Agents Of The Crowns
series tells about love stories of two friends, who happened to be working
together as an secret agents for the War Office during the war between England
and France (Napoleon). The stories sets during year 1814 to 1815 in England
country side. There are 2 books in total in this series, and each book can be
read as a stand-alone novels, or can be read in any order. Intended for mature readers only, not suitable for kids below 18 year old.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Serial
Agents Of The Crowns menceritakan mengenai kisah-kisah perjalanan cinta dari
dua sahabat yang bekerja sebagai agen rahasia mata-mata untuk Kantor Urusan
Perang Inggris selama periode masa peperangan antara Inggris dengan Perancis
(pihak Napoleon). Latar belakang cerita ini terjadi dalam kurun waktu tahun
1814 sampai dengan tahun 1815, di daerah pedesaan Inggris. Ditujukan untuk para pembaca yang sudah dewasa, tidak cocok untuk anak-anak di bawah 18 tahun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book
1 : To Catch
An Heiress
Copyright © 1998 by Julie Cotler
Pottinger
First
Published in Indonesia on 2010 by Dastan Books
Paperback,
23 Chapters, 434 Pages (for Indonesian Edition)
Genre :
Historical Romance, Adult Novel
Other book
in the series : How
To Marry A Marquis (Agents of The Crown
#2)
When Caroline Trent is kidnapped by Blake Ravenscroft, she doesn’t even try to elude this
dangerously handsome agent of the crown. After all, she’s been running from
unwanted marriage proposals. Yes, Blake believes she’s a notorious spy named
Carlotta De Leon, but for six weeks until her twenty-first birthday, when
she’ll gain control of her own fortune, hiding out in the titillating company of
a mysterious captor is awfully convenient—and maybe just a little romantic,
too.
Blake
Ravenscroft’s mission is to bring “Carlotta” to justice, not to fall in love.
His heart has been hardened by years of intrigue, but this little temptress
proves oddly disarming and thoroughly kissable. And suddenly the unthinkable
becomes possible—that this mismatched couple might be destined for love.
To Catch An Heiress
tells a love story between Caroline Trent with Blake Ravenscroft, the second
son of Viscount Darnsby. The story set in England’s countryside at Hampshire
and Bournemouth on 1814 when England still at war with France.
Caroline is a rich
orphan who often move from one guardian to the next after her father and mother
died. Right now she is living under legal care of her 5th guardian,
Oliver Prewitt whom in fact didn’t have any blood relations to her or her
parents’ family. Oliver only related to Caroline’s 2nd guardian,
which is a distant cousin of Caroline’s father. Thankfully Oliver only gonna be
Caroline’s legal guardian for another 6 weeks until Caroline’s 21st
birthday. After that Caroline will be free to control her own life and gain
access to her wealth left by her father. But the greedy Oliver Prewitt wants
Caroline’s money so he forces his only son, Percival Prewitt to marry Caroline.
When Caroline
refuses the marriage, he force Percy to try to rape Caroline to make sure the marriage
happens for both Percy and Caroline. Percy, who still depending on his father’s
money, didn’t has any choice and couldn’t refused to do the order although he
also didn’t want to be married to Caroline. So one night in their empty house,
as carefully planned and instructed by his father, Percy tried to rape
Caroline. Thankfully Caroline, who learned how to use a gun after her drunken
third guardian tried to hurt her, shoot and hurt Percy although the wound is
not a fatal one. Percy tells Caroline to go leave the house right away that
night before his father is back and Caroline must hide until after her 21st
birthday since Oliver is determine to keep Caroline’s heritance with him
whatever it takes to achieve it, including to rape Caroline by himself if Percy
failed to do the job.
Because Caroline
didn’t have any choice, she run away that night before Oliver’s come back from
his meeting, with only little money and without any plan where she can go to
hide. Finally she decided to walk towards nearby harbor to seek a motel to stay
the night before she think of any other plan for tomorrow. But when she’s walking
there, somebody grabs and kidnaps her.
Blake is working for
the War Office, his current mission is to stalk on Oliver Prewitt and spy on
his residence since the War Office suspected Oliver involved in the smuggling
business with France and helping a dangerous half Spanish Spy, Carlotta De
Leon, who suspected by the War Office is leaking the War Office’s agents
identity to the France and Napoleon. And since Caroline is looking suspicious
when leaving the Prewitt’s house, so Blake mistakenly thought that Caroline is
Carlotta De Leon and took her as prisoner for interrogation.
