I had to realize that for a male lead, Jack was just not getting much time on stage. That bit about Kitty wondering who is right for her is basically not true until way into the book, and she never looks at the reader and declares, “Hey, you know, Freddy is growing on me.” She thinks she really wants Jack for a long time, is what I’m saying, and then the reader isn’t shown her wondering about Freddy, although of course it’s clear enough once you figure it out. Kitty herself wonders who is really right for her. Doltish cousin Lord Dolphinton has fallen for a merchant’s daughter in conflict with his mother.

New friends embroil her in their romantic troubles … her French cousin, Camille, a professional gambler, has won the heart of Olivia, in turn the object of Jack’s dishonorable intentions. In London with his family, she hopes to render the elusive Jack madly jealous. To make him jealous and to see a little more of the world, Kitty convinces cousin Freddy Standen to pose as her fiance. Unfortunately, Kitty has set her heart on Jack Westruther, a confirmed rake. Kitty is not wholly averse, if the right nephew proposes. Kitty Charing can inherit a fortune from her irascible great-uncle Matthew when she marries one of her cousins. Here’s what Goodreads says about COTILLION: I hereby declare that this reading order was what slowed me down in figuring out where COTILLION was actually headed, since I need an excuse to grasp at. Yet I’d just listened to THE DEVIL’S CUB, and Jack certainly isn’t much worse than Dominic, at least on the surface. Surely most readers get it before they’re halfway through the book, right? I think I must have been particularly slow to grasp this essential fact. Until I finally (FINALLY) figured out that Kitty was never in a million years going to marry Jack. My goodness, I hated this book so, so much. Louis and back, which was actually enjoyable for once as it gave me a chance to finally finish listening to COTILLION. So, I recently was compelled to drive to St.

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer