This is the first full-length novel I've read since roaming into the wilds of the free ebooks section on amazon. I was surprised and pleased to find several authors republishing their previously print-run books, because that generally means their writing was held up to some standard, beyond their own. Kensington was a known imprint back in the day, mostly for their trad Regency stories, so this sounded more or less right up my alley when I read the blurb and the sample.

The book opens with Lily Strathmore painting botanical illustrations at Brookdale, her uncle Edward's country manor. Edward is an enamored botanist, specializing in exotic flowers; Lily's illustrations accompany his monographs and papers that are presented to his professional society, so her work is known and respected alongside his.

Lily's parents drop by to tell her that it's high time she settled down, and her mother informs her that she has the perfect match in mind - Lord Buckley, the son of one of her cronies. Lord Buckley is amiable to their match, but is currently off the continent; when he returns, Lily is expected to in London to allow him to pay court and propose.

Lily doesn't want this. She doesn't want to give up her independence or her painting - but she cows under her mother's pressure when her father backs his wife up. She strikes a deal with them: let her accompany Edward and his family on their expedition to Italy, and when she returns she will submit to the full frippery of the Season, and will marry Lord Buckley, more or less sight unseen.

Her mother is pleased with this decision and immediately starts planning the wedding. Lily is allowed to stay at Brookdale and continue her work, and spending time with her uncle's family, which includes her aunt Mary, cousins Richard and Isabelle, and Isabelle's governess/companion, Mrs. Hodges.

Meanwhile, in London, James Huntingdon has just been summoned to his uncle's home. He is chastised for shooting a duke in the ass during a duel (which is related in a hilarious way) and, knowing the scandal it will create, is sent off on a mission. It seems Grandfather Huntingdon was a huge botanical enthusiast, and discovered a heretofore unknown flower during his travels to Tunis. His entourage was ambushed, however, and his faithful companion killed, so he left behind some journals in the valley with the flower. In his will, he bequeathed his beloved home, Somergate, to the person who successfully retrieved the journals - or else it's going to Kew Gardens, in the mistaken belief that they would preserve it (instead of dividing up his prized collection of flowers and selling the estate off to the highest bidder).

So James's uncle asks him to go on this mission, and he agrees, wanting to escape the cloud of scandal. James's uncle is the one who suggests he consult with Lily's uncle Edward about where to find the flower (all he has to go on is a bunch of ancient letters and a few hand-drawn illustrations). So, James sets off for Brookdale, and begins to plan his trip.

It's love at first sight for Lily and James, albeit their first meeting is anything but romantic (he chases down her runaway horse after startling them near the house). They both fight their attraction, but it becomes obvious to everyone else that they have taken an interest in each other.

Edward is beyond delighted at the prospect of hunting down the flower, and immediately changes his plans - his family will now travel with James to Tunisia instead of their Italian expedition. James wraps up his affairs in London and then joins the Strathmores for a fortnight as the plans for the trip come together.

James agrees to sit for a portrait painted by Lily, and more or less loses his ability to fight his attraction to her. He ends up kissing her during one of the sessions, which throws them both off balance. Lily is practically engaged to Lord Buckley (sight unseen), and the last thing James has time for is a blossoming romance. The finished portrait is admired by one and all, and James is amazed at how well she's captured his inner feelings (the ones beyond his lust for her, at least :P).

Lily figures she can't go to Tunisia with the rest of the group, as that was not part of her original deal with her parents, so she heads back to London a few days before they all set off. Edward begs her to reconsider, but she hems and haws all the way up until the moment she's seated beside her mother in the Countess Buckley's drawing room, a little gold locket forced into her hand as the mothers chatter about wedding plans. She can't bear the idea of being in the middle of all that, so she agrees to join her uncle's family as previously arranged.

James is shocked when he sees her on the docks, and is rather aggressive in his handling of her, because he's just had a run-in with his nasty cousin Reggie, who is so totally blinded by jealousy that he's going to pit himself against James in the race to recover his grandfather's journals. Reggie would do anything to stop James from inheriting Somergate (even though Reggie is the heir and thus would get everything else), including outright sabotage.

So, James has ruffled Lily's feathers, and once on board the steamer to Tunis, Reggie cozies up with the underage Isabelle, Lily's cousin. The only person impressed by him is Isabelle; the rest of the Strathmores more or less see right through his charming facade (and Mrs. Hodges dumps a bowl of relish in his lap during dinner, LOL). They warn Isabelle to stay away from Reggie, which of course she does not - and, indeed, she leads to their ultimate downfall.

James and Lily keep encountering each other on ship, and finally give in to their attraction one evening, sneaking away for a bit of heavy petting on board. They are interrupted by Reggie, who surfaces to threaten James in front of a witness, but Lily has pretty much come around to James's side by now, dismissing the tales Isabelle has been passing along from Reggie.

Things really heat up between James and Lily once they reach Tunis, including a very intimate encounter at the bey palace. They set off in search of the flower in the valley, and have quite a few adventures along the way. The night before they are to reach the valley, they finally have sex in a secluded cave away from camp.

Unfortunately, that's the night that the camp is raided, and Edward takes a terrible hit to the head. James has no doubt about who carried out the raid when he returns to find his tent slashed to bits and his grandfather's papers missing. He's torn between guilt for leaving the others vulnerable (for he feels responsible for their welfare, considering he's leading them on this wild goosechase), and feeling guilty about having sex with Lily, when he has no kind of future to offer her (especially now that his odious cousin has beaten him to the valley).

