soooooooooo glad about the maturity in both characters. This was, in the end, a good book. ( )

Great fun, wonderful writing.

Caroline Townsend turns Thomas' world on its end. He's a stuffy, proper sort of duke and Caro has no patience for his ways.

By the way, Caro needs a bit of rescuing too.

( )

Nice story, but I don't think this is my author. I didn't feel emotionally involved. ( )

Caro Townsend, a fiery and vivacious seventeen year old had eloped with a young, flighty man against her family’s wishes. Not many years later, she found herself widowed shortly after a miscarriage. Her husband had a bad gambling addiction and lost most of their money. His creditors were after her to pay for those debts. She was almost penniless yet she felt she had to continue to entertain her husband’s friends as lavishly as they had when he was living. Her cousin, Lady Ann, whom she loved as a sister decided, to visit her before her coming-out, so Caro being part of the artist crowd and basically enjoyed the fun of life and people took her to several places that she probably shouldn’t have. She wanted her to be happy in her choice of a husband and to give her a chance to enjoy life a little.

The Duke of Castleton was looking for a proper, wealthy wife. Most the Dukes of Castleton married wealthy women to increase the size of their estate and stature in their community. He needed to, especially because his father hadn’t married very well and they were short of funds. He thought that Lady Ann would be the perfect wife for him, so at an appointed time he went to visit her at Caro Townsend’s home. Anne was slightly delayed to the meeting, so Caro introduced herself as Ann’s chaperone.

Thomas Castleton was a kind, respectable man, always wanting to do the right thing, and very, very proper. He immediately disapproved of Caro. It could not be possible that she was Lady Ann’s chaperone. Yet, … he couldn’t take his eyes off her luscious red lips and her voluptuous breasts. And on top of that, there was a picture on the wall of a nude that could have been mistaken for her.

There is anguish on both Caro and Thomas’ part as they get to know each other. Thomas finds himself absolutely fascinated with Caro, but knows that she can’t be for him. He needs a proper wife, not a mistress, and a wife that adds wealth to the Castletons. Caro needs to find a way out of her financial crunch and may have to marry to pay one of her dead husbands debts, but feels she couldn’t love Thomas – he’s just too stuffy.

The story was enjoyable and well written. In several scenes you just wanted to hug Thomas. For a duke, he was such a sweetheart! Ms. Neville has written several Regency Romances and I for one would enjoy reading more of her work. ( )

This quite enjoyable story involves a sort of role reversal from the more typical rake/proper miss Regency romance. Our heroine, the widowed Caroline Townsend, if not exactly a "rake," definitely lives on the fringes of the ton, while the hero, Thomas, Duke of Castleton -- a/k/a Lord Stuffy -- comes by his nickname quite honestly. The route to their HEA is full of bumps and obstacles, which keep the story moving along. ( )