Charming Artemis
The Regency romance Charming Artemis is pure escapism. Set in 1818 England, the novel revolves around an upper-crust young man and woman who initially detest each other but gradually resolve their animosity.
Eden is a best-selling author of many prior novels dealing with the families of our protagonists, Artemis Lancaster and Charlie Jonquil. If one isn’t familiar with the characters, keeping them straight is confusing. Artemis and Charlie, forced to marry, both have serious Daddy Issues. Artemis pines for a kind man who befriended her as a lonely child. Charlie, whose saintly father died when he was a tot, feels bereft of paternal guidance.
Artemis’s obsession with a missing father figure strains credulity, as does the saccharine nature of the star-crossed lovers. (Charlie is so considerate, he even brings daily flowers to his grumpy bride.) Furthermore, recalling Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged” that a story is only as compelling as its antagonist. Here there’s no villain, only an obnoxious seducer easily dispatched by the Jonquil brothers. Charlie and Artemis’s repartee and a realistically portrayed Georgian milieu will keep those pages turning.