They make the decision to turn back in order to seek medical treatment for Edward. James offers for Lily out of a sense of duty and obligation because he's "ruined" her, but she turns him down, angry and upset with the way he left her the night before. He gets angry at her rejection, and they quarrel, and then he stumbles upon Lily's little gold box with the locket and a gushy letter from her mother detailing wedding plans.

James is absolutely livid, believing that Lily has lied to him from the off. He is outright cold when he gives the box back to her, and announces his decision to go back to the valley on his own, still in search of the flower. Lily is heartbroken, and angry; she returns to England with her family and faces up to her part of the bargain for allowing her to take the trip in the first place.

She goes to her parents' house in London and submits herself to the rigors of the Season, and Lord Buckley's tepid courtship. Buckley is a total mama's boy and he has very definite ideas about a Woman's Place in the world - ideas that definitely don't include actually working outside the home, or even painting "beyond pretty pictures." Lily chafes under the bridle of the match, but she's too busy nursing her broken heart to break the suit.

James returns to London as well, with the news that he didn't find the journals (not that he was expecting to, with Reggie beating him to the valley). He does, however, bring back one of the flowers for Edward's collection, and some illustrations that he had to pay rather dearly for, but which turn out to be from his grandfather's journals, satisfying the terms of the will. He's won his inheritance, but without someone to share it with, it feels like a hollow victory.

James and Lily run into each other in Society, and unfortunately Reggie resurfaces as well, with one final threat against both of them. It is Isabelle who swoops in the save the day, righting her previous wrongs and urging James to go after Lily when she unexpectedly turns down Lord Buckley's proposal and flees back to Brookdale.

They are reunited, and their Big Misunderstanding is finally untangled, and they live happily ever after. The final chapter is especially beautiful, as James surprises Lily by taking her to Somergate for the first time, having finally gained it free and clear.

I really, really enjoyed this novel. The descriptions of the locations were lush and beautiful and vivid; the characters were well drawn and engaging (though Reggie was a teensy bit much, on the mustache-twirling villain scale). I loved the way the author portrayed the emotional ties that bind James and Lily together - via the portrait, through their shared adventures in Tunisia, during their final reunion (where I wanted some tears, dammit!). I was on the edge of the emotional rollercoaster (in the best way) for most of this book, and I have to say that I totally reveled in it. I didn't want to put it down when I started reading it, but at the same time, I wanted to savor it. There were some laugh out loud moments to balance out the poignant angsty ones, and I finished the book with a smile on my face.

James is totally my kind of hero: honorable to a fault, unwilling to take guff from anybody, a leader with a protective streak, and a closet romantic. He's described as beautiful (of course), but not a dashing rake. One of my favorite lines is when Lily thinks about him after their first kiss and realizes he's not a wicked man, but a dangerous one. That was a very apt description, indeed. He falls in love rather hard and fast, and aside from being short with her after his encounters with Reggie on the steamer to Tunis, he treats her wonderfully - with admiration and respect. He is a considerate, if devilish, lover, and he really goes above and beyond to make his time with Lily in Tunisia unforgettable.

I liked Lily, too, aside from some of her plot-driven stubbornness. She is independent in spirit and unafraid to stand up for herself, even if she does bow to Society - and her mother's - pressure when it comes to her marriage. She's practically on the shelf, and has been raised to expect making an advantageous match. She's no saint, either; she has a bit of a past herself, having her heart broken once before, so she is wary of pursuing James, but can't fight her attraction to him. He makes her feel alive in a way no one else ever has, and when she loses that, you feel the depths of her pain. She doesn't sob and weep or act hysterical, but somehow, the stoicism is worse, especially when she runs into James in Society after they both return to London.

Edward Strathmore and his family was delightful. Aunt Mary was organized to a fault. Richard and Isabelle were fun, if a bit naive. Mrs. Hodges was a total hoot. They were portrayed as a warm and loving family, in contrast to Lily's cold and indifferent household in London. Her father is a peer and her mother is a social climber, so she'd always escaped to the home of her boisterous uncle, and they took her in - and James, too, when he surfaced.

So why not an A++ and unconditional recommendation? For a couple of reasons. One, there was a lot of sex in this book. Like, to the point of repetitiveness. Once they were in Tunis, every time James and Lily were alone together, they were doing something sexual. How many times can they be interrupted before sealing the deal, so to speak, before it starts feeling like a ploy, you know? The sex scenes were nicely written (no purple prose in sight), but a bit much.

The other reason is because the Big Misunderstanding dragged out for way too long - it was the last 25% of the book, just angst on top of anger on top of plot-driven stubborness. The author really made James and Lily work for their happy ending. Like I mentioned up top, there were never any tears, or non-sexual emotional catharsis at any time, which I found frustrating. It's all well and good to boink like bunnies, but it cheapens the emotional ties when they can only seem to scream or fuck each other.

Still, if you like road romance/adventure/exotic locales/artistic heroines, I'd wholeheartedly recommend grabbing this book while it's free. It is definitely worth that price, at least. I am seriously contemplating buying the other book in this series, which follows James's sister Caroline on her own exotic adventure (with more promise of odious cousin Reggie meddling in her affairs, ugh). Before I purchase it, though, I need to dive back into my library books. ( )