Reviews for A Gentle Awakening

The average rating for A Gentle Awakening based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-14 00:00:00 Raphael Riordan This is the one where the H is English and the h is half-Dutch. Way to think outside-but-pressed-right-up-against-the-box, TGB! (credit to TBBT) Florina is small and thin with ginger hair and a trained Cordon Bleu cook. She's been working at a hotel in nearby Wilton until she hears of an opening for a cook at a private home nearby. Florina's father is a whiny hypochondriac who treats Florina like a drudge. So Florina goes to work for Sir William Sedley. It is a delightful job and soon she decides to live in. Sir William has a young daughter, Pauline, who is adorable and precocious. Pauline becomes very fond of Florina and Florina, in turn, teaches her how to cook. Sir William is an eminent pediatrician. He is in favor of Pauline learning the housewifely arts. However, he is engaged to marry the gorgeous but snooty Wanda Fortesque, who has never had even a nodding acquaintance with a dust cloth. Sir William is very kind to Florina and treats her, as he does all his servants, more as a friend. Wanda, however, dislikes all of Sir William�s household help and makes open threats to dismiss them all when she and William are married. Florina becomes good friends with Miss Frobisher, the elderly Nanny. Nanny becomes aware that Florina is in love with Sir William and is also convinced that Sir William is far from indifferent to Florina. However, there is the matter of his engagement. He deliberately exposes Wanda to the rougher side of the country life. She insists that they live in London and that he sell the house. He refuses. She wants to send Pauline to boarding school. He refuses. Craftily, he has introduced Wanda to a rich American. Wanda decides to break off the engagement and marry the rich American. Having worked things out to his satisfaction, Sir William makes his declaration and proposal to Florina. It's obvious they will be happy ever after. This was really delightful. I've left out a lot of details, including Florina�s trip to Holland to the wedding of a cousin and the acquaintance of a Leo. The scenes of country life, the delicious meals Florina cooks, and all the fun activities with Pauline make this book something special. Five stars! *note: I've upgraded from 4 to 5 stars on my latest reread. I really couldn't find anything to dislike.* The beginning of William�s Declaration: "The likelihood of my not marrying Wanda once I had met you became a foregone conclusion." "You mean Wanda doesn't want to marry you? She jilted you?" "Yes, with a little help from circumstances." She cast a quick look at him; he looked smug. "What did you do?" "Oh, nothing really � a long country walk, rather a muddy one, I'm afraid � and the nettles at this time of year. Nanny and Mrs. Deakin cooked dinner, and I refused to sell Wheel House and live forever and ever in London." 7/20/17 - Rereading my review, I just realized I didn't mention the Lemonade Incident - how remiss of me. In one scene, Wanda is being particularly nasty to Florina, who picks up the pitcher of lemonade and pours it over Wanda's tinted hair!

Review # 2 was written on 2021-03-30 00:00:00 Daniel Bernal [ Sir William, like many a BN hero before him, has allowed himself to be caught by just the type of woman who made his first marriage (he is a widower) so miserable. Betty�s heroes, so busy and preoccupied with their work, really are clueless about the true natures of the women they become affianced to, partly because they are convenient and �suitable� socially, pretend to like the homebased lifestyles the heroes desire in a wife--and the heroes don't seem to care that much; WORK is important, everything else (before the heroine�s advent and to a large extent afterward!) is secondary. In this case, though, Sir William is mostly clueless�although becoming aware�that he couldn't have picked a worse stepmother for his daughter, Pauline, who makes no secret of her dislike of the awful Wanda and is upset that he's marrying her. Nanny, who is now the housekeeper, doesn't like her either and knows that Wanda will get rid of her and shunt Pauline off to boarding school once she's landed her man at the altar. Enter Florina to set everything at odds in her quiet, unassuming, unintended way and make the hero realize exactly what it is he really wants: her. His daughter feels the same: this is as much a love story between daughter Pauline and Florina as between Florina and Sir William! And it makes the story all the richer--Pauline is an amusing and engaging plot moppet who at times appears more worldly and (in her words) �with it� than our 27-year-old heroine, and the relationship that grows between them is close and sweet. It's pretty clear what Pauline's wants; she even names the cat and kitten they adopt "Mother and Child" ("because that's what they are," hee), and Florina is just the mama she wants�warm and kind; patient and attentive. Florina�s sweet nature flourishes in her new environment, once she escapes the typically crappy homelife that Betty inflicts on so many of her heroines. Florina has put up with a lot in her life--her father is a bitter malingerer who treats her like an unpaid servant, and she�s stayed home out of familial duty following the death of her mother and her father�s mild heart attack. To her credit, Florina decides enough is enough when the family doctor tells her that dad is quite capable of taking care of himself, so she takes a position as live-in cook to Sir William, finally escaping her unloving and constantly carping father. She�s happy in Sir William�s beautiful country home, winning the regard of all the FFRs, who soon see that she�s perfect for their employer and resolve to call her �Miss Florina� to get the message across. No one, not Sir William, not Pauline, not jealous and spiteful Wanda, and most certainly not the FFRs, see Florina as �Cook��she is most definitely what Betty�s FFRs would call �a proper lady,� whatever her financial circumstances. There�s some OM drama when a stalkerish young man whom Florina had rejected on a visit to Holland shows up to cause trouble with Wanda�s help, but the main impediment to our MC�s romance is Wanda. Our MCs are clearly perfect for each other and mutually attracted, but honorable Sir William has to extricate himself from his commitment to Wanda before he can woo Florina. And in BN�s world, it�s the woman who has to end the engagement, although the heroes usually manage to engineer circumstances�usually in the form of an American millionaire much more suited to their erstwhile fiancees�to get them to do so. In Sir William�s case, he not only introduces Wanda to the requisite American millionaire who�s as addicted to the bright lights as Wanda is, William also reinforces how unsuited they are by making it clear to her the kind of �buried in the country� life she can expect (and detest) as his wife. That�s enough for Wanda to cry quits finally. But while he�s ordering his universe to his liking in that quietly and utterly determined way of Betty�s heroes, he needs to remove the temptation and distraction that is Florina. Circumstances have upset her anyway, Wanda has humiliated her by sneering to Sir William that his cook is in love with him (�I know,� he says quietly), and Florina�s thinking of leaving anyway, so when Sir William makes arrangements for her to take over temporarily for a Dutch colleague�s au pair, she thinks it�s a precursor to his firing her at Wanda�s behest, and although she�s sad, she agrees to go to Holland, where she decides she may stay and find work permanently and forget him to the best of her ability. Of course, that�s not his intention at all: Sir William, having disposed of Wanda finally, comes to retrieve our heroine and, free now to do so, confesses his love and intention to marry her and live happily ever after. And so, we are sure, they do. (hide spoiler)]