I haven't reviewed a book for some time... and even then I wasn't particularly good at so I'll keep this brief.
This was my first
historical romance, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect (although I assumed
that there would be some steamy scenes… and I wasn’t wrong).
Basically our heroine
– Lily – goes to visit her recently widowed friend. On arriving there she meets
her friend’s brother – Mountjoy – and the sparks begin to fly.
Lily isn’t your
stereotypical HR heroine (as far as I know) and I was a little unsure of her
and Mountjoy at first, but I began to like them both more as the story went on.
Both parties are
trying to avoid becoming involved with each other for their own reasons. But
this soon fails. Then they try to keep it as a brief affair until the time
comes for Lily to leave, but Mountjoy starts to become more emotionally
involved.
Banter flies back and
forth between the two. They can both be very stubborn, although Mountjoy seems
slightly more willing to concede, which I liked about him. The story is more
from Mountjoy’s point of view – you get more of a sense of his emotions than
you do of Lily’s. He sometimes forgets himself when he is with Lily in the
presence of other people whereas Lily seems able to keep the two relationships
(public and private) separate.
It was these aspects
of Lily’s personality that had me wondering, at some points how the
relationship would work. Would Lily change her mind about love or would she run
for the hills as soon as Mountjoy revealed the slightest emotion?
The sub-plot involving
Mountjoy’s brother - I kind of saw it coming. And the sub plot involving Lily’s
cousin, I knew all was not as it seemed with him but I couldn’t quite put my
finger on what.
I thought the story
was very well paced; it didn’t drag on but it also didn’t feel rushed. The
balance between sex and story seemed to be about right. We got a good sense of
the main characters and overall it was a good read.
4 stars out of 5 on Goodreads
This review can also be found on Goodreads.
