Gosh , I hope I’m not becoming cynical ! While light and fun, what has this novel got going for it? Nothing crunchy unfortunately.

Still, I thought the idea for the plot was novel; I always have admiration for the writer who thinks up one more way to have people meet and save each other.

Rose is a good hearted professional thief. Carver is a rake with a heavy heart. He is the target of a con by Rose to get money out of him to support a woman he has supposedly wronged.

Unsurprisingly, the stage is set for them to fall in love - he sees right through her con, and he is not what she expected.

They are an unlikely pair - from different stations in life.

The initial lightness is replaced by a tone much more serious after we fly past the witty 'con' part of the novel. The irony is that, in the second half, at Carver's instigation, he and Rose con his family when she acts as his fiancé to keep his family happy, and wannabe suiters at arm's length.

So the tone is not consistent as the latter half becomes quite sad - and frustrating - as Rose and Carver find a way to know each other better in that stifling world of the Regency? period. ( )