The book opens with an excerpt from a bad romance novel. Sound familiar? The main character is an author trying to figure out her romance novel. Now, I don't like to accuse characters of being Mary Sues... Let's be real, of course I do! For those who don't know or forgot, a Mary Sue is when an author puts herself in the story and makes her character the special-ist best-est little bundle of awesome around. The male version is a Marty Stu. Honestly, at this point it's hard to say if Prudence is a Mary Sue or not. That brings me to my next point: the names. The main character's name is Prudence. Really? What I know about romance novels is that the main couple is anything but prudent. I suppose we'll see if the name really fits. On the subject of names, there's a spooky old abbey up the hill from where Prudence lives. It's called Wolfinger Abbey. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but it seems that such a name reminds the reader that this book will be about love and, more importantly, sex. I wasn't surprised to learn that Prudence is deeply interested in meeting the man who owns this abbey, the Earl of Ravenscar. It's perfect! Ravens are dark and scars are mysterious! This man is dark and mysterious! From here on in, I'll be referring to him as Ravenclaw because that name is less silly.
Anyway, Prudence lives with her sister, Phoebe; a maid, Mary; and a cook, Mrs. Collins. Isn't it unusual for two girls to live without a man in this time period? If the date at the beginning of the story applies to this book and not the story Prudence was writing, it's 1818 in Cornwall, England. I've been wrong before but this doesn't seem to be how they rolled back then. Then again, maybe their parents died in some tragic accident or something.
So, the rest of the set-up: Prudence wants to get into the mysterious and dark Wolfinger Abbey (she loves it with a passion no one else can understand, apparently) and she desperately wants to meet the Earl of Ravenclaw. It seems like he only has to be mildly attractive for her to swoon when she sees him.
Now, for the actual plot. Phoebe has seen the Earl of Ravenclaw's brother in the village. This brother, the Honorable James Penhurst, seems to be really hot. Prudence, of course, doesn't care about how he looks, she wants to know about his brother. Phoebe says Penhurst is staying in Wolfinger Abbey alone. Prudence gets excited, hoping that she can get inside the forbidden abbey, and Phoebe declares that she'd rather hear about his town house in London. Phoebe invited Penhurst over to chill with them and the sisters get in a bit of a tizzy preparing for his arrival. He shows up a few days later and, from the looks of things, is the perfect man for Phoebe. He looks creepily similar to her, too. Apparently, the differences between them are in the shades of their hair and eyes. They might want to check back and see if any of the Penhurst family was sowing their wild oats in Phoebe's and Prudence's family. It's just a thought. Anyway, Penhurst is hot and at the height of fashion and Prudence is completely not interested. It'll take a different sort of man to sweep her off her feet. Someone dark and forbidden. Someone with a title, who could perhaps have a nickname after some sort of infernal creature... You know where I'm going with this.
Prudence brings up Wolfinger Abbey, trying to angle for an invitation, but Penhurst goes white and steers the conversation away. Prudence asks about the abbey a few times, but then she pushes too hard by asking about his brother and Penhurst leaves. I assume that Phoebe is mad at her sister for driving away this fine specimen of manhood. All we know is that Prudence is mad that Penhurst wouldn't let her get into the abbey, but her writer's mind is intrigued by why Penhurst hates everything to do with the place. Clearly there's some mysteries there to be solved. Quick! Call Scooby Doo!
I mean, either mysteries or Penhurst is uncomfortable out of the big city in a building that's falling down and he and his brother had a falling out. No, it's definitely the mysteries.
By the way, did I mention Prudence has glasses? She's forever taking them off and having them slip down her face. I think she needs to get a new pair.
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