What a Widow Wants

3.5 stars
What a Widow Wants by Jenna Jaxon is book Three in The Widow’s Club series. This is the story of Matthew, Lord Lathbury and Frances ‘Fanny’ Tarkington.
Fanny has been a widow for about a year when she decides to go to a Masquerade ball where she meets a mystery man who turns out to be not such mystery. It was Matthew a man who had asked her to marry him but she chose the man she married, who wasn’t really the best choice. Now would be there second chance at a relationship but it doesn’t go easy.

** spoiler alert ** I received an ARC via NetGalley. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Matthew, the Earl of Lathbury has been in love with Fanny since almost the moment he met her at her come-out ten years prior to the events of this book. He has remained unmarried all this time, quietly waiting for the likely demise of Fanny’s husband, a reckless army major. Although she was taken with Matthew as well, Fanny pursued the rakish Lord Stephen Tarkington, an army major and third son of a marquess, believing that reformed rakes make the best husbands. Except Stephen never reformed and had many affairs outside their marriage, leading Fanny to have her own extramarital relationship with Matthew for four months, three years into her marriage, to get her revenge on Stephen, before feeling guilty and breaking it off, despite Matthew’s confessions of love and attempts to get her to run away with him. Now a widow and out of mourning, Fanny is eager to rejoin society and have a scandalous assignation with a gentleman, but not marriage. Matthew has waited long enough and is eager to reunite with Fanny and make her his countess, only she’s not interested in commitment, only enjoyment of his body, and after all this time he’s not sure how much longer he’s willing to wait for her.

Now I’m just gonna vent a bit. **Cue potential spoilers here**

Full disclosure, I hated Fanny, right down to her ridiculous name. It’s not that she’s a poorly written character, because the opposite is true, but she was awful. She has been stringing Matthew along basically since her come-out, but she won’t give him up and let him move on; he still thinks he has a chance so he waits for her. When all obstacles are removed and they can finally be together, she turns down his marriage proposal on the grounds of getting to know him again after their seven year separation. Ok fine, that makes sense, but she’s happy to use him for sex, uncaring of the love he readily confesses that he still has for her. He would give her everything but she is selfish and wants only her own gratification and basically just wants to sluttily flit around the gentlemen. Fanny acts like a young girl, rather than a grown woman with a young daughter of her own. She’s also stupid. She’s totally reliant on her late husband’s eldest brother, the Marquess of Theale, by all accounts not a nice man, to care for her and act as guardian for her daughter, Ella. She’d rather have her illusion of freedom and so-called independence (though she’s clearly not at all independent) than be with a nice man who she loves and who loves her in return and who would care for her and her daughter.

Then when his estate responsibilities call Matthew away from a house party at which he was to be her guest, Fanny very nearly has an assignation with another man, despite having come to an understanding of sorts with Matthew, and writes to Matthew to tell him that she changed her mind and didn’t go through with it. Since one of the things she questions about Matthew, and all men really, is the ability to be faithful, I found it very hypocritical of her that she was just about to quite happily sleep with someone else without regard for Matthew’s feelings or concern that she might hurt him. Obviously, Matthew is livid and counters with a house party held at his own estate. Fanny’s general interest in brief gratifications over her own future happiness and that of her daughter continued to infuriate me. She even has the nerve to be “hurt” when Matthew sends her his house party invitation without expressing any anger for her near assignation. Matthew made all of his intentions perfectly clear to her and yet she persists in doubting him and playing and seeing immature games everywhere. Then, immediately upon arriving at Matthew’s estate she’s lusting after the footmen, her hurt forgotten. I understand her reluctance to trust after her husband cheated on her so much, but she also knows very well that Matthew is quite unlike Stephen. Then when Matthew shows attention to all of his guests and fails to single Fanny out, she’s all upset and doubts his feelings for her and his intentions. I just felt like she had no right to say a word since she was perfectly prepared to sleep with another man. She just assumes Matthew is playing games, despite the fact that this is obviously what she’s been doing, so she’s very hypocritical yet again. When Matthew starts trying to determine her feelings for him by trying to make her jealous, she becomes angry and immediately assumes he’s just moved on and is faithless. After 10 years pining after her and she still believes this. Ridiculous. She finally does come to her senses and accepts Matthew, with the stipulation that he meet Ella to make sure he gets along with her before they can marry or even announce their betrothal. Matthew’s mother manages to delay this and then join him, along with his sister, Beatrice, on the trip to London to meet Ella.

Seriously stop reading my rant now (if you still are) if you don’t want spoilers.

During this meeting it becomes apparent for the first time that Matthew is actually Ella’s biological father. Fearing scandal and knowing this will be apparent to everyone, Fanny decides she can’t marry Matthew. Again. Cue lots of back and forth angst and ridiculousness, then her sister-in-law notices, her late husband’s family finds out, and chaos ensues and it may be too late for any happy ending because she’s wavered too long.

