Minx by Julia Quinn (Splendid Trilogy #3)

First Published: 1 September 1996
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 396
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Finished Date: 9 January 2012

Blurb from Goodreads

The attractive, yet utterly tomboyish, manager of a country estate is taken to London by her new guardian in order to be properly groomed for society. Her original spirit and winning manner capture society's attention and admiration, as well as her guardian's affections.

My Rating

My Review

Minx was a book that I really enjoyed. Dunford was a character that was shown since Splendid, the first book in the series. Hence, it was really a pleasure to read about him. Henrietta, or rather, Henry, is his perfect match in so many ways. Both of them together is just so sweet.

The beginning part was really funny. I really loved seeing how Dunford tried to resist his attraction to Henry out of some misguided sense of duty. And right at the beginning, when Henry tried to chase Dunford away, I was bursting out in laughter every few pages or so.

For me, this book was very real. The characters were very realistic and you could really feel their pain, their hurt, but also their love and joy. It was a book that made me feel a lot. It brought me through a whole maelstrom of emotions and even now, just flipping through the ending, I find myself tearing up at the sweet words they spoke to each other. Yes, it may be mushy and cheesy but it just is so sweet, is it not?

Alright, let me just start with a short summary.

So Dunford inherits the estate Henry is living on. She tries to chase him away at first. Afterwards, they strike a truce and become friends. However, they are both attracted to each other. Later, when Dunford finds out that he’s her guardian, he insists on bringing her to London so as to give her a season and find her a husband. And he tries to fight the attraction, thinking its very wrong to be attracted to her as he’s her guardian. But finally, in London, they both give in to their mutual desires and fall in love. They get engaged, but because of a major disagreement, which I won’t say what, they were estranged for quite a while. Of course, it all got resolved in the end and they had their HEA.

So the thing I really loved about this book was that it was really well written. I could feel the characters, as if I was living their lives. The part that I especially loved was when they had their major conflict. I really could feel their pain, and believe me, it was very painful. But when they finally made up, their love was so so sweet. Of course, before that, one could also feel their love. But I find that it is after major conflicts that you can truly see a couple’s love for each other.

As with the previous 2 novels in the Splendid Trilogy, the dialogue was very witty and I really enjoyed the times they spent together. Without doubt, I would be able to find something that I could laugh about, or sigh about within most of their dialogues.

There’s only one thing I didn’t really like, and what stopped this from being a 5 star read. I didn’t like the making up scene. It didn’t have that emotional impact on me that I thought it should have. The part after that was so sweet though, and of course, the epilogue where the baby is born just brings a smile to my face.

I think something I really liked in this book was how Dunford was humbled by love. He was a different man when he was in love. Still the same old adorable Dunford, but there was something so different about him when you saw him with Henry. Maybe its because we’ve seen him over 2 other books and thus can really see the change in him when he falls in love.

As for Henry, I really liked her a lot. She was someone that I could really relate to. The things she did were things I would have thought of doing were I in the same situation. And I like that she can swallow her pride and apologize when she’s in the wrong. I especially loved her tricks right at the beginning. She really fooled Dunford! Throughout the whole book, you could see Henry mature into a fine young lady. Before, she was really nice and really sweet, but still very innocent. At the end, she was truly a lady. I would call it, transformed by love. And not in a bad way. As in she didn’t change for him. It was a natural process that occurred because of love.

All in all, Minx was a great read and I really loved it. Certainly a book I would recommend to someone else. In fact, I would definitely recommend the whole series to another person. The final book, a novella in Where’s My Hero, was also very well-written. I won’t be doing a review for that so suffice to say that I really loved it and it did sum up all the characters that were introduced to us. And I loved the ending for that book. Funny and fantastic. But back to topic. Minx just shows me how love really changes people into becoming better persons. It was a completely enjoyable read. 4.5 stars.