From the Design Book of Marcelline Noirot:
The allure of the perfect gown should be twofold: ladies would die to wear it… and gentlemen would kill to remove it!
Brilliant and ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot is London’s rising star. And who better to benefit from her talent than the worst-dressed lady in the ton, the Duke of Clevedon’s intended bride? Winning the future duchess’s patronage means prestige and fortune for Marcelline and her sisters. To get to the lady, though, Marcelline must win over Clevedon, whose standards are as high as his morals are… not.
The prize seems well worth the risk — but this time Marcelline’s met her match. Clevedon can design a seduction as irresistible as her dresses; and what begins as a flicker of desire between two of the most passionately stubborn charmers in London soon ignites into a delicious inferno …and a blazing scandal.
And now both their futures hang by an exquisite thread of silk…
Silk is for Seduction, by Loretta Chase
I think my favorite part of this book is the dresses.
Seriously. The description of the dresses makes me wish I had the money to go and do fashion, ignoring the fact that my body type is far from ideal for that sort of thing. The colors, the gowns, the drama — you can almost see it through Marcelline’s eyes and for me, that was the most enchanting part. Her passion for her craft is real and the descriptions are vivid. That Clevedon ends up falling for that rings true to me — and that that passion shows up in other areas of her personality is only logical.
Both Marcelline and Clevedon are very human characters, with flaws that might ring a little too true at times. As the blurb makes clear, Clevedon already has an intended bride — Lady Clara (who meets her match in book 4 of the series). Marcelline is well aware of Lady Clara’s existence, as it’s her patronage that she’s after. The idea that she needs to go to Paris to meet Clevedon in order to convince him that Lady Clara should be wearing gowns designed by Marcelline is a little far-fetched and some readers will definitely be put off by the fact that Clevedon and Marcelline’s happiness comes at the expense of Lady Clara’s — although I happen to love the scene where Lady Clara stands up for herself.
Probably the biggest issue I had with the book was with some of the supporting characters, specifically Marcelline’s daughter. Although some of the sections were amusing, at times it felt like she existed more for plot purposes than as an organic part of the story. The ending gets wrapped up a little more neatly than I would have expected, given how much was made of the differences in their class standing, and I hope that the next book will show a little more of how the ton and Marcelline are getting along.
In the end, my guess is that how you feel about the book is going to depend on to what extent you’re willing to suspend disbelief on the social conventions of the day* and how close to home the flaws of the main characters hit. For me, the descriptions outweigh a lot and I can enjoy it for the dresses, enough to go back and reread it every so often. I’m looking forward to reading Lady Clara’s story soon!
* I should write more about how I view this as an author/reader, but essentially this plotline works in the alternate reality that most modern Regency romances tend to inhabit but wouldn’t fly for Georgette Heyer. And I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with that — I think my books fit into the same alternate reality, where the social conventions are a little less strict, the women are more outspoken and (dare I say) modern, and the language is certainly a different style — but I feel like I should be clear about the difference. (I like both worlds, I just prefer to write in the alternate one.)
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