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Once Dishonored the story of a wronged divorcée, and a man trying to redeem his honor after disgrace. It’s an intense, dramatic love story with improbable twists and turns, adventure, and visits from old friends. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read, though readers may have trouble suspending their disbelief at the plot twists.
Following spousal cruelty and the traumatic birth of her son, Kendra Douglas has resigned herself to living separately from her husband, Lord Denshire, and is happy to raise her son in the country. However, her husband isn’t happy with that arrangement, especially given that Kendra has legal control over her own fortune.
When Denshire comes to the realization that Kendra will never relinquish her funds to him, he puts together a scandalous divorce. He accuses her of a night of debauchery with four of his friends – a night that (of course) never happened. Unable to speak for herself in court, and condemned by the testimony of Denshire’s allies, Kendra becomes a pariah amongst the ton; her husband is granted a divorce, and takes custody of their son. While she has financial resources, Kendra is all alone in the world, with no sure path forward to regain her child and her reputation.
Lucas Mandeville is a titled gentleman recently returned to society after years of self-imposed exile. Haunted by what he perceives to be a dishonourable action in his past, he feels himself out of place in – even ostracised by – the world he left years before, and when he encounters Kendra, he feels the need to help her, saving her from social humiliation and offering his assistance in restoring her reputation.
At first, neither sees the space for romance. Lucas is still finding his feet in England, while Kendra is forbidden to ever remarry after her divorce, and is focused on the retrieval of her son. The two of them work together to uncover the truth about Kendra’s divorce trial, her husband’s schemes, and where her son is being kept. Throughout their travels, they grow closer, despite an uncertain future, and discover many secrets that will change Kendra’s life forever. With the help of some characters from Putney’s previous works, our heroes seek the truth and to put things right.
Kendra is an independent, interesting lead, with a plucky attitude despite the dire straits in which she finds herself. She’s not too proud to ask for help, or to accept people’s kindness when they offer it. While her situation feels improbable, she handles it with aplomb and it doesn’t take the reader out of the story too much. Lucas is a winning leading man, with admirable courage and empathy for a fellow outcast. His wish to help another comes across as both selfless and honorable, while his love is unselfish and derived from mutual respect. They are a great couple and fun to read about. Both characters have excellent internal conflicts, and are motivated by regaining what has been taken from them, and restoring their honor.
There are, however, a lot of improbable moments in this story. The circumstances around Kendra’s divorce are unlikely to say the least, and the ending is a little too neat and easy. Her problems all get resolved without too much trouble, despite how byzantine they appear at the beginning of the book. It’s fun to visit old friends from previous books in the series and in the Lost Lords series, but it’s a little gratuitous. There are too many characters making cameos, and it just gets distracting and feels unnecessary. These issues do detract a little bit from the book – but speaking as a Putney fan, it still works. All of the things readers love about her books are present here, and while the premise is a tad busy, it’s still one of the best historical romances out this year. One of the hallmarks of Putney’s books is the somewhat idealized happily ever after – not an ordinary HEA, but one where absolutely everything turns out perfectly for our heroes. While elements are exaggerated and the callbacks to previous works are a little gratuitous, I would still recommend this book to any reader who loves historical romance. If you can suspend your disbelief slightly, Once Dishonored will provide you with a wonderful read.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 29/09/20
Publication Date: 09/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I am very disappointed with MJP for calling her heroine’s ex Lord Devonshire. There is a Duke of Devonshire (owner of fabulous Chatsworth House in Derbyshire) and it just grates with me when a writer uses the name/title of a living person in this way. I would have expected MJP to be aware of the Devonshires and their history. I just find it curious and a bit distasteful. I am not 100% certain of the timeframe of this book but MJP should be aware that under English divorce laws in the 19th century, mothers virtually never received custody of children in a divorce and it took an Act of Parliament (not a trial) and a lot of money to obtain a divorce.
But then she doesn’t. The ex is called Lord Denshire not Devonshire. This is a mistake in the review.
That’s good to hear!!
I’ll fix it – I haven’t read this one so didn’t ask the reviewer to check.
