Christy English

I liked these characters, but not necessarily the hurdles to their relationship. Their reasoning was kind of weak and it ended up making them seem a bit daft. I liked that the the heroine dared to express her interest and didn't just wait around hoping he would read her mind and know what to do. So she started off smart (though maybe keep an eye on her drinking in the future, sheesh...). But the hero kept thinking 'forever' thoughts and then continuing to think they couldn't possibly marry (though there was no real barrier). That lasted about the entire first half, (which was too long for my preference), but then just when he got on board she went over the side, lol. She didn't even try to repay the money (or determine the amount) she just went headlong toward ruining both their future happinesses. And from the novella following, two more would have been ruined besides, all because she couldn't problem solve worth a damn. I liked the sweet things the hero said throughout. They endeared him to me.… (mehr)

We saw many of their first interactions (nearly all the major ones actually) in the last book. So when this book started back with those I really thought it would just catch the readers up in case they'd missed that book or forgotten or something and then carry on. But instead it just sort of continued on plodding through all those same scenes only from their perspectives. It took most of the book just to get up to where the last one left off! Which was all a bit disappointing but fine I guess. The hero and heroine are both pretty immature (I was chalking it up to just being young but then part way through it mentioned the man was in his 30s!). The heroine is pretty oblivious in this book (she had exhibited some insight as a side character) but here she just trucks along in her own little world or something. She latches onto an assumption in the beginning and just clings to it past the point of any reason. The hero seemed kind of like a spoiled kid, which I guess is believable growing up always catered to as a duke, but didn't make him very appealing to me. Both characters showed very poor judgement throughout most of the book. I actually just liked it less and less I think. I'm not sure they really suited each other. One of the main things he seemed to like about her was that she didn't treat him with reverence, but that's an even weaker reason that usual because she didn't even know he was a duke for most of the book... And her major personality traits were that she didn't like the English and their ways, and that she marched to her own drum. So ending up as a duchess living in England, and with a husband who has kind of a chip on his shoulder and a dominating streak, is not as nice as it might be for another heroine. He was attracted to her wild spirit, but then went about trying to subdue it rather than nurture it, she starts to initiate something physically at one point and he's like 'no. I will always lead.' And at another point he bends her over his knee, and later threatens it again. it just felt kind of off-putting. I finished it because I am a book finisher, lol, but honestly I think I stopped caring about them reaching their HEA long before they reached it. It's not absolutely horrible, but it didn't add much of anything, even joy, to my life. lol.… (mehr)