Love in the Afternoon (Hathaways, Book 5) Mass Market Paperback – June 29, 2010

In a family full of unorthodox people, Beatrix Hathaway takes gold. A fun-loving young woman with a propensity for running about in trousers with her animal menagerie, Beatrix finds fitting into London society and finding love quite difficult. Until one day, her callous friend receives a letter from a soldier, and Bea strikes up a correspondence with him disguised as her friend. This opens her up in a way she never expected!The Hathaways series is near and dear to my heart. Every single book has been top-notch, funny, heartwarming, and entertaining. Throughout the journey, I often wondered who would be right for Bea. She definitely dances to her own beat, especially in this time period. Kelypas didn’t disappoint with this one, and I am so pleased!So, I have probably read this book like thirty times (no exaggeration) since it was published. I absolutely adored Bea and her unorthodox ways. She was always sweet, innocent, and had such an earnest attitude. She's an absolute delight of a character who made me laugh so many times. And don't even get me started on Christopher! He is so swoony and protective that it makes my lil heart go putter patter! God, when they strike up with those letters...they are so sweet and real in a way you don't always see between couples and it made my inner fan girl jump up and down, squealing all the way! Seeing the way this couple interacts is amusing and heartwarming, especially because Christopher has no idea she is the one from the letters.I also love how Kleypas introduces real issues into her novels, like Bea’s grief over her parents and PTSD, and how it honestly was viewed back in the 1800s. It's beautiful to see how supportive the Hathaways are of Christopher, especially when he believes he is just crazy. I still laugh and smile and inwardly swoon at so many aspects of this book despite the fact that I have read it so many times. To me, that speaks to the quality of the writing and storytelling. Historical romances are a hard sell for me, but sell me any Lisa Kleypas book. I am in it and am a diehard fan! I will never not recommend this book and this series! It's amazing. Please go try it out!Tropes include:MF Love InterestsSet in 1800’sSecret IdentityLove LettersLong DistanceHe’s a SoldierWar HeroHurt/ComfortGriefPTSD RepShe is UnorthodoxProtective MMCWild/Independent FMCDislike-to-LoveQuirky/Lovable FamilyMenagerie of AnimalsGrumpy x Sunshine

I really didn’t know what to expect with Beatrix’s story, but the set up for this book was perfect! I am a huge fan of epistolary romances and the letters between Beatrix and Christopher were so beautiful. It made perfect sense that these 2 would fall for each other. I was hooked right from the start and I didn’t want to put this one down. There are some heavier themes in this novel, so please check the CW’s.All the pining had my heart aching and the buildup to the big letter reveal was fantastic. I did feel that once the mystery with the letters was solved however, the plot stalled a bit. I also wish there had been more Hathaway hijinks. It was wonderful to see all the happy couples and get updates on their lives. Rosalyn Landor’s performance was a delight as always and I’m sad that this series has come to a close.Audiobook ReviewOverall 4.5 starsPerformance 5 starsStory 4 starsCW: PTSD, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, death of family member, grief, survivor’s guilt, discussion and details about war, guns, and death

TITLE: Love in the AfternoonAUTHOR: Lisa KleypasSERIES: Hathaways, Book 5SETTING: Mid-Victorian, Hampshire, Crimean WarTHEMES/TROPES: hidden identity (Cyrano), war, trauma/PTSD, epistolaryOVERVIEW:Charming, eccentric, animal-obsessed Beatrix Hathaway has about given up on finding a man who can appreciate her and spends her time trying to find contentment with her family and pets in Hampshire. When her beautiful friend Prudence receives a letter from gorgeous, arrogant Captain Christopher Phelan, away fighting in Crimea, Beatrix can see that the man is in desperate need of some friendly words, no matter how disdainful he may have been to her the few times they’ve met. Unfortunately, Prudence doesn’t wish to respond—so Beatrix agrees to do it in her name.The correspondence becomes much more than Beatrix expected, and when Christopher finally comes home, it breaks her heart to find herself once again an object of scorn to him and know that she’s not the woman he wants. Christopher’s heart aches even more when he finds that Prudence isn’t anything like the woman he corresponded with, not only because it dashes the hopes that carried him through hell, but because he knows that the woman he fell for was purposefully deceiving him. They become stuck in a web of lies, trauma, and pain that can’t be resolved all at once, but Beatrix is determined to untangle it all to help the man whose letters opened her heart.PROS:This book is just delightfully heart-wrenching…is that a thing? I think it must be because this story is so touchingly full of heartbreak and pain, both in terms of the romance and from Christopher’s memories and trauma from the war. It’s particularly touching and refreshing to see a male lead experience a feeling of being fooled and spurned, which is so often the purview of jilted or misled young women.Beatrix is the sweetest, loveliest heroine. Her love of and adeptness with animals shows a gentleness and a cleverness that is incredibly endearing, and it also gives her a great ability to read and manage people because she can see how they relate to animal behavior. I also enjoy that her preference for animals is used as a way to explain her problems and insecurities rather than just her positive traits. Christopher, on the other hand, can be very harsh and rude, but his experiences in the war both changed his way of looking at life and illustrate his strength of character.One of the best things about how Christopher is written is how thoroughly his PTSD is represented and incorporated. I’m certainly no expert on PTSD, but I have found in other books I’ve read with war-traumatized characters that the effect is written very one-dimensionally as one or two dramatic symptoms, like nightmares or flashbacks. Christopher, very realistically for someone who has only just arrived home form war, has nightmares and flashbacks and anxiety and depression and jumpiness, which are incorporated both explicitly and subtly into the plot and his character.I loved the letters shared between Beatrix and Christopher toward the beginning of the book. Not only were the letters very sweet, but a correspondence like that also serves to create a strong basis for the romance before the story gets in full swing, which helps avoid the hard-to-believe speed at which many couples in romance (particularly historical romance) fall in love.CONS:I can’t think of anything that I disliked much about this book—and not for lack of trying. If anything, I had the slight sense at some points that there should be more acknowledgement that love can’t cure everything. This is not to say that love was a “cure” for Christopher’s PTSD in this book, but rather that there’s too much “you would never hurt me.” I think I would have liked a little more understanding on Beatrix’s part that Christopher wasn’t being paranoid or over-careful about how dangerous he could be to her.RATINGS:Writing: 5/5 Top notch as always from Kleypas.Characters: 5/5 Well rounded and believable.Plot: 5/5 Compelling and believable for characters.Setting: 5/5 Vibrant animals and countryside; good war details.Romance: 5/5 Very sweet and heart-wrenching.Sexiness: 5/5 Well integrated with emotional story.Humor: 4/5 Funnier than you would expect for all the emotional turmoil.Average: 4.86 Sweet and Heart-WrenchingOTHER INFO:This is the last of the five-book Hathaways series, but I think this is the one of the series most able to stand on its own because it is the farthest removed in time from the other books, and there isn’t a lot we learn about Beatrix in the previous books that we don’t see in this story. The other books are certainly worth reading though, both because they’re each fabulous individually, and it’s more fun to see all the other siblings in this book after reading their romances.