“Matthews weaves suspense and mystery within an absorbing love story. Readers will be hard put to set this one down before the end.” -Library Journal, starred reviewWinner of the 2020 HOLT MedallionAn Uncommon Beauty… London, her oddity has made her a sensation. Far worse, it’s caught the eye of the sinister Duke of Moreland—a notorious art collector obsessed with acquiring one-of-a-kind treasures. To escape the duke’s clutches, she’s going to need a little help.
An Unlikely Hero…
Captain Arthur Heywood’s days of heroism are long past. Grievously injured in the Peninsular War, he can no longer walk unaided, let alone shoot a pistol. What use can he possibly be to a damsel in distress? He has nothing left to offer except his good name.
Can a marriage of convenience save Philly from the vengeful duke? Or will life with Arthur put her—and her heart—in more danger than ever?
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I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The characters are interesting and I kept wanting to see what happened next.
Predictable. Easy read
An appealing heroine, a damaged hero, a twist at the end all with great regency detail and hardly a duke in sight.
Good book that I enjoyed reading!
Miss Phyllida Satterthwaite has newly come to London, sponsored for a season with the understanding that she will make a suitable match, unaware that the match has already been decided upon – a duke with a fearful reputation who values her only for the uniqueness of her mismatched eyes.
Captain Arthur Heywood, struggling with the disabilities of war wounds and PTSD, is in town conducting business for his father when he first meets Philly’s rescue dogs, and then the lady herself. More interested in Philly than he wants to admit, they soon become friends. And when she appeals to him for assistance on the basis of that friendship, he quickly leaps to her rescue with an offer of a marriage in name only – one which quickly becomes a marriage in truth, as they retire to his country estate.
While I admired the compassion she shows for his disabilities, and the deft way in which these aspects are the story are portrayed, it is the tender love story between Philly – the “work of art” of the title – and Arthur at the heart of this story that truly held me enthralled as a reader. Mystery, intrigue, and tension are skillfully laced through this novel as danger seems to stalk Philly, and the marriage is threatened in various ways, as Arthur begins to fear that he cannot keep or protect the woman he loves. Highly recommended and destined for a reread.
The Work of Art is a closed door Regency romance. This review refers to a digital galley I voluntarily read via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher. A positive review was not required and these are only my own, honest opinions.
What a sweet book :). Philly is in dire straits, desperate to avoid an unwanted marriage, when Arthur, a war-torn soldier nine years her senior, comes to her rescue. She’s a perfect sweetheart and he’s the consummate noble (if a bit moody and tortured :)) hero. The two of them are wonderful together, and I enjoyed every page of their heartwarming story.
What a wonderful story! This author created a beautiful marriage of convenience story that was unlike any other I have read. I loved the way Arthur and Philly were drawn to each other in London and the way that the marriage came about. I also loved the way the marriage grew and changed as these two grew closer to each other and fell in love. This was a fabulous story that I plan to read many times. This time, I actually listened to the audio book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I look forward to going back and reading the physical book, too.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS, READ WITH CAUTION. I fear I came to The Work of Art by Mimi Mathews with the wrong expectations which undoubtedly colored my reading experience and opinion of the book. I was looking for a historical mystery and someone suggested The Work of Art as a historical romantic suspense novel. Now I love romances too and the book description sounded like this would be a wonderful combination of romance and suspense. The first half of the book was fantastic. The setup was wonderful, the characters were wonderful, the plot was wonderful. I had a hard time putting the book down. But . . . midstory, everything sort of went flat. For me, anyway. The pacing fell to a crawl. The hero’s arc remained interesting, but the heroine became so perfect in all her actions that she began to lose interest for me. The romance between the hero and heroine was sweet and touching, but the suspense angle fizzled to practically non-existence. It became increasingly easy for me to put the book down after a chapter or two because nothing seemed to be happening. (I like plot in the books I read. I like something to happen. That, admittedly, is just my personal reading preference.) Then the sweet, level-headed, perfectly sensible heroine began making alarmingly unwise decisions that cast her not once, but twice into danger, the last serious enough to put her life at risk. Because the suspense angle spiked up again in the last couple of chapters. And there was a twist in the suspense plot that I would have really admired if I hadn’t been so frustrated with the heroine’s ridiculous rationalizations for throwing herself into the villain’s clutches and staying there that I was literally yelling at my Kindle app “Don’t do that! Don’t do that! It’s so obvious what’s about to happen. Run, run!” (I mean, really, it was sooooo obvious even the heroine shouldn’t have missed it.)
