought and the deep-rooted desire to explore every corner of the earth. So resplendent a story when wielded by a pen that is as comfortable in gas lit London or a lawyer's office or a train carriage or a tea room or the ridge's of India's ills. From Cairo to Devon, the reader feels immediately immersed. This book validated my passion of wanting to travel and experience and snap memories, even as it inspired me to look to where I need to let my guard down. It inspired the strongest parts of my personality and conviction and passion for independence while also reminding me of the grace of human interconnection. It takes a really powerful sense of story, place and resonant theme to spark so many questions while informing so much of what rattles around in your heart and mind as you reconcile your oddities while tugging out your vulnerable, romantic side.

And it is just so expertly written: the dialogue, the glances, the stolen touches. The POV shifts from Tom to Jenny that slice through the chapters are some of the best I have ever encountered because they are so unexpected: often mid-thought, often quick life a knife or slow as a crackling flame. (Flame imagery plays a major motif in the book: matching well the sun-spanned settings Tom and Jenny encounter -- "Along with her glistening auburn hair, it gave her a look of greater than usual vibrancy. Like a candle in full flame")


It's so honest: one moment of tenderness for Tom opening the realization of all he has lost. Trust and passion are earned in slow steps: lemonade shared in a train car, removing the corset under a nightgown in shared occupancy, watching one read a newspaper, learning the little things that define the person you are allowing yourself to fall for on a timer before you rip off their influence and fling yourself into the independence you think you want. A small purchase at an Indian bazaar, a kept promise. A look of jealousy.


I can guarantee that A Modest Independence will make you think and feel and want and sigh. But I can also guarantee it is NOT like the other romance books on your shelf. This is a book to be savoured. This book is so perfectly meted to learning about love, about yourself, about confronting what you want and why and how you might allow yourself a slice---just a slice---of your strong-rooted nature to let someone else in.


Also, OMG TOM FINCHLEY YOU ARE MY HERO! YOU ARE EVERYTHING I WANT! ALL HEROES ARE NOT YOU! YOU ARE MY EVERYTHING!! HE IS JUST JUST JUST.... oh reader friends.... he is just so wonderful.... !!!!!!!!!

note: the book does take us into British Occupied India and exotic locales where racism and prejudice was rampant in the Victorian age. Matthews's research and knowledge of the time period are a necessity here as she very gently and sensitively explores the obvious issues of dark occupation while never once painting caricatures.


My instagram stories have been nothing but quotes since I started reading: here are a few ---

"Because you respected my choice. You were willing to let me go in order to make me happy."
"You make me sound frightfully noble."
"You WERE noble."

***

"It's lately occurred to me that you and I have exhibited an infinite capacity for solving other people's problems. Surely, we can use a fraction of that ingenuity to solve our own. There must be a way we can both have what we want. We've only to set our minds to finding it."


***
OMG SPEAK TO MYSELF and my soul, Tom:
"Do you know I don't even believe it's the desire for independence that drives you. When it all comes down to it, what you are is afraid."


***

I GET YOU, JENNY!!!
"Life was a series of choices--of sacrifices. In order to have Tom, she'd have to give up her freedom. The very independence she'd dreamed of for so many years. It was a price she she wasn't willing to pay. Not for him. Not for anyone"


***
OH MY LORD THIS IS ME:

"No one has ever accused me of being sweet before"
"Perhaps you haven't shown that side of yourself to anyone else the way you have to me?"


***

"Jenny found Tom's talents far more useful than those offered by the white knights and swashbuckling pirates that populated penny novels. dragon slaying and derring-do were all well and good, but in the modern world a lady required a different kind of heroism: which w asn't to say that Tom was incapable of slaying the occasional dragon"
(!!!!!!!!!!!)

***

"Love wouldn't be enough. One couldn't derive happiness entirely from another person, no matter how fond of that other person one might be."

(YES!)


