Title: Tarnished Amongst the Ton Series: Herriard #2
Author: Louise Allen
Published: April 23, 2013
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 288
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Having survived the scandal of her birth with courage and determination, the beautiful Phyllida has reached a precarious balance within the ton. And in just one moment Ashe Herriard, Viscount Clere, blows her world and her carefully made plans to pieces.
Brought up in vibrant Calcutta, Ashe is disdainful of polite London society, but something about Phyllida intrigues him. There's a mystery surrounding her. A promise of secrets and a hint of scandal—more than enough to entice him!
Considering the large-scale problems with the first Herriard novel, Forbidden Jewel of India, it should come as no surprise that Louise Allen’s follow-up is a bit absurd (at best). If you are looking for a book that fairly and accurately depicts the difficulties faced by a viscount of Indian descent as he attempts to make his way through London drawing rooms, Tarnished Amongst the Ton is not the book for you. Likewise, if you are looking for a book that honestly deals with the economic realities involved when one is an impoverished earl’s illegitimate daughter, this is not the book for you.
Listen: I enjoyed Tarnished Amongst the Ton a fair bit, but this is simply not a great romance novel in an objective sense. I believe that Allen is a very good writer and storyteller, and I thought the characters (issues aside) were well-drawn and interesting. I believed in their chemistry and in their happily ever after. This book satisfied my romance cravings. But could I ever recommend it to a fellow reader? Not in good conscience.
BROWN PEOPLE ARE MORE THAN JUST “EXOTIC” SET PIECES
The glaring issue with this book is the author’s treatment of the male protagonist, Ashe, and the other members of his family. Ashe’s mother, Anusha, is a half-Indian woman who wound up married to a marquess. Ashe and his sister are, therefore, one-quarter Indian and have been raised entirely in India, arriving in England unwillingly and only when absolutely necessary to keep up appearances. Allen (I think) has done a decent amount of research into British colonial rule in India and the ramifications of that, but Tarnished Amongst the Ton really only offers a glossy, rose-colored hint at the implications of racism, imperialism, etc. That’s not good.
For instance, aside from some throwaway comments about how much more restrictive life amongst the aristocracy in London is, there is no real exploration of the cultural differences between India (either indigenously-ruled or British-ruled) and England. And anyways, pretty much every historical romance novel ever harps on how little freedom the aristos have. Allen probably would have written the same passages had her characters been 100% white. That’s surface-level representation at best, and complete ignorance of what life is like to be a marginalized person suddenly thrust in your opporessors’ living room at worst.
The other thing: the only aspect of Ashe (and his mother and sister) that the author really uses to demonstrate that the are “Not Like Other Nobles” is their skin color. Over and over and over again, Allen harps on their “golden” skin and “exotic” manners. There is no other examination of what it really means to have dark skin or foreign mannerisms, and the book doesn’t even hint at touching the mental effects of marginalization with a forty-foot pole. Again: that’s not true representation of people of color.
Tarnished Amongst the Ton appears to want the “benefits” of non-white characters (unique physical appearance, flavorful Hindi phrases for effect, etc.) but does not want to grapple with the “downsides” (racism, alienation, etc.). Ashe Herriard is essentially a regular old viscount, just with a deep tan and a colorful backstory. Nope. I’m not here to say that white authors cannot ever write a character of color, but if you’re not willing to do the work and understand that brown people are not simply white people with spicier food and better clothes, then you shouldn’t be writing outside of your wheelhouse. Be aware of the implications of colonialism, don’t just pretend that in your fictional vision of history, all was well. That’s crap.
THAT FEEL WHEN THE HEROINE HAS AN IMPROBABLE BACKSTORY
Moving on from Ashe, I turn to Phyllida, the female protagonist, whose life situation is as complicated as it is nonsensical. To sum up: Phyllida’s parents were (a) and earl and (b) some woman (?) who decided to have sex but did not get married until the day after their firstborn, Phyllida was born. They later had a son, who was both legitimate and the heir to the earldom. Fast-forward to when Tarnished Amongst the Ton begins, and Phyllida’s younger brother is now the earl, and appears to be a dissolute gambler who isn’t doing anything to restore the depleted family coffers. Phyllida, meanwhile, is not accepted by society because of her bastard status (unlikely, in my opinion, that an earl’s bastard would be totally poo-pooed by the amoral upperclass, but it’s important to Allen’s story that her heroine be ostracized). Anyhoo.
Phyllida, at the time she first bumps into Ashe, is working to single-handedly restore the family fortune by…running a secret knick-knack shop? I cannot with this Romance Logic. There is no earthly way that one woman, with no business experience whatsoever, could make enough money from a single shop to undo decades of her family’s lavish living. Like…she doesn’t even work regular hours in this shop? She just opens the store “when she feels like it”??? This is not the way to create a successful, thriving business! Come on.
But, y’know, whatever. It’s clear that Allen’s main goal with this book was to create exciting, “outsider” characters who don’t fit the aristocratic mold. Ashe and Phyllida are the kind of people who sip coffee and look at the moon and say mysterious and sexy things such as “You could never love me if you knew who I really am.”
BUT! I STILL LIKED THIS BOOK!
Honestly, I’m not really going to get into the nitty-gritty of why I liked Tarnished Amongst the Ton because, as I said at the top of this review: I would never recommend this book in good conscience. I’m a big enough person to understand that just because I like a book doesn’t mean that (a) it should have been written in the first place; (b) it’s worth reading by the general public; and (c) it should be endorsed by me, even though I enjoyed it.
I will say that a trope I do usually love is when the heroine comes to the hero and is all “I have a dreadful secret that will make you hate me! I’m not a virgin!!” and the hero’s response is “Oh, is that all? I’m not a virgin either, no problems here.” and then the wind is completely taken out her sails and they proceed to have nice sex. It’s a very niche trope, but I enjoy it.
I also liked the masked ball and the way Ashe’s family was very nonjudgmental of Phyllida’s life situation.