If romance trumps plot for you, this is probably a 5 star book. But if you like a good plot along with your romance, and especially if you’re expecting a good suspense or mystery with the romance, I’d have to rate this a 3. So I’m averaging it up to a 4 in case you’re a reader who’s happy with something in between, plus the first half was really quite good. It’s a well written book. It’s a very sweet romance. It’s just not really a serious romantic suspense novel. But for the pure romantic, it will be an enjoyable read.
The Collector must have anything beautiful and unusual, even a woman with eyes of different colors, strangely nicknamed “The World of Art,” who had no flaws. An odd premise with veiled threats that materialized in strange ways.
Well written. Would always recommend Mimi Matthews as an author.
La prose sensible de Mimi Matthews est comme une petite musique à laquelle on s’habitue volontiers… La trame de son roman ici est surprenante, car plus mouvementée que d’habitude (la fuite romantique, l’assassin en sourdine), l’histoire pas totalement maîtrisée (la menace de l’aristocrate collectionneur pas totalement convaincante). Mais le récit est agréable à lire, avec un personnage féminin délicat et particulièrement attachant (comme à l’accoutumée), à la fois fragile et déterminé, qui rencontre son âme jumelle en la personne d’un soldat meurtri au grand cœur. Rien de très original, mais on aime !
Absolutely loved it. One of of the best historical romance I’ve read.
I really enjoyed the world building. We start meeting Arthur and Philly on their own lives and how they are dealing with their reality.
It’s great how these two characters understand each other so well and without even realizing it, they start falling in love. Something happens and a quick decision has to be made.
Philly is sweet, pretty, nice, polite and extremely good hearted while Arthur is lonely, has no patience and has lost faith in him, his recovery and the rest of human beings. But everyting starts to change when he meets Philly.
This couple and how they become one so lovely and dearly got me almost sleepless two nights since I couldn’t stop reading. Wonderfully written, I’ve loved every word of this story.
One of the best things about this love story is that both characters are honest to each other. They say what they are feeling and thinking, not in the very beginning but later, so they can fix any problem they face are and have and stronger love.
I just wish the steam level was a bit higher. After some kisses the scenes fades to black and I’d really had liked to read a little more. Not necessarily explicit but some more details would have been appreciated.
Like to read books where H or h have either physical or life obstacles to over come after all not everyone is perfect.
This was a good story with interesting twists. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romances set in the Regency era.
I like historical romances, particularly Regency romances. However, many of them are very formulaic, with the same plot lines ( I.e., marriage of convenience)that are so predictable. I really enjoyed this book, however. While it had many of the same plot devices, the details were standalone and believable, mainly because of the characters. The heroine was strong and resilient without being rude about it! And while the hero was stubborn, he was not as stubborn as he thought, as he was quite amenable to several of the heroine’s suggestions. And most important of all, at least to me, when there was a misunderstanding or an issue that needed clarification, the two characters ACTUALLY addressed and resolved it. It was indeed a joy to read a novel in which the main characters acted like adults and not caricatures! I’ll definitely read more by this author!
This book is so beautiful ! One of the best! I love everything, I adore the characters, they are phenomenal. Arthur and Philly’s story is full of drama, tenderness, suspense, action and love…
Plot seemed slow, definitely not a page turner.
Two very original and absorbing characters.
Interesting book, enjoyed it
The Work of Art is everything I have come to expect from a Mimi Matthews story. It’s beautifully written, full of romance and unique characters all rolled into a wonderful storyline. This one is a marriage of convenience, which I love! There’s literally nothing I would change about this story. I absolutely loved everything about it! This will be one I will read over again!
This is a clean read, but there is a bit of mild profanity.