***
"As marriage proposals wen, it was an unmitigated disaster [...]Had it been a legal strategy, Fothergill would have decried it as being impetuous, poorly thought out, and destined for failure"
(HA!)


***
"It was an ordinary sort of dream. So commonplace as to be no dream at all. Even so, the idea of it settled warmly in her stomach and heavily on her heart. It wasn't what she wanted in life, but the temptation of it was powerful. She felt at times it might be worth it to give up her dreams for adventure. That HE might be worth it."

(GAH! JENNY! I GET YOU! )

***

"I know what I want and what I don't want. I suppose I've always known that. As for the rest..."
"What else is there?"
"Only the entire world!"

***

AND ALL IN CAPS FOR THOSE IN THE BACK:

"ONE GROWS TIRED OF WAITING FOR KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOUR! SOMETIMES NOTHING WILL DO BUT TO RESCUE ONESELF!"

***


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Jenny Holloway has spent her life striving for independence since the burden of caring for her family fell to her at a young age. When her father took the only thing of value from her to pay his drunken debts, she vowed she would never allow herself to fall subject to a man’s rule. She learnt to keep a low profile when she worked as a ladies companion but now she has gained enough funds to pursue the adventures she has dreamed of. She just needs to persuade her attorney to release her funds to travel to India in pursuit of news of her best friends missing brother. Tom Finchley has admired Jenny since they first encountered each other but has always wanted a steady quiet life after the chaos of his early childhood. He feels powerless to prevent her plunging headlong into her adventures and thus away from him. I really enjoyed this rich and intriguing story. I loved the detail and intensity of the build up, can’t wait for Alex’s story. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This author delivered yet another amazing historical fiction! The chemistry between Jenny and Tom was amazing but never crossed the line to immoral. The Victorian era characters and rich detailed journey the pair take from England to Delhi was well researched and had me reading late into the night. I can't wait for the next novel about Archer and loved seeing Helena and Justin a bit in this novel. A firm 5 stars!!!!!

I’m not sure I can properly put into words how much I loved this book. (I feel like I say that about every Mimi Matthews book). The premise is actually rather simple: two friends go on an adventure and fall in love. But make it a male/female couple set in Victorian England, Egypt, and India, with strict societal morality, and attempting to discover what happened to a friend declared dead - and all of Tom and Jenny’s emotional baggage! - and the story takes on a life of its own.

There is sooooo much angst and heartbreak here, but Matthews remembers to also give Jenny and Tom moments of joy, so it’s not entirely doom and gloom. I can understand why some reviewers may feel this book is one drawn out argument as to why Jenny and Tom can’t marry, but these characters talk to each other. They explain themselves as best they’re able. They share confidences and trust one another. They both go on this adventure with their eyes open, and not without some naïveté, but it’s their communication that makes the story so heartbreaking. They understand each other’s reasoning. Ugh, life.

There were some secondary characters and storylines that I felt were left unresolved, so I now eagerly await the next book in the series!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

"A Modest Independence" is a romance set in 1860 and follows a couple as they travel from England to India and then around India. This is the second book in a series, but it can be read as a standalone. The author has clearly deeply researched the time period and about traveling along this route. She wove this information into the story, creating a distinct sense of time and place.

The characters were complex and reacted realistically to events. Things that happened in Jenny's and Tom's childhood now stand in the way of their getting married. Jenny no longer trusts men with control over her life, so she's determined to remain unmarried even if that means fighting her attraction to Tom. Tom grew up an orphan. He's reluctant to leave England, where he now has contacts, influence, and some control over his life. Still, he accompanies Jenny to India, using his knowledge and protection to help her track down information about the missing Earl.

Tom respected Jenny's desire to have control in her life and tried to protect her reputation by claiming to be her half-brother. They still found ways to do a lot of intense kissing, which nearly got them in trouble – both their reputations and with things nearly going further than they intended. There were no sex scenes. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this story, especially if you're interested in the history or setting.

