Book Review: Trouble by Lex Croucher

Emily Laurence is nothing like her sister Amy. Sweet, thoughtful and adoring Amy, who loves children and works as a governess from time to time. But when Amy becomes sick, her upcoming job at Fairmont House is on the line—a job they need to afford treatment and food for Amy—that is until Emily steps in and says she’ll fill in for her and arrange it with the family to be a temporary fix. Unbeknownst to Amy though, Emily hasn’t done that. She’s going to pretend to be Amy herself: which is going to take a bit of work. See, Emily is every opposite of Amy, short-tempered, impulsive and wild. She knows if she can hang on long enough, maybe she can steal a few things and earn enough to ditch the family early and head back to her sister.

But it’s not long before the children of Fairmont House become the bane of her existence. The elder sibling, Aster, is recklessly bold in obvious distaste for Emily, and the younger sibling, Grace, though docile and sweet, speaks unnervingly old for her young age. Their father, Captain Edwards, is present at the house but as absent as ever, although the other staff at Fairmont House keep it from staying quiet, proving they form the strongest form of familial relationships for the children—and despite her reluctance, in Emily’s direction, too. But when a stranger in the village offers Emily good money to get dirt on the Captain himself, Emily is torn. She wants to provide for Amy as her top priority, but Fairmont House has welcomed her with such adoring arms that it becomes more and more difficult to ignore how betrayal cuts deep. And when she changes the Captain for the better, becoming closer to him along the way, figuring out what to do is the greatest lesson Emily has ever gone through.

Overall, Trouble was a great escape of domestic adventure, witty humour and characters that felt so animated that they practically leapt off the pages. I loved many things about the story, but the sisterly bonds, and that of the staff at Fairmont House, were some of the most wonderful things about it. I would love to have seen the romantic element played out in more than just the last third as the slow burn only really began a long way into the story. That being said, this was such a magnificent read and I loved every second of ball dances, carriage rides and servant banter along the way. Another must read from Lex!