Series: The Swooning Virgin Society, #3
Traits & Tropes: mystery; slow burn; titled hero; class difference; starched heroine
Publication Date: 06.01.21
Genre/Setting: Historical; Georgian; London, England, 1795
Heat Level: 2
Rating: 3.5/5
Georgiana Harley has developed unusual skills as a student of the Clifford School and they’ve made her capable of helping the Duchess of Kenilworth in her search for a friend who’s been missing for the past six years. The challenge is following the duchess’ wish to keep everything from her brother, Lord Haslemere. Georgiana sees him as nothing more than an empty-headed rake and she doesn’t need him poking his nose into her investigation. She’d rather he just left her alone and yet, when she learns how sweet and caring he truly is, she begins to rethink, and it seems he may be the one to break through her cool façade.
Benedict Harcourt, the Earl of Haslemere, has no intention of being warned away from his beloved sister and nephew. But as he comes to know Georgiana, he begins to fall for her intelligent, no nonsense ways and realize he doesn’t want to be without her again.
I have a few rather mixed feelings on this one. The heroine put me off right from the start and came off as incredibly judgmental. She improved as the book went on but there were still plenty of instances in which Benedict showed himself to be a good man and kept referring to him as a wicked rake anyway. Of course, she eventually came around to giving him more credit, but it was a bit late for me. Benedict turned out to be a bit of a squishy cinnamon roll hero, but this meant he didn’t get much recognition for his strengths, though he was charming. I liked his attraction to Georgiana’s intelligence and his willingness to patiently deal with her insecurities, I just wish she’d given him more of that same consideration sooner.
As for the plot, the blurb is misleading, but Benedict and Georgiana do wind up working together to free his sister from a very over the top (but in a good way) villain. While the plot did make sense, there were definite lags in its development toward the middle and end of the book that threw me off a bit. This was also a very slow burn, so that contributed to some of the loss of traction as well. It’s still not very clear what’s going on with the whole premise of the school, but I didn’t really mind, though I will say I think this book is the weakest of the series so far. After the loss of momentum in both the mystery and the romance, I expected much more from the ending and it just felt a bit anticlimactic. I also wanted more information on Clara’s and Freddy’s fates. That said, I did think Georgiana and Benedict wound up being a good fit as a couple and their steamy scenes were very well done when we finally got them, though they were few. Overall, the story felt slightly incomplete and unnecessarily angsty in places but I enjoyed it and I look forward to Emma’s story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3791698797
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3867512225
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