Caroline’s effort to
explain to Blake that she’s not the woman that he suspected, is failing since
Blake didn’t give her a chance when he kidnaps her out of the town. When
Caroline realizing that the kidnapper took her far away from Hampstead and only
wants to interrogate her without intention to hurt her or kill her yet, she
sees an opportunity to hide herself from Oliver and try to postpone the
interrogation by pretending to have a sore throat and cannot speak for several
days.
Frustrated by his
failed attempt to interrogate Caroline for several days, Blake finally gave up
and asked for help from his best friend and partner in several mission from the
War Office, James Sidwell, Marquis of Riverdale. James is the only spy who ever
met with Carlotta before and manage to escape to tell, so when he sees
Caroline, he can confirm that Blake capture the wrong woman. When Caroline
finally tells her story and why she run away from Prewitt’s house. Blake of
course not happy with the outcome, because he didn’t success to capture
Carlotta De Leon and making any progress for his mission to finding any prove
against Carlotta’s illegal activity with France and also her connection with
Oliver.
Caroline, who wants
to see Oliver get punished for his illegal activity, offer to help Blake and
James with any information she can give them in exchange for a place to stay
and their protection until after her 21st birthday. And then they
began to arrange a plan for Blake and James to secretly brake into Oliver’s
house to find any prove that leads to their illegal activity, while they also
must doing a hide and seek games with Blake’s sister, Penelope, Countess of
Fairwich, who comes to visit him suddenly without any advance notice. Her
curiosity could expose their secret undercover and could ruin the entire
mission.
In this To Catch an
Heiress, Julia Quinn began her experiment with epistolary writing
technique (using another media in the story), in this book Julia Quinn is using
dictionary made by the Heroine, which appear in the beginning of each chapters.
To Catch an
Heiress is really entertaining and full with adventures, although
more focusing towards the romance between the Hero and the Heroine than the
espionage story. There’s not a single dull moment in this story, and it flows
quite quickly from one scene to the other with a lot of funny interactions
between all the characters (Blake, James, Caroline, Penelope, and even
Perriwick the Butler and also Mrs. Mikcle). Those loveable characters make me
laugh and laugh and laugh throughout the whole story. I think the series (To Catch An
Heiress and also How To Marry A Marquis) are the beginning for
the Bridgerton’s inspiration of a warm family antics. No doubt in my mind that To Catch An
Heiress is in my Top Five favorite list of Julia Quinn books.
Characters in To Catch An
Heiress are as follows :
Blake Ravenscroft : the second son of Viscount
Darnsby, works as a spy for the War Office during the war.
Caroline Trent : an orphan heiress, but she cannot
claim her family fortune before she got married or turns twenty one year old.
James Sidwell : Marquess of Riverdale,
Blake’s best friend and also partner in some of the spying mission thrown by
the War Office.
Oliver Prewitt : Caroline’s 5th guardian, although
he didn’t have any family relation with her.
Percy Prewitt : Oliver’s son.
Charlotta de Leon : A deathly spy, half British and
half Spain, and currently working for the France, nobody else knows her face,
except for James.
Penelope : Countess of Fairwich, Blake’s
sister.
Perriwick : Blake’s butler.
Mrs. Mickle : Blake’s cook and housekeeper.
The Rating for To Catch An Heiress is 9/10.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
To
Catch An Heiress menceritakan mengenai kisah cinta antara Caroline Trent
dengan Blake Ravenscroft, anak kedua dari Viscount Darnsby, yang bersetting di
daerah pedesaan Inggris Hampshire dan Bournemouth pada tahun 1814, saat Inggris
masih berperang dengan Perancis.
Caroline
adalah seorang anak yatim piatu yang sejak kecil berpindah-pindah tempat
tinggal sejak ayah dan ibunya meninggal dunia, dari satu wali ke wali
berikutnya. Saat ini ia berada di bawah perwalian Oliver Prewitt, walinya yang
ke-5 yang sebenarnya bukan keluarga Caroline melainkan merupakan kerabat jauh
dari wali ke-2 Caroline. Oliver hanya akan menjadi wali Caroline sampai ia
berusia 21 tahun, yang hanya tinggal 6 minggu lagi, dan setelah itu Caroline
bebas untuk menentukan hidupnya dan juga mengelola harta warisannya sendiri.