The second book of the Orphans of Devon series, "A Modest Independence" centers on the orphan Tom Finchley, and Lady Helena's former companion, Jenny Holloway, a spinster of 28(?!). Jenny's desire for adventure leads her to India in search of Lady Helena's brother, Giles. Mr. Finchley insists on accompanying her, along with two servants. What an adventure they have, indeed. The description of the scenery, be it of an Egyptian bazaar, the vistas of northern India, or Delhi, hot and teeming with people, is lush and evocative. The historical details are interesting, informative and accurate.

The characters are well-drawn, and their backstories explain much of their thoughts and actions. I just loved Jenny and Tom. Their banter was intelligent and witty. Their love develops slowly, and the respect and regard they have for one another is deep and profound. Thankfully, there is no insta-love here!

Ms. Matthews writes beautifully, and the novel is well-edited. I look forward to the next installment - Alex Cross, maybe?

Great story with great characters, book 2 in the Parish orphans series connects Tom Finchley the solicitor from book.1 and Jenny Holloway, Helena’s companion.

Jenny has had a large sum on money settled on her by Helena and is determined to go travelling and be an independent woman. She has to visit Tom to access her funds, although she is estranged from him, because of his deceptions in book 1. Rather than signing off her funds to her, Tom gets very involved with her plans, and suggests she travels with servants/companions. Jenny refuses, but Tom is determined to ensure her safety and comfort, and engages Indian servants for her, and schemes to go with her. Thrown together by these machinations, they become ever more attracted to each other.

Jenny is determined to look for the missing believed dead, Giles Reynolds, Earl of Castleford. Helena’s brother had gone to India more than 10 years ago, as was believed to have fallen in battle in the Indian Mutiny. Helena doesn’t believe he is dead, and Jenny is determined to look for him in recompense for her inheritance. Tom helps her, using his skills with organisation and bureaucracy, and sees to her comfor and safety as they travel. Jenny is inspired and invigorated by travelling, whereas Tom is less so, and they both assert their desires for their futures, Jenny wants to live abroad and be independent, she never wants to be controlled by a man again. Tom is comfortable with the security and respect he enjoys as an excellent solicitor, after is hideous life as an orphan, and doesn’t want to give it up. Despite this they agree to explore their relationship for a short time while they are travelling, and acknowledge that their acquaintance will end when Tom will leave to return to England. Stuck travelling as brother and sister, with many members of the “fishing fleet” watching them on their travels, will they be able to maintain the fiction, and not be ruined?

Will they succumb to their attraction? Will they find Giles? Will travelling be everything Jenny hoped for? Can they compromise and find happiness with each other?

I loved the characters in this book, how damaged they were by their earlier experiences, and how they were stronger because of them, how they were direct and open about their feelings for each other, but it was not all insta love then HEA. They had to work through their differences, rise above their early lives and be brave in their love for each other.

The descriptions of travelling and India were well done, the romance believable and overall it was a very satisfying read. I was less sure of the characterisation of the servants, Ahmed and Mira, as the author did start to flesh them out, and then stopped. Also I am not sure they would have been so unremarked in India itself, dressing like Europeans and speaking English etc., however, that might be my lack of knowledge of the era in India.

Highly recommended, and I am keen for the next in the series to come out. Please Ms Matthews hurry up, and also maybe we could have a book about Ahmed and Mira?

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

I have loved all Mimi Matthews' historical romance novels, and this one is no exception.

This is the story of a couple introduced in the first book of this series, The Matrimonial Advertisement. It would most likely be best to read the first book before reading this one since a lot of background is established there. Plus, it's a fantatic read also. I've already read it three times.

This is one of the most unusual historical romances I've ever read. Jenny, the heroine, is unusual in that she has no trust in men and no desire to ever marry, and doesn't particularly mind raising eyebrows. She doesn't want any man to have power over her, financial or otherwise. Tom, the hero, was raised in a foundling home like the hero from the first book. He was the solicitor who arranged the meeting between the couple in the first book. I don't really want to give anything away, except that the journey they take is difficult and thrilling, and the discomforts and dangers are not whitewashed. The author did an excellent job of pulling the reader into the journey.

