An Offer From a Gentleman (Cinderella)

An Offer From a Gentleman summary:

An Offer From a Gentleman novel was definitely a Cinderella story. A nod is even given to the slippers Sophie wore to the ball, but with a twist. There was enough angst here to take the story out of Disney territory and into the realm of an adult fairy tale.

Sophie was the unacknowledged daughter of an Earl. The product of his dalliance with a house maid who died in childbirth. The Earl provided her a home at his country estate and told the world she was his ward. He never acted as a father and paid her little attention, but she was cared for and educated like a female of his class. Her true identity was an open secret, as she looked very much like her father and his family.

After the Earl dies unexpectedly, Sophie is left to the mercy of her evil stepmother and stepsisters (one of the two sisters isn't evil, but she's afraid to stand up to her mom and sister). Provisions had been made in the will for Sophie to have a home until she was 20 and to provide her a dowry, but the stepmom didn't tell her about the dowry. She spent the dowry and turned Sophie into an unpaid servant.

The housekeeper who helped raise Sophie plays the part of the fairy godmother and sends her off to the Bridgerton masquerade ball wearing one of her deceased grandmother's dresses and the Countess' shoes. She meets the Bridgerton's second son, Benedict, and it's love at first sight for both. Of course, she must disappear at midnight...

Sophie was kicked out of her home after the ball when the countess discovered she attended (those damn shoes!). She'd have likely just been nastier and worked Sophie harder, but she was furious when Benedict came to the home to "meet her daughters" in an effort to ferret out his mystery woman Sophie had left a glove behind that was monogrammed with her dead grandmother's initials, giving him a clue to her origin. The Countess was not amused that the much coveted Mr. Bridgerton was truly interested in her hated slave/unacknowledged stepdaughter. Benedict leaves their home puzzled and none the wiser and continues to search for his mystery love.

Several years pass before the two meet again. Sophie had since been working as a ladies maid in several different households. Benedict saves her from being attacked by the son of her employer and his drunken friends and takes her to his country home with a promise of getting her employment with his mother. He's attracted to her, but doesn't recognize her because she'd been masked at the ball. He finds something familiar but can't quite put the puzzle together. Sophie lies when asked if they'd ever met. She never wanted him to know because she realized their difference in station would prevent a marriage and make her simply mistress material.

Benedict saw her as mistress material anyway and engages in some underhanded ploys to keep her in his clutches. He doesn't force her by any means, but does blackmail her to ensure she works in his mother's household instead of disappearing as she wanted to do. He hoped to keep her around so he could work on convincing her to be his mistress, something she refused to do even after giving in and giving him her virginity. Sophie was determined not to follow in her mother's footsteps and have a bastard child that may suffer the way she had suffered. Benedict's assurances that any children of hers would be cherished by him did not convince her. She knew he'd eventually have to marry and, from bitter experience, did not trust what would happen to her children if he died young like her father had.

I thought the differences in station and social mores of the day that made Sophie a suitable mistress, but not wife, made the story more interesting. The modern woman in me wanted to shake Benedict at times for being so arrogant and condescending, but that was fitting for the times. Sophie didn't expect marriage, but most readers will be of a totally different mindset. It made for some great angst.

Of course, this is a romance and we get the big reveal, which exposed Sophie as the mystery lady from the ball and revealed to the world that she was actually a gently raised "ward" of the dead earl who'd had her dowry stolen by the evil countess and not a servant. Predictably, Benedict had decided to damn society and forget his beloved "mystery woman" to marry Sophie anyway - right before the big reveal. That satisfies the romantic ideals, despite being unrealistic for the times. I knew it would all turn out to be a perfect HEA, but there was enough angst around the subject to satisfy me - especially given the fact that this was a "fluffy" Julia Quinn romance and not meant to be historically accurate.