The Viscount’s Pearl (Regency Outsiders)
In 1813 England, an unconventional heroine, Frances, who is determined not to get married, meets a fairly conventional hero, Laurence—a rake who enjoys meaningless dalliances with married women and plans to marry for convenience, simply to fulfill his obligations as the heir to a viscount. Anyone who is familiar with the conventions of romance knows the outline of what follows. While this is not a mold-breaking historical romance, Melissa Addey has created a story that stands out for one main reason—its heroine. Frances is aging and on the cusp of spinsterhood. Her behavior is seen as odd or even rude: she is blunt, obsessed with shells, hates parties, and prefers walking on a cold beach to almost anything else. Most strangely, though, is that she does not want to be married. She plans a fulfilling spinsterhood living by the sea essentially alone.
The author mentions in the historical note that she intended Frances to be on the autism spectrum; this characterization will be clear to most readers long before the historical note. While growing numbers of romances set in modern times feature autistic characters (for example, The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang and Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert), it’s less common for a historical romance to do so, perhaps because no understanding of autism as such existed before the modern era. In Addey’s novel, Frances is deeply misunderstood by most characters, and it is this that makes her growing connection with Laurence so lovely. The romance grows out of his efforts to get to know who she really is and appreciate her on that basis. This isn’t a particularly deep book, and there are a few narrative stumbles (such as an out-of-character period of thoughtlessness by Laurence), but it is cozy and charming and will please readers seeking a feel-good romance.