Tetapi Oliver yang serakah tidak mau kehilangan peluang untuk menguasai harta
warisan Caroline yang cukup besar, sehingga ia mulai memaksakan kehendaknya
agar anak laki-laki satu-satunya, Percy Prewitt, menikahi Caroline.
Saat
Caroline menolak rencana Oliver untuknya dan Percy, Oliver memaksa Percy untuk
memperkosa Caroline sehingga dapat memastikan pernikahan tersebut tidak dapat
dihindarkan lagi baik oleh Caroline dan Percy. Percy, yang masih belum mandiri
dan kondisi finansialnya masih tergantung pada ayahnya, mau tidak mau terpaksa
menuruti paksaan ayahnya pada suatu malam yang sudah direncanakan oleh Oliver.
Caroline yang terpojok menembak Percy dan melukainya walaupun lukanya tidak
parah. Percy yang sebenarnya juga tidak mau menikah dengan Caroline akhirnya
menyuruh Caroline untuk pergi meninggalkan rumah malam itu juga dan bersembunyi
sampai lewat ulang tahunnya yang ke-21, karena kalau tidak Oliver akan menyelesaikan
rencana jahatnya untuk memperkosa Caroline sendiri jika Percy gagal.
Akhirnya
karena tidak punya pilihan lain, Caroline segera kabur malam itu juga mumpung
Oliver sedang berada di luar rumah. Dan karena ia tidak mempunyai tempat
tujuan, akhirnya Caroline memutuskan untuk berjalan menuju pelabuhan supaya
bisa bersembunyi lebih jauh dari Oliver. Malang untuknya, saat sedang berjalan
menuju ke sana ia bertemu dengan Blake, yang saat itu sedang ditugaskan oleh
Kantor Urusan Perang untuk mengawasi kediaman Oliver Prewitt karena mereka
mencurigai Oliver terlibat dalam kegiatan penyelundupan dengan pihak Perancis
dan pendukung Napoleon. Gerak-gerik Caroline yang mengendap-endap dan
mencurigakan saat meninggalkan rumah kediaman Oliver Prewitt membuat Blake
salah mengira bahwa Caroline adalah Carlotta De Leon, seorang mata-mata
keturunan Inggris-Spanyol yang berbahaya, yang saat itu memang juga sedang
dicari oleh Kantor Urusan Perang karena keterlibatannya dengan kebocoran
rahasia negara.
Usaha
Caroline untuk mencoba menjelaskan kepada Blake bahwa ia bukan wanita mata-mata
yang dimaksudkan oleh Blake, terhalang saat Blake tidak memberinya kesempatan
dan langsung mengikat tangan dan kaki Caroline, menyumpal mulutnya dan menculiknya
ke luar kota. Setelah Caroline menyadari bahwa penculiknya itu hanya berniat
menginterogasinya serta belum terlihat tanda-tanda berniat untuk menyakiti
ataupun membunuhnya, Caroline memutuskan untuk berpura-pura sakit tenggorokan
untuk mengulur waktu interogasi sehingga setidaknya ia aman bersembunyi untuk
sementara waktu dari Oliver.
Frustasi
dengan usaha menginterogasi Caroline yang tidak juga berhasil selama beberapa
hari, Blake akhirnya meminta bantuan temannya James Sidwell, Marquis of
Riverdale, yang juga rekannya dalam beberapa misi yang diberikan oleh Kantor
Urusan Perang, yang sudah pernah bertemu dengan Carlotta De Leon sebelumnya.
Dan tentu saja tidak diragukan lagi James langsung mengetahui bahwa Caroline
bukanlah Carlotta De Leon. Caroline akhirnya menceritakan alasannya mengapa ia
kabur dari rumah. Blake tentu saja tidak senang karena tidak berhasil menangkap
Carlotta De Leon dan tidak membuat kemajuan apapun dalam misinya mencari bukti
yang memberatkan terhadap keterlibatan Oliver dengan para penyelundup dan
mata-mata pengkhianat Inggris.
