Better Off Wed
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Think Robin Hood but make him a young woman from the upper class of a regency romance. In Better Off Wed, Susanna Craig plays with the reluctant allies/fake marriage tropes, bringing together a young woman who has been acting the part of a vigilante and gotten in over her head with a young man trained as a spy for the crown. The two realize the only way either will achieve their goals is by working together, and they slowly grow to love each other despite themselves.
Craig creates the exact type of semi goofy regency romances I want. The relationship is written well enough that I’m fully invested in the character’s happiness, and the plot is dramatic enough to be a lot of fast paced fun without ever feeling rushed or overwrought. That’s a difficult balance to achieve!
Better Off Wed is the third installment in a four part (so far?) series focusing on different spies in the King’s service. As with most romance series you don’t really need to read them in order, but I have yet to find one in the set that doesn’t hold up. If anything, each has been better than the last. I paired this with the Robin Hood cocktail simply for the name. I’m not sure I actually liked the drink, but I definitely didn’t dislike it. It was sort of like a negroni; if you like complex sipping cocktails this would be a good one for you.
Robin Hood
0.3 oz of mastikha (I swapped for Ouzo)
0.8 oz of red vermouth
1.7 oz of London dry gin
Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass. Fill with ice cubes and mix with a bar spoon. Strain into a chilled glass. Place a teaspoon with vanilla cream and a cranberry into the glass (I didn’t have vanilla cream and didn’t want to buy a whole bag of cranberries so I just used two Luxardo cherries. If you try the vanilla cream let me know how you like it!
