Pamela H. (avidreader30) reviewed on + 2 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
This novel begins with the heroine, who the reader quickly comes to love, nearly getting run over by a rider, who falls off his horse. What we learn is that the herione is a woman nearing thirty, widowed several years before, living in poverty with her mother-in-law and a young girl they took in to save from the poorhouse. Forced to desperate measures, the heroine goes looking for work, only to be turned down everywhere before she (I think, literally) bumps into the steward of the Earl of Swartingham, whose manor is nearby and who has recently returned to live there after many years. She convinces him that they can help each other because he must find a secretary by the next day and she must find work. She goes to work at the manor and there the relationship between she and the earl begins to grow.
He is a fascinating character who lost his entire family to smallpox when he was a teenager, and who barely survived himself and has the scars to show for his suffering. He is also a widower, the first wife having died in childbirth, but the marriage had been loveless. He had also realized belatedly that she found his scars repulsive, and he has continued to have some insecurities about his looks that persist throughout the story.
A few aspects of the plotline were incredibly unbelievable and a little annoying - this completely countrified widow ventures to London to pose as a prostitute for the earl, who she happens to know will be visiting a certain brothel. The way that she sets up this arrangement, through the sister of another prostitute whom she took in when she discovered her dying by the roadside, seems too cute by half, but once she is all settled in the brothel and the earl visits her there, all is (mostly) forgiven. The love scenes are intense and definitely erotic - though again, I had to suspend disbelief that the someone with as little experience as the heroine would have the confidence to pull it off.
Some of what I really enjoyed: the characters were very developed, and I had a lot empathy for them. It was great to see their relationship grow as they got to know each other and to see the trust develop between them.
Yet, again, it was a little hard to believe that the heroine, who not only desperately needed money and security for herself and her dependents, but also felt that she loved the earl, refused to marry him for so long. I understood her inner debate, but it just seemed like a cheap plot device to work some tension into the story after the point at which the two characters had already realized they loved each other. The one part of her hesitancy that I appreciated, however, was that her love was so strong that she did not want to force him into a marriage that might be childless. And I loved how he accepted her despite that possibility.
He is a fascinating character who lost his entire family to smallpox when he was a teenager, and who barely survived himself and has the scars to show for his suffering. He is also a widower, the first wife having died in childbirth, but the marriage had been loveless. He had also realized belatedly that she found his scars repulsive, and he has continued to have some insecurities about his looks that persist throughout the story.
A few aspects of the plotline were incredibly unbelievable and a little annoying - this completely countrified widow ventures to London to pose as a prostitute for the earl, who she happens to know will be visiting a certain brothel. The way that she sets up this arrangement, through the sister of another prostitute whom she took in when she discovered her dying by the roadside, seems too cute by half, but once she is all settled in the brothel and the earl visits her there, all is (mostly) forgiven. The love scenes are intense and definitely erotic - though again, I had to suspend disbelief that the someone with as little experience as the heroine would have the confidence to pull it off.
Some of what I really enjoyed: the characters were very developed, and I had a lot empathy for them. It was great to see their relationship grow as they got to know each other and to see the trust develop between them.
Yet, again, it was a little hard to believe that the heroine, who not only desperately needed money and security for herself and her dependents, but also felt that she loved the earl, refused to marry him for so long. I understood her inner debate, but it just seemed like a cheap plot device to work some tension into the story after the point at which the two characters had already realized they loved each other. The one part of her hesitancy that I appreciated, however, was that her love was so strong that she did not want to force him into a marriage that might be childless. And I loved how he accepted her despite that possibility.
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