Overall rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Things I looked at:

Readability: how well was it written/edited. Did it flow well?

Story line: Did it catch and keep my attention?

Characters: Were they interesting and well developed

Period accuracy: If historical, was the period obvious from setting descriptions, and were the period details accurate?

The latest book to come across my reading list was a hit, so I thought I’d let you know all about it 🙂 I’ll kick things off with a copy of the blurb, then get straight into what I thought was great and what maybe wasn’t.

London 1816
Guy Fortescue comes to England to claim his inheritance, Rosecroft Hall, abandoned over thirty years ago when his father fled to France after killing a man in a duel. But England proves to be a dangerous place – someone wants Guy dead. As Guy seeks to discover who lies behind the attacks on his life, he arranges a faux betrothal with Miss Horatia Cavendish.
Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan. An aspiring poet, Hetty proves to have a mind of her own but in spite of that, Guy finds her far too alluring.
Dangerous….
Headstrong and lovely, Hetty agrees to the betrothal because it allows her to go to London where she can attend literary societies with her aunt. While her affection for Guy grows deeper, she must not forget the betrothal isn’t real. Guy will choose a bride from the beau monde – it will not be a colonel’s daughter from Digswell.
But Hetty is soon drawn in to Guy’s life, more and more, and not entirely against her will. He is handsome and brave, and the attraction between them is undeniable. Soon, she can no longer resist her desire for him and the fact that someone is out to kill him only feeds her innate protectiveness of the man she is betrothed to. As attempts are made on Guy’s life, Hetty and his sister ,Genevieve, work together to keep him alive, and a love that has been denied finally comes to fruition in the exciting conclusion.

What I loved about this book

This book showed great attention to detail regarding the time period and overall readability. There were lots of period references to keep the reader in the setting, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I also found the dialog easy to follow and the transitions between description and dialog natural. The editing was well done, there were only one or two spots where I wondered if a word had been left out, but otherwise I had no complaints about grammar, tone, or structure. The flow of the story was natural and encouraged continued reading.

As to the story itself, there were plenty of sub-plots lending interest to the main theme of the love story. The author brought in a little espionage and some mystery characters, as well as hints of continued stories with secondary characters. The hero was a gentleman throughout, which I like to see once in a while to offset the perpetual rogue/rake. The heroine was also strong-willed, which always lends a bit of interest.

Fun characters. The story is really nothing without its characters, so this is a must. I enjoyed each of the characters and their personalities, all distinct and well rounded.

What I didn’t

My one major complaint with this tale was the fact that we don’t really get a feel for the emotional struggle of the hero. At least not in terms of his relationship with his love interest. The heroine was constantly wondering what her guy thought of her, if he loved her, etc. (which got a little long in the tooth, but I wasn’t put off too badly by it), but aside from occasionally noting feelings of desire toward her, the hero really doesn’t let us in on his feelings. The one saving grace that allowed me to still give a great rating was the fact that the hero’s actions indicate his caring for his betrothed.

I mentioned the great detail and background info earlier, but I have to mention it again here because there were a couple of points in the book where I felt the background information was overdone, as though the author was trying a little too hard to show how much time she’d spent on research. I also understand the use of period-specific vocabulary to cement the setting, but there were at least two instances in which my reading flow was interrupted because I had no idea what the author just referenced. I’m of the belief we need to take care with overuse of period terms. These were minor issues though and didn’t detract from the overall flow of the story.

Conclusions

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, will probably go see if there are others to read (i.e. a series), and would heartily recommend it to others.