Series: The Splendid Trilogy, #2
Traits & Tropes: veteran hero; damaged hero; friends to lovers
Publication Date: 08.25.09
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Oxfordshire & London, England, 1816
Heat Level: 2
Rating: 3/5
Narration Rating: 3/5
Tired of the London Marriage Mart where she’s only seen for her fortune and certainly not valued for her intelligence, Lady Arabella Blydon has fled to the country. During her stay with her newlywed cousin, Belle finds herself taking many solo walks about the grounds. On one such excursion she meets her cousin’s neighbor, Lord John Blackwood, and finds herself captivated by the enigmatic war hero.
John has endured the terror of warfare and come back with many demons to face. As such he shies away from all the feelings attempting to come to life in Belle’s presence. He knows he doesn’t deserve her and yet he can’t keep himself from wooing her. But when an old enemy surfaces, John is forced back to the reality of the improbability of his union with Belle.
This book started off pretty strong for me, despite Belle’s shrewish behavior at the meet cute, but momentum was rapidly lost. John was tortured but mainly from taking responsibility for someone else’s actions so his wishy-washy tendencies with Belle got really old. I did like that Belle helped him realize he couldn’t and shouldn’t face all his problems alone, but it took forever for him to understand that which I suppose is at least somewhat to be expected given how his family ignored him. For her supposed intelligence I found Belle to be quite vapid and entitled, not to mention immature in her demands during John’s courtship and in her handling of disagreements with him. The villain in this one made sense, but the way he was handled did not and just made the threat seem contrived even though it was very real. I listened to this on audio and found the narrator’s voice to be too high-pitched for me, especially her voice for Belle, so maybe that contributed to my not caring too much for this one, but the plot was also quite long and convoluted, leaving it feeling quite stagnant at times. I did enjoy the side characters, so I’ll still read the other books in this series at some point. Overall, a strong premise but not my favorite from a classic author.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2138143611
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/60410468
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