Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas

Narrated by Mary Jane Wells

I have so enjoyed The Ravenels series, so it is with a mixture of excitement and some sadness that I queued up Chasing Cassandra – because another book! But also because it is the last one. ☹

I had high hopes for Tom Severin and Lady Cassandra Ravenel’s story but did not really expect it to reach the heights of last year’s Devil’s Daughter. After all, the hero of this book was not West Ravenel so it would have been impossible.

(That said, West Ravenel had some delightful cameos in Chasing Cassandra and every time he was on the page – as has been the case for pretty much the entire series – he took over in the best way.)

Even so, Chasing Cassandra ended up being an extremely enjoyable listen. I only had a few quibbles with it, really.

Lady Cassandra Ravenel is the last unmarried family member. It is somewhat ironic because it has long been her desire to be married and have children. She wants to have a happy home life, raise a family with a loving husband and help people. Her ambitions do not stretch beyond that (although the “helping people” part ends up being quite ambitious indeed and good on her for it). She wants to be married and to love her husband and for him to love her. She does not require love before marriage – merely the prospect that love will grow. Unfortunately, she has been unable to find any gentleman who is a likely candidate despite a full season and numerous marriage proposals.

The story begins when her twin, Lady Pandora, marries Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, and Cassandra, while happy for her sister, is also bereft. She will have to face the coming Season alone and does not relish the prospect. She is beginning to think she won’t find anyone to marry. Overhearing a conversation between her and her cousin, West, Tom Severin pops his head up and spies Cassandra for the first time. He is instantly smitten, although he takes a very long time to acknowledge it to himself. Cassandra is beautiful, with, I gather, a Rubenesque figure he finds overwhelmingly attractive.

West is horrified because Tom Severin is a shark in business with a reputation of being something of a dilettante. He appears to be a very unlikely suitor. However, Tom and Cassandra spend some time talking together during the wedding festivities and Cassandra is interested and intrigued by this unusual man.

Tom is not an aristocrat. He was born into poverty and began work at the age of 10. He eventually became an engineer and from there, built himself an empire of railroads, locomotives and property, plus various other things.

It seemed clear Tom is on the Autism spectrum. He does not express emotions in the typical way. He rarely makes eye contact with people. He tends to the literal and often has tunnel vision when it comes to business dealings. In a previous book, he and Devon had had a falling out because he had been negotiating for certain land rights with Devon and had been heartily enjoying the “game”. However, Devon was trying to save his property and the livelihood of his tenants. Tom did not appreciate that Devon saw the transaction differently at the time. (He has come to realise his error, though and makes a very good apology in this book.) Tom dislikes certain fabrics against his skin. He does not necessarily follow social cues the same way as is most common. Of course, there was no name for Autism at the time so it is not so named in the book.

I did not take Tom’s proclamation that he cannot feel love because his heart is frozen as an expression of his Autism however. Indeed, there is an explanation later in the book which makes sense all on its own. Of course people with Autism feel love and feel emotions and, for what it’s worth, I did not think the book suggested a link between the two things.

Cassandra is fascinated and attracted by Tom; the way he speaks to her is fairly unique among men of her acquaintance (outside of her family). He is a firm believer in equality and does not hold to the view that she ought not to have opinions or a voice in any decision which affects her. However, she is reluctant to pursue a romantic relationship with him because he has frankly told her he will never love her. (Yeah, sure Tom.)

One of the delightful through lines of the book is the way Tom delves into reading fiction and how he tends to miss the point of the book – or, at least, identify a completely different point. However, through loving Cassandra, he gets in touch with his emotions (eventually) and does start to “get it”. This is a romance so it’s not a spoiler to say that he eventually does love Cassandra and even says so. But the book is about (in part) his journey to that emotional revelation and so don’t expect it to happen fast.

The book takes place over a quite significant period of time and the story is very episodic. There will be weeks or sometimes months in between sections of the story and I found it a little jarring at times. It was the thing I most disliked about the story. In Devil’s Daughter there was a little of it but it worked really well. In Chasing Cassandra, the device was used too often for me.

For all that Tom is not a very emotionally open man, he does say some wonderfully romantic things to Cassandra and they were my favourite parts of the story (apart from all the bits with West of course). I am and ever have been a sucker for a rescue and when Cassandra’s reputation is threatened, Tom’s actions were everything I could have wanted. Very swoonworthy.

There was so much to enjoy in the story. I had enjoyed Tom’s cameos in the series and had expected to like him as a hero but I wasn’t quite prepared for exactly how much. For me, he’s come in second in the hero ranking of the Ravenels.

The subplot regarding the child, Basil, was enjoyable enough albeit a bit too improbable in the end. But I decided to consider it like a fairy tale and just go with it.

I liked Cassandra but, as a hero-centric reader, the book was more about Tom for me. Indeed, he has the lion’s share of the POV.

The narration by Mary Jane Wells was to the excellent standard I had come to expect. Her delivery of the various series characters was consistent and different enough to easily recognise them. Rhys Winterbourne, who appears in the book, gives her a chance to show off her Welsh accent. Basil and various of Tom’s staff showcase Ms. Wells’ gift for the other accents which are not of the upper crust. Tom’s accent is consistent with the nobility (but given his background I think he taught himself to speak that way in order to succeed). There is a good distinction between West, Devon, Tom and Gabriel – although sometimes they to bleed into one another a little. The differences between Pandora, Kathleen, Lady Berwick and Cassandra are clearer. Helen doesn’t appear much in the story and sounds very similar to Kathleen but for the most part all the characters are very well differentiated.

Where Ms. Wells particularly excels is with the emotion. She shows Tom’s confusion and befuddlement about his reactions to Cassandra and, even when he does not admit or name what he feels, it was obvious to the ear and not just from the text.

While Tom Severin is no West Ravenel, Chasing Cassandra was a very worthy finale to the series. Now I’m just hoping that we get books for the children of the other Wallflowers because I want to see who ends up with Lord Foxhall.

Kaetrin

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