Caroline
yang ingin melihat Oliver dihukum atas kejahatannya mengajukan diri untuk
membantu Blake dan James dengan imbalan tempat tinggal sementara sampai ulang
tahunnya yang ke-21 tiba. Dari sini dimulailah petualangan seru untuk menyusun
rencana menangkap komplotan mata-mata dan penyelundup, belum lagi usaha
bersembunyi untuk menghindari kakak perempuan Blake, Penelope Countess of Fairwich,
yang tiba-tiba datang berkunjung dari London tanpa pemberitahuan terlebih
dahulu dan mengancam terbongkarnya kerahasiaan misi mata-mata Blake ini.
Di
dalam To
Catch An Heiress inilah Julia Quinn mulai bereksperimen dengan
teknik penulisan epistolary, yaitu
menggunakan alat bantu media lain dalam ceritanya, yang dalam novel ini adalah
kamus kata-kata yang dibuat oleh Caroline yang dimunculkan di setiap awal bab
cerita. To
Catch An Heiress betul-betul sangat menghibur dan penuh dengan
petualangan seru, walaupun memang penekanan ceritanya lebih berfokus pada kisah
cinta dan romansa antara Blake dengan Caroline daripada petualangan spionase.
Di dalam buku ini tidak ada momen yang membosankan dan ceritanya mengalir dari
satu adegan ke adegan berikutnya dengan cukup cepat dan dipenuhi dengan
banyaknya kelucuan interaksi yang terjadi antara semua karakternya (Blake,
James, Caroline, Penelope, bahkan Perriwick yang merupakan Butler paling konyol
di Inggris dan Mrs. Mickle yang sering mogok masak), mereka tak henti-hentinya
membuat aku terpingkal-pingkal. Aku rasa di dalam serial inilah (To Catch An
Heiress dan How To Marry A Marquis) inspirasi untuk
keunikan relasi keluarga Bridgerton berasal. Tidak dapat diragukan lagi jika To Catch An
Heiress termasuk dalam daftar lima besar buku karangan Julia Quinn
favoritku.
Adapun para tokoh dalam To Catch An Heiress
adalah sebagai berikut:
Blake Ravenscroft : anak laki-laki kedua
dari Viscount Darnsby, bekerja sebagai mata-mata untuk Kantor Urusan Perang.
Caroline Trent : seorang pewaris yatim
piatu, tetapi ia tidak dapat mendapatkan harta warisan keluarganya sebelum
menikah atau berumur 21 tahun.
James Sidwell : Marquess of Riverdale,
sahabat baik Blake, dan juga partner dalam beberapa misi mata-mata yang
diberikan oleh Kantor Urusan Perang.
Oliver Prewitt : wali Caroline yang
ke-5, walaupun sebenarnya Oliver tidak mempunyai pertalian hubungan keluarga
apapun dengan Caroline.
Percy Prewitt : anak laki-laki Oliver.
Charlotta de Leon : seorang mata-mata yang sangat berbahaya, keturunan campuran Inggris-Spanyol,
dan saat ini bekerja sebagai mata-mata pihak Perancis dan Napoleon, tidak ada
seorangpun yang pernah melihat wajahnya, kecuali James.
Penelope : Countess of Fairwich, adik
perempuan Blake.
Perriwick : Butler di kediaman Blake.
Mrs. Mickle : Tukang masak dan
pengurus rumah Blake.
Nilai
rating untuk novel To Catch An Heiress ini adalah 9.3/10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Book
2 : How To
Marry A Marquis
Copyright © 1999 by Julie Cotler
Pottinger
First
Published in Indonesia on 2011 by Dastan Books
Paperback,
22 Chapters + Epilog, 448 Pages (for Indonesian Edition)
Genre :
Historical Romance, Adult Novel
Other book
in the series : To
Catch An Heiress (Agents Of The Crown
#1)
She’s
trying to follow the rules…
When Elizabeth Hotchkiss stumbles
upon a copy of How to Marry a
Marquis in her employer’s library, she’s convinced someone is
playing a cruel joke. With three younger siblings to support, she knows she has
to marry for money, but who might have guessed how desperate she’s become? A
guidebook to seduction might be just the thing she needs—and what harm could
there be in taking a little peek?
