Series: The Hathaways, #2
Traits & Tropes: pining/I've loved you for years; second chance; tortured hero
Publication Date: 09.30.08
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; Hampshire/London, England; 1848-1851
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 5/5
Narration Rating: 5/5
Kev Merripen has loved Winnifred Hathaway for years, since her father rescued him after he was left for dead as a boy. But Kev’s Roma heritage means he is unsure of his exact origins, and he doesn’t want to taint fragile Win with the brutality of his past. He refuses the temptation she represents for him and eventually loses her anyway when she leaves for a clinic in France in an effort to restore herself to good health.
Two years later Win returns to England to find many changes wrought in Kev, most of all the hardened lack of emotion he presents. In her time away, Win’s health has improved, and she has acquired another attractive suitor. Kev must make a move or consign himself to a lifetime of misery and loneliness. But if he hopes to make a future with Win, Kev first has to face his own demons and the truth about who he really is.
I appreciated this book more on this audio reread than I did when I read it the first time. I didn’t necessarily agree with all of the revisions that have been made to this newer version, but some I did like, and I don’t think the story itself was damaged as I’d feared it would be. Kev’s consistent insistence that he wasn’t good enough for Win was still frustrating, but it was more heart-wrenchingly emotional for me this time around. I still loved Win’s quiet determination and refusal to settle for less than what she deserved with Kev, even when he was so hot and cold with her. I liked the development we saw in Kev as he learned his own worth and began to really believe in it, as well as his budding closeness with Cam. This one is heavier on the angst than I usually like, but it worked here when combined with all the pining. Kev still needed a good smack several times throughout the book, but Win’s newly developed backbone was more than a match for it. I do also wish we’d gotten more info on the villain’s motives. Otherwise, I actually enjoyed this story more the second time around and the Hathaways remain one of my favorite fictional families.
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