Title: Lady Lavender: A Regency Love novel
Author: Samantha Lin
First Published Independently by Amazon KDP
Year: 2019
Format Read: Kindle
Pages: 368
Language: English
ASIN: B082RSMY8T
Dates Read: 2026, January 31 to March 30
Introduction
I liked the Regency Love game that debuted in 2013 for iOS. I found out about it from an rpgfan.com review. I completed routes with the three main bachelors. Like many fans, I was hoping for additional routes and more content updates. I have not touched the game since 2017, but it doesn’t feel like it has been that long ago! The game developers’ blog mentioned that a book was published that served as a standalone spin-off novel to the video game. I just never got around to reading it until now. Apparently, I did not follow the developers that closely, so I missed everything about how this novel was produced. Fans could have raised more money and got more chapters or an epilogue.
I had to go online and consult the game’s wiki to refresh my memory of some of the characters’ names and faces. In this book, your player character from the game is married to Mr. Ashcroft. His sister, Ellie, along with Lord Sutton — the character introduced in Mr. Graham’s route — serve as the protagonists of this story. Skillfully, the author is able to reintroduce characters from the game into the novel and weave backstory into the dialogue and exposition. The novel is divided into 3 volumes and contains a total of 45 chapters. Each chapter seems to alternate between the perspectives of the two protagonists. The author mostly writes similar to the style of the video game and generally follows the conventions of a Regency novel.
The following paragraphs contain major plot spoilers.
Noteworthy
I loved how the narrator incorporated characters, settings, and events from the game into the novel. A nice reunion! I also admired that, for the most part, it did feel like I was reading a Regency era historical romance.
Honestly, I had avoided spoilers about this novel. Therefore, I did not really know what this novel was going to be about other than it had something to do with art and two characters from the video game as the main characters. Also, it did not register with me until Chapter 7 that the writer was developing a romantic relationship between Lord Sutton and Ellie Ashcroft. Up until that point, Lord Sutton had felt more like a father figure to me. I had assumed that he would only serve as Ellie’s mentor or assist her in some platonic way. I also had this fatherly notion when I played James Graham’s route in the video game. Lord Sutton is a landowner with many responsibilities, and his character portrait made him seem like an old-world count (Dracula-like) and very mature. Despite my initial misconceptions, I came to enjoy the growing relationship between him and Miss Ashcroft, and I was very happy when he finally proposed marriage. I would have loved an epilogue for them and the other characters. However, there is a free Christmas short story that takes place 7 months after the novel, which, at the time of writing, is free to read on the developer website.
It was fascinating to read about how people related to or pursued an interest in art during the Regency era. I appreciated the novel’s emphasis on the artistic world. The story went into detail about Ellie as a budding artist, her influences, style, and techniques as well as Lord Sutton’s involvement with sketches and the broader art world in general.
Reading about the day-to-day lives of the characters was actually satisfying and enjoyable to me. I was able to learn more about Ellie’s daily life, her perspective, her desires, and her relationships. I got to discover more about the mysterious Lord Sutton, his servants, his estate, and his dealings with his tenants. The author includes a great deal of detail about types of food, dress, and what was happening in the characters’ world of Regency England. I loved reading about how the main couple gradually developed feelings for one another. The camaraderie between Lord Sutton and Lieutenant Graham was admirable, and I enjoyed the dialogue between the two friends.
Grievous
Major barriers kept me from enjoying this book as much as I had hoped. As a reader, there were elements that just didn’t do it for me at all. First, I am starting to really enjoy this book, but then a new character is introduced named Mrs. Evans. It’s revealed in the narration that Lord Sutton has an ongoing friendship with this lady from a lower class. She works as an art model for him, and the two have engaged in a sexual relationship in the past. Nothing of this sexual sort happens during the events of the novel itself, but the revelation of this history, somewhat ruined my view of his character. Given his portrayal in the chapters before this, I thought that the author wanted us to view him as someone more morally restrained and upright — skeptical of most women, prideful, but guided by a sense of duty and quiet virtue. I thought the writer was going for a more coherently principled, although still flawed, masculinity. Also, introducing the scene with Mrs. Evans sort of jolted me out of this time period. Realistically, shouldn’t a woman have a chaperone going into a Lord’s home like this? Why didn’t the servants say anything about a lower class woman in the lord’s studio without anyone else present? The scene was framed as tastefully routine and benign, but going by the historical time period, wouldn’t this be scandalous – dangerous for her reputation and distasteful? It’s just odd because he does act morally severe, restrained, emotionally guarded, shaped by duty and class expectations during the rest of the novel.
I have such fond memories of the character routes in the video game. In this novel, I absolutely hated what happened to Lieutenant Graham. I understand that in the novel, he fights in one of the bloodiest campaigns, and the author was trying to depict historical realism. However, I was still shocked that the writer makes him lose an arm. So basically, the only image I have of him from the game as a dashing, sensible redcoat has been fractured. He loses a major part of his identity — a soldier. And the novel doesn’t really give him time to develop another sense of identity. When I think about it, he actually had already undergone significant character development in the game, and he was a great supporting character in this novel. Was this drastic outcome in the story really necessary for his character?
Another aspect of this novel that didn’t work well for me is the portrayal of the romantic relationship that develops between Lieutenant Graham and Ensign Ashcroft. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this. To me, the story just introduces the relationship abruptly without much buildup. This romance storyline does not receive the same level of development in comparison to the relationship between Ellie and Lord Sutton, or the established friendship between Lord Sutton and Lieutenant Graham, or even the dynamics between Ellie and her brothers. I know that these soldiers are not the novel’s primary focus, but their romance seems ad hoc to the plot. Additionally, I imagine it would be hard to write same-sex love confessions from this historical period, but the dialogue felt modern here, so once again, I felt pulled out of the time period.
Major spoilers have ended.
Overall Impressions
I’m glad that I was finally able to read this book. I liked the main romance, the emphasis on art, the nods to the video game, and many Regency details. However, some narrative choices of scenes or events were questionable to me, and this kept me from enjoying the novel as much as I had enjoyed the game.
Content Advisory
While reading through the novel, I made an effort to note some potential concerns.
Language: One use of d*mn, one use of d*mned, and a couple uses of bl**dy.
Violence: References to the ongoing war and past fighting; mentions of injuries; brief description of before and after an amputation.
Sexual Content: References to nude art modeling and a past sexual relationship; occasional suggestive dialogue.
Substance Use: Frequent consumption of alcoholic beverages and comments regarding the taste.
Grief & Loss: Mentions of death; war trauma.
A Love So Wordy 