…But
he’s making his own
James Sidwell,
the Marquis of Riverdale, has been summoned to rescue his aunt from a
blackmailer, a task that requires him to pose as the new estate manager, and
his primary suspect is his aunt’s companion, Elizabeth. Intrigued by the
alluring young woman with the curious little rulebook, he gallantly offers to
help her find a husband… by practicing her wiles on him. But when practice
becomes all too perfect, James decides that there is only one rule worth
following—that Elizabeth marry her marquis.
How To Marry A Marquis sets in year 1815, taken place in Surrey,
England, not too far from London. How To Marry A Marquis tells a love story
between Elizabeth Hotchkiss, the first daughter of a Baronet and James
Sidwell, Marquis of Riverdale.
Elizabeth,
also known as Lizzie, is going to be 23 years old this year. And as the oldest
of the four siblings, she must take care of her younger sisters Susan and Jane,
and also their youngest brother, Lucas. For the last 5 years after their
father’s death, Lizzie is struggling to provide for her brother and sisters and
manages to keep them together in one household, but it is very hard to do so
depending with only her salary as companion to Lady Agatha Danbury. And for
these past 5 years, Lizzie also ignores her age and her desire for a proper
good marriage since she cannot afford a London season for herself and since
there’s no eligible gentlemen within her village who wants to be burden with
her brother and sisters, so she has to prioritize her brother and sisters first
before her own. But their family’s financial situation makes Lizzie has to
consider finding a rich husband soon to guarantee her brother and sisters
future, especially her bother Lucas, who has to apply to Eton soon. That’s why
when she accidentally found a guidebook called “How To Marry A Marquis” in Lady
Danbury’s library, she felt silly at first to even consider reading it. But
either because of her curiosity or because of her desperation of her family
situation, she decided to “borrow” the silly guidebook without the knowledge of
Lady Danbury of course (she cannot imagine the mockery from Lady D if she ever
found out that Lizzie is reading the book).
James is
Lady Danbury’s favorite nephew. James was forced to retired from his position
as a spy for the War Office a year before because his identity as one of the
secret agent already been exposed by the France while he and his best friend,
Blake Ravenscroft are on their last mission to capture smugglers (To Catch An
Heiress). So when her aunt asks for his help to investigate a blackmailer, he
decided to leave his boring life in London and come to Danbury House based on
his aunt request by pretending to be her new Estate Manager, the simple Mr.
James Siddon. James, who owed a lot from her aunt because she basically raised
him and safe him from his cruel father, is more than happy to go undercover and
investigate a blackmailing attempt to her aunt.
At first,
James suspected Lizzie as the blackmailer since he noticed that Lizzie is
acting suspicious and strange. But after James starting to know Lizzie more and
learn that in an odd way she is loyal to her aunt, he immediately erases her
from the short suspect list of the blackmailer. More so after he finds out that
the reason behind Lizzie suspicious and odd behavior all because Lizzie is
trying to practicing the silly tips and tricks mention in the silly guidebook
“How To Marry A Marquis” to James. Not because Lizzie knew that James is a
marquis and she wants to marry him, but because there’s no single gentleman
around within Lady Danbury estate or in her village that could be her target
practice. After find out her reasons and her needs to find a wealthy husband to
secure her brother and sisters’ future, James decided to help Lizzie by
teaching her his own tips and trick of how to attract a marquis or any gentleman
because James didn’t want Lizzie to transform into a stupid silly girl like the
rest debutante in London, who clearly following the tips and tricks from the
same stupid guide book.
With more
time they spent together, Lizzie feels more and more thorns since she finally realizes
that maybe she has fall in love with James, although he is only a simple estate
manager who didn’t have much money. She cannot be selfish and choose James over
her brother and sisters future, especially if she wants to send Lucas to Eton.
While James is also in dilemma, since he cannot inform Lizzie the truth about
himself that he indeed a marquis and blow up his cover. He cannot do that
before he finds out and capture who the blackmailer is, since his beloved
aunt’s reputation is on the line.
For those
of you who have read other books from Julia Quinn, especially books from the
Bridgerton Series, must be familiar with Lady Danbury character, which often
appear as a supporting character in the series like in The Duke and I, The Viscount
Who Loved Me, Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, and It’s In His
Kiss. Lady Danbury along with Blake and Caroline, the couple from To Catch An
Heiress (Agents Of The Crown #1) are the main attraction in this
book. The humor level for this book is quite acceptable, although not quite
spectacular and hilarious like the humor in To Catch An Heiress, but the
last few chapters is guarantee will make you giggle.
