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The rating does not stem from poor writing. Unfortunately, I have marked five of her books as not interested. After reading this story with such a cruel, abusive, passive-aggressive, mocking, unworthy hero, I realized I'm not the reader for her books. This is not an example of the kind of romance books I wish to read.

Before I forget, let me say the Harper audio version read by Lucy Rayner is lacking. The female voices are good, but the male voices make the characters seem incredibly old, arrogant, and haughty.

As lacking as the hero is, the heroine is strong, intelligent, kind, quirky, loving � awesome. She fills the first quarter of the book with humor and endears herself to the reader. In fact, the meet-cute is adorable.

Somewhere about 30%, I realized the hero was immature and egotistical. He lusts after the heroine constantly, realizing he only lusts for her, not wanting anything more than a shag or two, knowing she is innocent, though he still drags her into compromising positions that makes her uncomfortable.

I kept reading because I liked the storyline.

The H & h get to know each other more before going to London. The H gifts the h with clothing to ease her awkwardness on the trip. He makes arrangement for the h to stay with the family of his friend, which affords the h her first friendship.

Then, the big conflict of the story occurs. spoiler: (view spoiler)[ The conflict is a huge misunderstanding over the heroine thinking the hero had a shag with his mistress after the hero is engaged to the heroine. So, one night the heroine (acting on information gained from an evil woman, waits outside of the home of the mistress at midnight and confirms the hero arrives, has a kiss with mistress in the doorway, then stays for more than three hours. To be fair, the hero had this mistress prior to meeting the heroine BUT he had not found the time to sever the relationship with the mistress in the weeks since the H & h had come to London together, and they become engaged. Mind you, this misunderstanding happens AFTER the hero has sex with the heroine when he asks her to marry him.

Let’s spell it out here: The hero has a mistress that he supports and provides with a house (near to where the heroine is staying in London with hero’s friend). The hero meets and falls for heroine and brings her to London for the season. He is in London for weeks going on daily outings with the heroine, but never acts on removing his mistress from his life officially nor financially. Hero then lies to heroine about having engagements one evening so he can see the mistress and cut her lose. By the hero’s own admission, he has more than a sexual relationship with this woman, he feels she is a friend, and enjoys her company. Then why has he not married the mistress; I ask?

The way the heroine learns of the mistress and this midnight meeting with the hero is from a woman at a ton party. Let us call this woman Lady Evil, who has openly wanted the hero but has been turned down.

So, Lady Evil overhears a conversation between the hero (Lord Dumb) and another gentleman (Lord Jerk) outside on the lawn. It goes something like this�

Lord Jerk: “I want to congratulate you on your upcoming nuptials, Lord Dumb.�

Lord Dumb: “Why, thank you.�

Lord Jerk: “Say, Lord Dumb, I have had my eye on that mistress of yours for awhile now. Is there any chance you are tired of her yet?�

Lord Dumb: “If you want her, please take her. I am done with her. However, I guess it would be good of me to tell her I am getting married. After all, she has probably heard about it by now. I would be happy to unload her and all the bills she creates onto you Lord Jerk. In fact, I plan to meet her at midnight on Friday to convey this.�

Lady Evil gets her chance to be nasty to the heroine to get revenge on the hero for turning her invitation down.

Once the misunderstanding occurs, the heroine (always sweet and puts others before herself) does not want to break off the engagement because that would leave a negative mark on the hero’s reputation. She sends a fake letter she wrote to a fake friend with untruths to the hero, who then feels like the heroine has betrayed him. The heroine thinks the hero will break it off with her and that will save any tarnish to his reputation. But that is not what he does.

None of what I have wrote thus far is what caused me to rate the book 1-star. It is the reaction and actions of the hero toward the heroine once he feels he has been slighted that causes me to feel disgust toward the hero.


He goes to see the heroine in her bedroom, locks the door, and proceeds to intimidate and threaten her, speak harshly to her, grope her, be cruel and make fun of her. When he is not acting like this, he totally ignores her, makes her feel like she is unworthy of love. The hero’s behavior continues for a couple of weeks, through the wedding, and the trip back to the country, to the wedding night, where he is threatening, cruel, harsh. He is intent on her humiliation of any kind.

Don’t forget that the heroine is naïve and young (early 20’s). Has never had any relationships (romantic or friendships). Has never been to the city either. I think she acted in a manner with her maturity and experience level. The hero is nearly thirty, has grown up in the ton, had plenty of relationship experience (platonic and romantic). He should act with maturity and talk through their issues.

This misunderstanding is finally revealed, resolved, and the couple moves forward. But for me, I feel the hero has revealed his true colors: he can be cruel, mean, threatening, and maybe even abusive to get his way or when he feels slighted. This is a huge red flag warning to a potentially abusive relationship.

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This book had the potential to be wonderful if not for the abusive tendencies of the hero toward the heroine.