Charming the Vicar by Jenny Frame

Charming the Vicar by Jenny Frame

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review

The POV:
There are two main point of views, both of the main characters, plus a few occasions when minor characters take over for a moment or three.

The Characters:
Main Characters:
Bridget Claremont is a 37 year old vicar in Axedale, a village in Kent England. Bridget keeps telling herself and others (mostly Quade) that she wished to have someone to love in her life. That is until someone does enter her life, whereupon Bridget remembers that her bishop is an asshole and having a relationship would possibly cost her her job/position/life.

Finnian ‘Finn’ Kane, aka another name to be learned by the reader later: A 27 year old stage magician and entertainer who is quite famous and has done shows all over the world. When the book opens Finn is in the middle of an act. Immediately afterwards she’s to have dinner with ‘the woman who has her heart’ (or however that was worded) – Finn’s sister. Whereupon Finn’s world and existence is shocked out of alignment when she learns about an illness.

Minor Characters:
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all minor characters in the book, just a few of importance: Archie Winchester is the grumpy old man who is super conservative and hates having the local titled person, the Earl, be a woman (Harry), and definitely can’t stand that his vicar is a woman (Bridget) – both lesbians at that! Quade McQuade, or ‘call me Quade’, is a ‘local farmer’ who also works as an estate manager at Axedale (the name of Harry and Annie’s house – the Earl . . . residence and land) – Quade is one of the only other single lesbian in Axedale when the story opens. Harry and Annie (with Riley) were the stars of the prior book and are newly married lesbians (with Riley being Annie’s kid).

The Story:
Bridget attempts to welcome the newest ‘sheep’ to her village/parish and is constantly rebuffed – sometimes angrily, by this ‘sheep’ aka Finn. In her thoughts Bridget already calls Finn by a word that will later escape into conversation – boy.

Finn, for her part, is quite taken with Bridget’s legs, but wants nothing to do with the ‘dog collar’ wearing woman, for religion is bad and dumb. For, you see, Finn has made her life escaping from her father and his horrible work, and made something of a career debunking frauds of all colors – including religious. Finn is the ‘newest sheep’ because she’s just now arrived in Axedale to take a breather and try to grieve after the death of her sister.

Bridget and Finn circle each other – both interested and not interested in the other. Complicating matters is the part where Bridget keeps noting that Finn isn’t her type – and the part where vicars are supposed to be celibate and her boss, the bishop, is a massive bigot.

The Sex:
Sex occurs. Power games break out.

The Review:
I’d like to leave a review that says, in its entirety: The word ‘boy’ is used 103 times in this book, once in the acknowledgement section, once for boyfriend, but most of the time to refer to Finn. But, alas, that’s not fair to myself or the book and so more must be said. I recognize that boi can used by some lesbians in a certain way - specifically referring to the younger person in a age-gap relationship, but boi wasn't used, boy was.

Bridget is 37 to Finn’s 27. Ten years isn’t a huge age gap, though someone of 37 and someone of 27 are normally at different points in their life. Then again, someone of 37 and someone else of 37 could very well also be at different points in their lives so . . bah. I’m not huge on age gap type stories so I had to overcome that specific aspect.

Harder to overcome, though, was the constant use of ‘boy’ and Bridget’s constant condescending and degrading actions/attitude toward Finn. Sure, Finn literally has the thought to herself that she’s massively turned on by the condescension and degrading methods of the vicar, but it isn’t easy, for me, to read. To the point that I almost had to just stop reading the book. But, beyond that boy thing, and my constant wonderment at whether I had missed something and Finn was actually either a male and/or transgender in some way, I found the story interesting enough to continue. Though, admittedly, that boy thing kept constantly coming up in ‘good’ scenes and each use of the word would instantly pull me out, shake me like a rapid dog, and beat me with a stick. Needless to say, I did not like that aspect.

This is the third book that I have read by Jenny Frame, and, unfortunately, this specific book ends up being my least favorite by Frame (though not my least favorite among the 169 Bold Strokes Books I’ve read).

Rating: 3.50

December 12 2017



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