Read this book, you won't regret it. I am looking forward to the next book about another of the boys from the foundling home.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced reading copy. This review is my honest opinion.

Ah, Mimi Matthews, you did it to me again! Grabbed me and pulled me into your story, ripped my heart into pieces, then put it all back together, better than ever. I read the first book in the Parish Orphans of Devon series, and I absolutely loved it. I believed there was no way this one could match the magic of the first; I was totally wrong! Not only was there a beautiful romance, but the author's meticulous research made mid-19th century India and Egypt come alive.

Jenny Holloway, a former lady's companion, and Tom Finchley, a solicitor, were introduced in the previous installment; they became friends. (Don't worry....this story stands alone with no problem.) Jenny's friend/former employer Helena gave Jenny funds so she could be a self-sufficient woman. Jenny is a strong-willed, independent heroine who craves adventure. She decides to travel to India to discover what happened to Helena's brother Giles. He allegedly died in battle, but she feels the need to really find out. Tom is her solicitor and controls her funds. When he discovers her plans, he simply cannot in good conscience let her go alone. On to India!

I really liked Jenny, but it was Tom who grabbed my heart and instilled the book with magic. He wasn't a tall, dark and handsome dashing hero, but was a thoughtful, serious and sometimes ruthless solicitor. Though he was falling for Jenny, he respected her right to be independent, even when the thought of them going their separate ways after their trip ripped his heart in two. His emotions and character made him the most handsome man in any room. He had me sighing throughout the entire story, and unsuccessfully holding back tears during the last third of the book. Ms. Matthews truly writes fascinating heroes and heroines in her books. Their emotions will touch your heart, so much so that you hate the story to end. The next installment cannot come fast enough for me. I am totally smitten with this author's romances.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

This review will appear on my blog, Foxes and Fairy Tales on Apr 18, 2019.
https://foxesfairytale.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/arc-review-a-modest-independence


Two things first:

1 - Yes, this is the second in Parish Orphans of Devon series, but it follows two supporting characters from the first book so apart from a few mentions, you could read it as a standalone.

2 - I'm convinced Mimi Matthews writes the best historical romance around. The chemistry between the characters is spot on and the historical details are used perfectly to add texture and depth to the story.

A Modest Independence follows Jenny and Tom on a journey from England to India via railways and steamer ships, in search of Lady Helena's missing brother.

As always, the chemistry between the leads is perfect. I shipped them so hard. I loved that both characters are undergoing personal journeys during the trip. I especially like Jenny. She's a great character: brave, independent and fierce. It's fascinating to watch her struggle with finding her place now that she has financial freedom, trying to find a balance between love, societies expectations, wanderlust and her determination not to concede her new freedom to a man. It's feminist in a way that feels completely period appropriate.

The journey across Europe, Egypt and eventually India is wonderfully described, balancing the hardship of the transport with the beauty of the locations. In her foreword, Matthews talks about wanting to pay homage to her Indian grandfather. She absolutely achieves this. You can feel her passion for the country and its people on every page. I was a little skeptical going in as to how the story would be able to follow white, Victorian-era English people into the British Raj. But Matthews doesn't romanticize or exoticize it, she treats the Indian characters as fully fledged personalities and shows the negative effect of the British on both the locals and even the colonial Brits themselves.

An absolute must-read for fans of romance, historicals or both.

“In order to have Tom, she’d have to give up her freedom. The very independence she’d dreamed of for so many years. It was a price she wasn’t willing to pay. Not for him. Not for anyone. But she was tempted. So very, dreadfully tempted.”

This story is everything! *cue all the happy sighs* My heart feels exquisitely satisfied after reading this book, and now I face the somewhat daunting task of trying to put into words all the reasons why.