Thanks for the correction! I hate mistakes, glad to have them pointed out and fixed.
Yep, this sounds on-point for Putney! She’s been all over the map for me lately.
@ Dabney Sadly, that’s a thing that’s almost guaranteed to put me off – chicks in strides is probably my least favourite trope and an author has to work REALLY hard to make it work.
I stopped reading MJP several years ago – I could hardly believe the books she was putting out came from the same person who wrote The Rake. The amount of implausibility you refer to in this one (the heroine has control over her own fortune? How? A married woman and everything that belonged to her at this period was her husband’s in law) makes me think this one isn’t for me. Thanks for the review!
Well, the heroines money is in a trust for her and her children. I am not sure, if that was possible, but I assume it might have been.
As for the trousers, they are only worn by the heroine when fencing in a private club with other females. I too dislike the cover, but for me the explanation in the book sort of works. Although I sincerely doubt that women did any fencing at all
I’m not sure either. Everything I’ve read suggests that marriage superceded any other legal arrangement – anything that was a woman’s before marriage automatically became her husband’s. There may have been a way around it but I think it would have been very difficult to organise if there was.
At one point I did some research on this because of Roberta Gellis, who tended to be fairly fussy about detail. Nevertheless, her Roselynde Chronicles books have to be taken with a good dose of suspension of disbelief. In The English Heiress, the hero gets the heroine’s fortune tied up before he marries her, and it is skimmed over as being complicated.
I poked around some, and maybe that could have been done through Chancery with trustees. I never did find a definitive answer that satisfied me. The Heiress books don’t really clarify exactly how the money is managed.
A sadly more realistic take on women and money is in The Lady Risks All, by Stephanie Laurens, where there is a discussion of how judges might regard the heroine’s funds. Further info would be a spoiler.
There’s always tension between recreating historical reality and writing historical fiction. While there’s been a lot of back-and-forth about whether some science fiction is fantasy — Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels being a great example — there doesn’t seem to be as much discussion about what I would call Regency fantasy. I used to be very strict about historical plausibility. Now I just mentally set my category to Regency fantasy when I read Eloisa James or Mary Jo Putney.
Regency fantasy, or historical fantasy, is a great category to slot books into! I’ve done much the same without having a name for it. I think of it as a “don’t look too closely at it and have fun” book, but your idea saves time and typing! The quality of the writing then either saves the book as an enjoyable read or not.
I did some search and apparently women did fence https://www.britannica.com/biography/Domenico-Angelo
I love the cover – though yes, it requires latitude because it would have meant ruin for a lady to be seen anywhere in trousers – and so it grates with the title.
For me, the image and impact of the words “Once Dishonored” and the woman in a super powerful pose in pants – the dark clothes, the light background, her looking down on us in a way – I utterly love that cover for its visual message, leaving aside the book, and the realism, and all of that..
I hope someone is keeping a list of HR heroines wearing pants on the cover of new romance novels. It is definitely a thing!
The only book I can think of where a Regency heroine in pants works is Sarah MacLean’s Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover. That makes perfect sense.
An HR cover with a pants-wearing heroine that caught my eye recently is Beverly Jenkins’s forthcoming Western Wild Rain: Women who Dare. And Eloisa James’s Say No to the Duke features a heroine from 1776 slipping into breeches under her dress.
Both of these titles are from Avon, which I have noticed to be a little more daring in their unconventional heroines than Harlequin. (All owned by the same parent company, I know. But Harlequin tends to play it conservative- with some exceptions- under their category lines.)
But never mind heroines in pants; when are we going to see the hero in a dress? That’s what I want to know. ;)
Great review Rachel! The last Putney I reviewed had the same issues – some unbelievable plot turns and an over-the-top ending. In spite of those problems, it was still a fun read. It sounds like Putney fans will love it. I’ll put it in my TBR pile for a day when I need a little “over-the-top”!
Yep, that’s pretty much it. I love Putney, she’s a real comforting, soft read with low stakes. She’s really my standard for regency romance, and her characters are always great even if the story is a little unbelievable.