Characters in How To Marry A Marquis are as
follows :
James Sidwell : Marquess of Riverdale,
a former spy who used to work for the War Office.
Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’
Hotchkiss : the eldest of the Hotchkiss
family.
Lady Agatha Danbury : Dowager Countess of Danbury,
James’ aunt
Blake Ravenscroft : James’ best friend, who also used
to work for the War Office.
Caroline Ravenscroft : Blake’s wife.
Susan Hotchkiss : Lizzie’s sister, 14 years old.
Jane Hotchkiss : Lizzie’s sister, 9 years old.
Lucas Hotchkiss : Lizzie’s brother, 8 years old, heir to Baronet title.
William Dunford : one of James’ friend, a guest at
Lady Danbury’s party (the story in How To Marry A Marquis happens before
Dunford’s story in Minx).
Rating for How To Marry A Marquis is 8.5/10.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
How
To Marry A Marquis berlatar belakang di daerah Surrey, Inggris,
tidak terlalu jauh dari London pada tahun 1815. How to Marry a Marquis
menceritakan mengenai kisah cinta antara Elizabeth Hotchkiss, anak seorang
Baronett dan James Sidwell, Marquis of Riverdale.
Elizabeth, atau yang lebih sering dipanggil
Lizzie, yang tahun itu sudah berumur 23 tahun merupakan anak tertua dari empat
bersaudara. Sudah 5 tahun berlalu sejak kematian ayah mereka yang membuat ke-4
bersaudara tersebut, Lizzie, Susan, Jane dan Lucas Hotchkiss, menjadi yatim
piatu. Dan selama 5 tahun itu pula Lizzie berjuang merawat adik-adiknya supaya
keluarga mereka tetap bersama, dengan bekerja sebagai pendamping Lady Agatha
Danbury, dan Lizzie pun mengabaikan umur serta keinginan untuk pernikahan
(karena memang tidak ada pria lajang yang layak dan menarik yang juga tidak
keberatan untuk menampung ketiga adiknya). Tetapi melihat kondisi keuangan
keluarga mereka yang terus menipis dan kebutuhan adik-adiknya yang semakin
meningkat seiring mereka bertumbuh besar, mau tidak mau Lizzie harus mulai
mempertimbangkan pernikahan dengan pria kaya yang bisa menjadi salah satu jalan
keluar bagi terjaminnya masa depan adik-adiknya, terutama adiknya Lucas yang
sebentar lagi harus masuk sekolah di Eton. Oleh sebab itu saat ia secara tidak
sengaja menemukan sebuah buku panduan yang berjudul “How to Marry a Marquis” di
perpustakaan Lady Danbury, awalnya ia merasa konyol bahwa ia bahkan berpikiran
untuk membacanya. Tetapi entah karena rasa penasaran atau bisa juga keputus
asaan yang membuatnya akhirnya ‘meminjam’ buku tersebut, tanpa sepengetahuan
Lady Danbury tentunya (entah olok-olok apa yang akan terlontar dari Lady
Danbury jika mengetahui Lizzie membaca buku yang konyol tersebut).
Sementara itu James, yang terpaksa pensiun
dari pekerjaannya sebagai mata-mata di Kantor Urusan Perang pada tahun
sebelumnya akibat penyamarannya yang terbongkar oleh pihak Perancis saat sedang
menjalankan misi menangkap komplotan penyelundup bersama dengan sahabatnya
Blake Ravenscroft (To Catch An Heiress), memutuskan meninggalkan
London yang membosankan dan datang ke Danbury House atas permintaan Lady
Danbury dengan menyamar sebagai Mr. James Siddon pengurus Estate baru Lady
Danbury yang sederhana. James merupakan keponakan favorit Lady Danbury dan ia
berhutang banyak kepada Lady Danbury atas kasih sayang yang diberikan wanita
itu kepadanya saat ia kecil dulu sehingga ia dengan senang hati membantu Lady
Danbury untuk menyelidiki ancaman pemerasan yang ditujukan terhadap wanita itu.
