Review: All I Ever Needed, by Jo Goodman

All I Ever Needed is the third installment of Jo Goodman’s Regency era Compass Club quartet, all of which were published in 2002-2003 . The Compass Club is a group of four friends who met at school and banded together to fight a group of bullies, known as the Bishops.  The first book was North’s (Brendan Northam), the second South’s (Lord Southerton) and this one is East’s (Gabriel Whitney, Marquess of Eastlyn). As adults, the Compass Club serve as spies for the mysterious Colonel Blackwood.

I listened to this book on audio, read by the wonderful Jenny Sterlin. It is my first Goodman on audio and 3rd in all.  The paperbacks were If His Kiss is Wicked (2007) which I enjoyed quite a bit, and One Forbidden Evening (2006), which, I am sorry to say, is languishing as a “did not finish” in my bedroom closet. I absolutely adore this author, but I suspect her writing may work better for me on audio for some reason.

The book opens with a prologue at Hambrick Hall that establishes East’s role as “tinker” — diplomatic fixer — among the four boys, and also lends a bit of pathos to a character who is essentially perfect (he was ridiculed for his weight as a boy). The first chapter introduces us to Lady Sophia Colley, daughter of the Earl of Tremont. In what has to be one of the most confusing yet intriguing openings I have ever read, East shows up at Tremont Hall to propose to Sophie.

They aren’t in love, and, in fact, have only met once or twice (this becomes important later). Rather, someone has started a rumor that they are engaged, and East proposes in order to spare her reputation (he can let her can break the engagement later, he thinks.). Sophie refuses, but their exchange — in particular Sophie’s convincing dismissal — piques East’s interest in her. Rather than taking her leave, he continues to engage her:

“You know, Lady Sophia, in some quarters I am considered a desirable partner.”

She did not so much as blink. “At cards, you mean.”

“At marriage.”

“But you play cards.”

“Well … Yes, I do.” Eastlyn wondered at her point, for it seemed to be completely at odds with his.

“And you make wagers.”

“Yes.”

“You drink to excess.”

“I may start soon.”

Her mouth flattened rather primly.

“Very well.” East said, entertained by her disapproving mien, but not proof against it either. “I admit to being foxed on occasion.”

“You have called men out.”

His amusement vanished. “One man.”

Sophie gave no indication that she was in any way intimidated. “You shot him.”

“Yes.”

“And killed him.”

“That was the purpose of shooting him, yes.”

There was a brief pause as Sophie considered the necessity of her next words. She had not conceived that she might have cause to say these things to Eastlyn, but the remembrance of things past had shaken her. Mayhap the marquess did not deserve such a setdown, yet Sophie felt compelled as if by some force outside herself to deliver it. “So,” she began with a gentle matter-of-factness, “by your own admission, you are a drunkard, a gambler, and a murderer. With so much to recommend you, it is little wonder you are sought by mothers in want of a husband for their daughters. These qualities have a certain cache among the ton, do they not? Gaming indicates a willingness to risk, drinking to excess a surfeit of confident recklessness, and –”

“And murder?” he asked.

While Sophie suspected he was out of all patience with herself, she went on as if there had been no interruption. “Murder suggests a resolve to act. In your particular case, a regard for principles and the necessity of upholding them.”

Eastlyn pretended to weigh her words carefully. “It is your estimation, then, that I am embraced by mothers and their daughters, indeed, by all of the ton, not because I am regarded as a model of rectitude and good sense, but because I am the very opposite of those things?”

“That, she said, “and the fact that you are rich as Croesus.”

“Richer.”

“Just so.”

Sophie, at 24, has never had a season, because she was caring for her father, who had been injured in a hunting accident. His addictions eventually led to his death, and when his cousin inherited the diminished estate, Sophie became a poor relation and quasi-governess to the son of the current earl. She is under intense pressure to accept East’s proposal, to save the family from financial ruin.

So, given that East is gorgeous, rich, funny, and that it will get her family off her back, why won’t she? Well, you have to have a lot of patience in Sophie to enjoy this book. Her motives are not clear at first, but eventually her actions make sense.

For his part, East loves the way Sophie puts him off balance, and that initial attraction develops as his protective instincts drive him to maintain contact with her, even if he has to be creative to do it, given Sophie’s tendency not to go out in society, and later, her abrupt relocation to the family’s country estate. Much of the book involves East’s attempts to unravel the mystery of Sophie, and her attempts to stay one step ahead of him, keeping both physical and emotional distance.

We find out in fairly short order that it was East’s mistress, a Mrs. Sawyer, who started the rumor. What looks at first like the machinations of a jilted woman becomes much darker and more complex as the truth about Sophie’s rather dire domestic situation comes to light. All of the Goodmans I have read have a suspense plot, and on the whole, they work for me. I know many readers find it ridiculous that all of the Regency lords were spies, but East’s spying –  involving the East India Company’s establishment of trade relations in China — is more about using his connections talk to people, to get information, and to convince people to do things. It’s pretty believable to me. All of the elements come together in a surprising and wholly satisfying way at the end of the book.

I love the developing relationship between Sophie and East. It’s funny, and tender, and sexy, and sad. A revelation that comes near the end of the book made me go back and read the first several chapters with new insight. While some readers might feel it is jammed in there, I felt it was very poignant.

I can see a certain kind of reader really hating the writing and the slow pace of Jo Goodman. If you don’t read this book with care, you might see Sophie as humorless, whiny, and TSTL. I think that view gets her all wrong.  Of course, it is true that nobody talks like East and Sophie. Their dialogue is unrealistically polished and thoughtful and deep and intelligent.  For my part, that’s a world I would like to live in all the time.