Series: The Linfield Ladies, #1
Traits & Tropes: rivals to lovers; reluctant heroine; titled hero
Publication Date: 02.28.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Lyme Regis, England, 1817
Heat Level: 0
Rating: 2/5
Cassandra Linfield got her interest in geology from her scholarly father and has continued her studies since his death. She is set to come into her own fortune soon and has no intention of ever curtailing her freedom with marriage. When her aunt by marriage insists she accompany her to London for the Season, Cassy acquiesces and does her best to stay involved in the geological society, hiding that she is a woman, and avoiding the infuriating Lord Rothbury, her aunt’s son from her first marriage.
Lord Edward Sinclair, Earl of Rothbury, is a respected geologist and a cynic after an early disappointment in love. He no longer subscribes to romance and instead seeks a marriage of convenience now that he’s returned from his travels.
Since they share some family, Edward and Cassy frequently find themselves in one another’s company and he soon begins to see her as more than a mere convenience. But she’s as resistant to marriage as ever and it will take a life-threatening situation to help her put her priorities in order.
This book was well-written in the style of a proper, traditional Regency romance and obviously thoroughly researched. For me, it was a bit of a slog given the slow burn of this relationship, the lack of steamy scenes, and the heroine’s flightiness and inconsistency. I also found Edward to be rather disingenuous given how often he described Cassy as plain or naïve or something else unflattering and then professed to love her and think her beautiful. While believable enough, the turnaround seemed like something I’d expect from a callow schoolboy rather than a grown man. I found the language a bit stilted and though it certainly fit the time period, something about it made it difficult for me to become engrossed in the story. This issue wasn’t helped by the use of several different plot threads which cropped up to develop tension but were resolved too quickly to fully facilitate that effect. The extreme detail with which each nuance of the characters’ lives and routines was described stalled the pacing and jumps of several days or weeks at a time made the storyline feel rather disjointed. There was a lot of painstaking minutiae, but several passages in which nothing much happened and that had me losing interest rapidly. The heroine seemed overly dramatic and changeable to me but was characterized well. The hero came off as rather mercenary at first but with a tender yet wounded heart underneath and could’ve benefited from more development or characterization as he came off as rather one dimensional. Edward and Cassy both seemed to fall for each other gradually and then realize their feelings all at once, but Edward was rather high-handed and still arrogant in the end and I never felt like I really knew anything about him. Overall, this is a classy and well-researched regency which features a unique hobby and will likely be enjoyed by fans of proper romance.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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