Pada awalnya James sempat mencurigai Lizzie
karena ia memergoki wanita itu berlaku aneh dan mencurigakan. Tapi setelah
James mulai mengenal Lizzie lebih dekat, ia segera mencoret Lizzie dari daftar
tersangka. Apalagi setelah ia akhirnya mengetahui sumber dari gerak-gerik mencurigakan
Lizzie adalah karena Lizzie sedang mencoba mempraktekkan tips-tips konyol yang
ditulis di dalam buku ‘How to Marry a Marquis’ pada James sebagai obyek
latihannya. James kemudian mengajukan diri untuk membantu mengajari Lizzie
dalam usahanya untuk mendapatkan seorang suami kaya demi menyelamatkan masa
depan adik-adik Lizzie daripada membiarkan Lizzie membuat dirinya menjadi
konyol seperti kebanyakan gadis-gadis bodoh yang sering ditemuinya di London.
Seiring semakin dekatnya kebersamaan mereka
berdua, Lizzie semakin merasa putus asa ketika ia akhirnya menyadari bahwa ia
sudah jatuh cinta dengan James, padahal James hanya seorang pengurus estate
yang tentunya tidak kaya dan tidak akan dapat membantu banyak untuk
menyekolahkan adiknya Lucas ke Eton, sehingga Lizzie merasa tidak akan ada masa
depan untuknya dan James. Sedangkan James juga tidak dapat berterus terang
membongkar penyamarannya dan membuka identitasnya kepada Lizzie bahwa ia
sebenarnya adalah Marquis of Riverdale yang cukup dapat menjamin kehidupan
Lizzie dan adik-adiknya, sebelum urusan penyelidikan pemerasan Lady Danbury
dituntaskan.
Bagi yang sudah pernah membaca buku-buku Julia
Quinn dalam Bridgerton series pasti familiar dengan Dowager Countess Lady
Danbury yang kerap muncul dalam The Duke and I, The Viscount Who Loved Me, Romancing Mr.
Bridgerton dan It’s In His Kiss. Lady Danbury merupakan salah
satu daya tarik dari novel ini, selain pasangan karakter Blake dan Caroline
Ravenscroft dari To Catch An Heiress. Tingkat kelucuan yang terjadi di dalam
How To Marry
A Marquis memang terasa kurang mengelitik, tidak seperti di dalam To Catch An
Heiress, tetapi keriuhan saat semua karakternya berkumpul di
beberapa bab terakhir benar-benar cukup menyegarkan. Munculnya Lady Danbury, Blake dan Caroline menjadi penyelamat untuk novel
ini karena
untuk kisah cintanya sendiri antara James dan Lizzie hanya terasa cukup datar dan
biasa-biasa saja. Hal ini tentu saja sangat disayangkan, karena sebenarnya
James ini merupakan salah satu karakter favoritku di dalam buku sebelumnya, To
Catch An Heiress, yang digambarkan sebagai pribadi yang cerdas, humoris,
simpatik dan berkharisma namun misterius dan mata-mata yang sangat handal.
Sebenarnya aku mengharapkan setidaknya cerita misi mata-mata James sebelumnya,
terutama mengenai misi saat James berhasil lolos dari Charlotta de Leon, dapat
diceritakan disini. Tetapi sayang sekali hal tersebut tidak terjadi.
Adapun para tokoh dalam How To Marry A Marquis adalah sebagai berikut
:
James Sidwell : Marquess of Riverdale,
seorang bekas mata-mata untuk Kantor Urusan Perang yang sudah pensiun.
Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Hotchkiss : anak tertua dari keluarga
Hotchkiss.
Lady Agatha Danbury : Dowager Countess of
Danbury, Bibi dari James.
Blake Ravenscroft : sahabat baik James
dari kecil, yang sebelumnya juga bekerja bersama James sebagai mata-mata untuk
Kantor Urusan Perang.
Caroline Ravenscroft : istri Blake.
Susan
Hotchkiss : adik perempuan Lizzie, 14 tahun.
Jane
Hotchkiss : adik perempuan Lizzie, 9 tahun.
Lucas Hotchkiss : adik laki-laki Lizzie
paling bungsu,
8 tahun, pewaris gelar Baronet.
William Dunford : salah satu teman James dari
London, menjadi tamu di pesta Lady Danbury (cerita dalam How To Marry A
Marquis terjadi sebelum cerita Dunford dalam Minx).
Nilai
rating untuk novel How To Marry A Marquis ini adalah 8.2/10.
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