![]() He spends his time carousing with his fellow Rogues of Millionaire Row, gambling money, and seducing actresses. ![]() He doesn’t want to work in his father’s company despite being desperate to win his father’s approval. In the beginning of the book, Theo is aimless and has no real ambition. Swan’s Apothecary and sell The Midnight Miracle Cream (tagline: feels like a dream!). ![]() I was also really pleased when Theo and Daisy partner together to open up Dr. Women have the right to be frivolous and adorn their faces, and I really appreciated that a significant part of the novel focused on this subplot. It’s wonderfully feminist and subversive: it’s not that women have to wear makeup to feel beautiful, but they should be able to wear cosmetics without being dismissed. I had no idea that respectable women in the late 19th century didn’t wear cosmetics (e.g., lip paint or blush) because they didn’t want to be labeled “scandalous.” Daisy’s mission stems from her own experiences: she’s never felt beautiful in the face of society’s taunts and of her conventionally attractive sisters, but she uses cosmetics to help herself feel beautiful. If that wasn’t happily-ever-after, she didn’t know what was. She would make womankind feel a little more beautiful and earn her own independence. She thought of creating products and selling them, a balm for the complexion, in particular. What I love about Daisy is her commitment to science and her determination to allow women feel beautiful with cosmetics. Theo actually thinks, “She was no Helen of Troy but she wasn’t awful to look at.” It seems ridiculous that people still quack at her as a taunt (thanks, Theo), but I can buy into the unnecessary viciousness of society. I confess to rolling my eyes a little at the nickname she’s not ugly and everyone admits that she has perfect complexion due to the complexion balm (adapted from her grandmother’s family recipe). Yes, the Ugly Duckling allusions are obvious - her last name is Swan and Theo so nicely nicknamed her “Ugly Duck Daisy” as a child. To no one’s surprise, their scheme doesn’t go according to plan and they end up falling in love amidst the gossiping vultures of The Four Hundred (the name of New York’s most elite society members) and the opening of Daisy’s new business to sell complexion balm to women.ĭespite my overall ambivalence to the book, I do really love Daisy. Still, they do find common ground and decide to fake an engagement to appease their parents while agreeing to never actually make it to the altar. I should add that it’s less enemies-to-lovers, and more Theo-was-an-asshole-child-who-bullied-Daisy-and-Daisy-has-every-right-to-hate-him. Theo and Daisy don’t like each other and never have. Her father is undoubtedly caught up in an illegal scheme, and the family will be ruined when the secret is out. Swan uses the words “fraudulent” and “investment” without elaboration, but it’s enough for the reader to fill in the blanks. Meanwhile, Daisy’s mother - who despairs of her twenty-five year old unmarried daughter and her complexion balm hobby - stresses the urgency of Daisy’s need to marry because of some mysterious disaster that will befall her father’s company. Theo’s father is adamant: marry Daisy or Theo is cut off. No one knows exactly what happened in the Saratoga Scandal, but rumors all agree that an actress, a racehorse, and a torn bed sheet are involved. Theodore Prescott the Second is furious at society’s furor over Theo’s involvement in the “Saratoga Scandal” and believes that Theo needs a sensible wife who will keep him in line. Despite the intriguing premise, I had difficulties with the first half (it drags on far too long before getting to the most interesting parts of the novel), the portrayal of the hero as witty and creative when evidence suggests otherwise, the absence of Daisy’s father when he is responsible for the climactic conflict, and the choice to explore some feminist issues and not others.ĭaisy Swan and Theodore Prescott the Third are coerced into an engagement by their respective parents. Some Like It Scandalous delivers on its premise: childhood enemies-to-lovers, fake engagement, scientist-slash-businesswoman heroine, and a rich and fleshed-out Gilded Age setting. Theme: Enemies to Lovers, Fake Relationship
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