First the easy part—the fact that this story takes the reader on a Victorian era journey from England to India, evoking all the sights, sounds, and experiences along the way. I’m not sure it’s a journey I would have liked to make in real life, but I loved reading about it! The circumstances of such a trip also provided the ideal backdrop for Tom and Jenny’s story, affording them freedoms that wouldn’t have been enjoyed in their everyday lives in England but also enhancing the tension inherent in their growing attachment to one another.

And that attachment. . . . How can I possibly begin to express it? The most satisfying romance involves so much more than physical attraction. It is care and tenderness; it’s a meeting of minds and souls; it’s mutual respect; in short, it’s companionship on the deepest level possible, and I’m not sure I have ever come across a story that has portrayed that more captivatingly than this one. From the smallest gestures of thoughtfulness or tenderness right through to the soul-puddling kisses, this story had EVERYTHING I love most about romance.

Most refreshingly of all, Tom and Jenny are honest and open with one another from the beginning. About their fondness for one another’s company, about their deepening regard, but also about the impossibility, as they see it, of a marriage between them—she, because she is finally independent, longing to travel and experience adventure, and he because his life is bound up in his employment as a solicitor in London. Attraction they have in spades, but if their lives are not compatible, attraction would eventually turn to resentment, and one of the sweetest things about this story is the way in which Tom—a man whose very livelihood has been made in the practice of using knowledge and circumstances in order to bend people to his clients’ wills—resolutely refuses to wield such power over Jenny.

I could go on. And on, and on, and on. I think I highlighted almost half of this book on my kindle. I will most assuredly be drinking this one in again and again, and I can’t wait for the next in this series.

The second book in the Parish Orphans of Devon series is a historical romance road trip novel with an intriguing premise.

Starting in Victorian-era London, England we meet spirited heroine Jenny Holloway who has recently come into a small fortune. Determined to remain independent and never marry, she wishes to travel to India to find the Earl of Castleton, the missing brother of the woman who gave her a modest independence. Her attorney Tom Finchley, who holds her purse strings, is concerned for her safety and hesitant to release her funds so she can take the trip. Raised in a Devon orphanage, he is a self-made man who now has a very prosperous London practice. We were introduced to this couple as supporting characters in the first book in the series, The Matrimonial Advertisement, Tom harbors feelings for Jenny and decides to travel with her to protect her, help her find the missing brother, and explore the possibility of a romance.

A Modest Independence is not only adventurous, but it is also astounding. The historical detail of travel in the Victorian-era and British Colonial India is beautifully incorporated into the story. Their prickly relationship is at times endearing and annoying, There is a lot of back and forth in this slow-burning romance. I also appreciated the author giving us a creative story outside the usual romance trope.

I have read previous novels and short stories by Matthews which I enjoyed very much. Her writing in A Modest Independence was both smooth, and at times rough. Some of the premises and plot points required one to disarm reproof, but overall I enjoyed it. Matthews is a bright, shining star in historical romance and I look forward to the next installment in the series.

England, 1859 I felt as if I had tumbled back into one of the great classic novels with such amazing prose that I felt transported to that time and place. The descriptions of the characters and their dialogue came off the page opened up my mind. After reading the first book in this series, I could not wait to read this one and it pulled me in quickly.
Fortuitously, Jenny Holloway, a former ladies maid now had some funds to become independent. She had dreamed of seeing the world and having an adventure outside of England. But she also wanted to find out what happened to her friend the Earl of Castleton by going to India. So she first had to go the her solicitor Tom Finchley to release the funds. Tom is taken with Jenny and sees her as a kindred spirit and friend and decides spontaneously to escort her on her journey!
Thus starts the building of a wonderful friendship of two people who did not grow up in the best of circumstances but have found themselves enjoying each other and life.
This book pulled me with the brilliant words of this author who has created a lovely romance that took it's time to build which was all the more sweet. I highly recommend and know that you wil thank me once you have turned the last page!

A Modest Independence is almost as good as The Matrimonial Advertisement. Just when you think it's a straightforward story, BAM! A twist. Mimi Matthews is a wonderful story teller.