I really enjoyed Mathewson’s ‘Neighbor from Hell’ series. It was sweet and sexy and hilarious. I’m intrigued by this one, I must say.
Elizabeth knows what’s expected of her, perfection. She’s the daughter of an Earl and expected to marry well, say and do the right things with a smile on her face when inside she’s dying for a chance to escape. Thanks to an inheritance her godmother left her years ago, her chance will come with her next birthday. Her hopes of escape abruptly end when Robert, her childhood nemesis that she hasn’t seen in over fourteen years, comes back into her life and does everything he can to drive her out of her mind even as he steals her heart. This sounds very similar to the previous books in the series,He hated her. Yup. Veeerrry similar. At least, he tried to hate her, but it was so damn difficult to hate someone that he couldn’t live without. Ugh, I just crumpled like cheap Christmas wrapping paper. He tried to ignore her, tried to focus on anything but her, but nothing worked. Somehow she made her way into his heart and started to make him want things that he never though possible, made him smile and laugh even while she drove him out of his mind and started a legacy by turning him into…..A Bradford. Fuck yes, I love the Bradfords. We view food quite similarly. Also I’ve been thrown out of many, many restaurants…and shops…and public parks
Oh look, here’s an author note. Let’s read it.
Author’s Note: This is first and foremost a historical novel. If you don’t enjoy historical novels, you may not enjoy this novel. This novel is written differently than the other Neighbor from Hell books. Truce is about a man who takes everything too damn seriously and can’t let go of the past until the woman that he would love to hate comes back into his life and brings out the Bradford within. OK, I can live with that.
There was a disgraceful lack of Bradfords in ‘Checkmate’, the previous book in this series, so we’re treated to concentrated Bradford goodness in ‘Truce’. As I predicted (I’m like Mystic Meg), it’s very similar to the previous ‘Neighbor from Hell’ books. I’d definitely advise reading the previous books to get a feel for Mathewson’s style in detailing her characters. It also adds some great texture to the Bradfords as we see the foundations for their family principles: close familial relationships, food, taking care of women and children, food, making sure women and children have enough food, and of course, food.
As with the other books, we are introduced to our hero and heroine in the throes of their enmity. As children, Elizabeth and Robert despised each other (Robert told his brother, James, that Elizabeth was infatuated with him. Elizabeth lets everyone know Robert has an incontinence problem) and so they were pretty much kept apart. They meet years later in an orangery while a ball is going on nearby. They don’t recognise each other, decide they are crazy for each other and make the love. This all goes swimmingly until they discover the other’s identity and the old rivalry re-surfaces. The slightly cruel, tension-laced banter resumes as James, starts to court Elizabeth. Neither Robert nor Elizabeth, however, are happy to let go of their bullshit.
While I did say that the books in this series are similar, that’s no bad thing. Few authors can write banter-y, funny, charming books with likeable characters. So many descend into plain meanness and authors with less finesse end up with a pile of nastiness and characters no one cares about. R.L. Mathewson does this kind of razor-thin suspense really well. Her characters are flawed but not nasty (although Robert comes close) and her books always leave me with a goofy smile on my big dumb face – no mean feat (my big dumb face prefers goofy frowns). And while I did think the book suffered a tiny bit from the change of setting and era (some words were used in an incorrect context or were entirely incongruous – Mathewson did have a note at the start saying that this wasn’t a historical romance in the strict sense of the phrase so keep that in mind. Also there’s a frankly heartbreaking lack of modern dirty talk), Mathewson makes it work. Because she’s great. And, happily enough, so is this book.
TL; DR
Title: Truce: The Historical Neighbor from Hell (The Neighbor from Hell #4)
Author: R.L. Mathewson
Rating: 4 struck-off doctors out of 5
Filth and Efexor 