Series: Castles Ever After, #1
Traits & Tropes: enemies to lovers; forced proximity; disabled hero; scarred hero; titled hero
Publication Date: 01.28.14
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; Northumberland, England
Heat Level: 4.5
Rating: 3/5
Narration Rating: 2.5/5
Isolde Goodnight grew up on her author father’s tales of chivalrous knights and feisty maidens, but that sort of romance and possibility has been rather less than present in her life. Now left penniless by her father’s carelessness, she’d be happy to just have a home and food. When she receives a mysterious bequest in the form of a derelict castle, she begins to reevaluate her desires upon meeting the gruff, scarred duke who lives there.
This book has been on my TBR forever and I had such high expectations of it being incessantly charming and becoming a fast favorite. Sadly, that’s not quite what happened. Izzy was frustratingly immature and naïve in a way that did not at all match the stark pragmatism she at times exhibited. Ransom was gruff, scarred, and surly, but his bitingly sarcastic inner monologues were hilarious to me, and he was definitely my preferred character over our heroine. In fact, Izzy brought this down for me with her presumptuous behavior toward Ransom and her refusal to show him some rather basic tenets of respect and courtesy at the beginning. Of course, he was also hard to get close to but who could blame him when some stranger has shown up claiming to now own his ancestral home. He showed an immense amount of growth and character development in the face of many extreme irritants and I’m not at all sure I would have coped as well as he did. I’m a sucker for the ‘hero who’s never known love’ trope, but I can’t say this was my favorite example. However, I listened to the audiobook and the insipidly girlish voice deployed for Izzy could be a contributing factor in my dislike of her as a character. I also can’t say I was a big fan of the weird cosplaying group based around the books written by Izzy’s father, though they did make a charming contribution to the plot nearer the end of the book.
Overall, I wanted to see more comeuppance for those who wrong Ransom and rather less presumption from Izzy. It took me quite a long time to get into this book and I can’t say I really enjoyed it, at least not how I expected to, though I will say the final quarter or so was charming; the sex scenes in the latter half of the book were well done, and the final declaration of feelings scene between the two was endearing.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/1095767574
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2489157580
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