About halfway through it, I finally started to enjoy this book, Fanny started to appreciate Matthew and reciprocate his feelings and became more tolerable. Now I actually really want to read the other installments in this series.

You can’t help but feel for Fanny, the widowed Lady Stephen Tarkington, who finally is free after the death of a lousy husband and her period of mourning. She wants fun, using her widow’s freedom to explore. And good for her! Of course, as luck would have it, the first stunning man she meets is bound to get married. He’s also an old flame, Matthew, Lord Lathbury. How she moves from flirtation to trust is a story that is both compelling and, occasionally, frustrating. She is a little too stubborn — but that makes her more human, and she certainly has many reasons NOT to trust men or marriage. This is a fitting end to what has been an enjoyable series. (I received an advance copy on NetGalley. Opinions are mine.)

I am totally digging this series of widows who want to live their own lives. This story brings us Matthew and Fanny. Love this couple. There are secrets and love and devastation. Matthew is definitely swoon-worthy. Any woman would be lucky to have a man like that on their side. Fanny is just so sweet you cannot help but love her. I was a little worried if the romance could work out in the end but of course it does, it is a romance. Fantastic series.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

I received free advanced copy of this book from the publisher. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.

The stories in the series run parallel, so there is cross over, but the each can be read as a stand alone. This book is about widow Lady Stephen Tarkington (Fanny). Ten years ago she had been swept off her “fresh from the schoolroom” young feet by rakehell Lord Stephen Tarkington. With no one male relative to advise her, she believed he loved her and accepted his marriage proposal. But within a year, realized she had made a mistake, when she learned of his numerous affairs.

Lord Matthew Lathbury has been in love with Fanny at first sight, but she turned down his proposal. Not wanting any one else and knowing of Stephen’s nature, he thought to bide his time until the rash man was killed in battle or by an angry husband. Waiting for Fanny to finish her year of mourning, he then proposes again. But after the betrayal that she experienced with her first husband, she is not sure if she is willing to risk marriage again and would prefer to take lovers instead. Can he convince Fanny that he is nothing like Stephen, that he loves only her and that she need not fear loving him in return?

The author artfully develops her characters, but unlike the previous book, this one became tedious with Fanny’s constant ruminations about whether marrying again would be a mistake. Even she grew tired of it. However, the pace finally does pick up towards the end as Matthew races to save Fanny and her daughter from her ex- brother-in-laws machinations.

The widowed Lady Stephen Tarkington, Fanny to her friends, has finished mourning her cad of a husband and is ready to enjoy her freedom. The kind of freedom neither a gently bred miss nor a close-watched wife is permitted: dressing up as Aphrodite for a masquerade, drawing gentlemen away from the party, and hinting at late-night assignations with her dance partners. All is going pleasurably according to plan until the Roman god Fanny kisses during a masquerade turns out to be Matthew, Lord Lathbury, whose proposal she refused years ago but who she had a brief affair with several years ago. Matthew is everything Fanny wants in a lover but unfortunately, he’s on the hunt for a wife.
The third book in the series & the time frame overlaps with the first two books as do the characters. I loved the first book & really liked the second but the jury is out on this one. This could easily be read on its own. The pace of the story varies going from very slow & a bit drawn out to quite fast paced especially when Fanny & Ella leave London. Whist the characters had depth I didn’t warm to them. I liked Matthew but wanted him to ‘grow a pair’ & lay the law down – he saw what was needed to captivate Fanny at his house party but didn’t follow through until the end. I didn’t like Fanny, I found her to be flighty, indecisive, selfish & annoying. She wanted stability & to be loved but nearly threw Matthew’s love away on more than one occasion, I wanted to shake her several times. I’ve enjoyed all the author’s other books but this one left me slightly disappointed as I know her work is usually so much better.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) Yeah I so did not like this book, and regretted giving my time to it. So we meet Fanny and I get that her husband was unfaithful to her so now that she is free she wants to go all wild and is not ready to make another commitment when she feels that she has to get to know Mathew for real, since she apparently did not take as much time with her husband and he ended up being horrid. That is the beginning of this book not making sense. She apparently knew Matthew for along a time, he was one of her suitors when she had her coming out season. And even though she did like him she went after the man she married, and when she found out her husband was cheating on her she did the same and for a good while. The stopped their affair seven years ago when Mathew wanted her to leave her husband and she didn’t want that. So now her husband is dead and she passed her mourning period and wants to sleep with others, Matthew has proposed repeatedly and while she may be attracted to him she is thinking of it but wants time to as I mentioned go wild. Come to find out her daughter is also Matthew’s and she kept it from him..Hated her and story.