Series: Worth, #2
Traits & Tropes: widow; unexpected inheritance; American hero; starched heroine; titled hero
Publication Date: 07.21.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; England, 1839
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 3/5
Even though he unexpectedly inherited the title of Baron de Greaves five years ago, Alexander Rhodes has neglected to travel to England to claim it until now. When he arrives at his new home it’s to find it inhabited not by the decrepit old widow he expected, but by a beautiful young woman whose welfare is now his responsibility.
Catherine, the widowed Lady de Greaves, has spent the last five years treating the barony as her pet project and turning it into a profitable estate. Though its properties are entailed and not hers she has made a name for herself, as well as her own wealth, in the horse industry. The new baron is not what she expected but she’s not impressed with the arrogant American and not convinced he can manage the estate she’s spent so much time repairing without ruining it all over again.
The initial uncertainty between Alex and Catherine blooms into a brief affair, and each feels an intense connection to the other, even while knowing that nothing can last between them. But as dangers Alex hoped to leave behind in America come to threaten him and his two young nieces, he’s even more determined to prove to Catherine that he’s nothing like the men she’s known up till now and that their connection isn’t something that can be ignored.
I really liked this premise with the proper heroine who’s made something of herself after being freed from a vile husband and the hero who’s unexpectedly inherited and needs some guidance to navigate high society. For me, however, Catherine was a bit too proper and starched, unrelentingly so, and I just found her frustrating and annoying after a while, not to mention repetitive in her dialogues and inner monologues. She was irritatingly uptight much of the time and incredibly quick to jump to conclusions. This was a much slower burn than I had anticipated, perhaps due to her attitude towards the hero, and their physical intimacy felt forced when it did happen the first time. Not that the hero is forcing the heroine or anything like that, just that the characters didn’t seem quite ready to be intimate when they were. I think I felt this way because Catherine had so very many inner monologues about her freedom being the only thing that mattered to her, and she spent a lot of time forcing herself to be an emotionless automaton. I was expecting this book to be incredibly erotic and yet, many of their encounters are mentioned in passing and occur off page, which surprised me, and I think also contributed to that feeling I got of stiltedness between these MCs. I found Catherine to be entirely too focused on society, especially given that she spent most of her time living away from it.
By the time I was nearing the end of the book I was surprised that Alex was still so determined in his pursuit of Catherine after how much she pushed him away, but that persistence reflected well on him as a hero. It definitely began to feel like Catherine was just using Alex for physical pleasure and I loved that he felt that too and wasn’t afraid to call her out on it, even if her only response was a bunch of lame excuses. She was very much determined to see Alex only in terms of how he compared to other men, most specifically the two horrible ones she had life experience of, rather than seeing Alex for himself. It took her way too long and they went through way too much before she finally revealed her emotions to him for me to really like her. I did enjoy Alex’s two nieces as characters and I think I would’ve liked the plot more if their storyline and the threat to them had received more attention and page time than Catherine’s ad nauseum assertions of her refusal to give up her freedom or cede any control, even though no one ever asked her to.
Little threads of plot were dropped in various places in this story, but often not picked up again for quite a while, such that I forgot them. This didn’t necessarily detract from the story, but it did affect the continuity a bit at times. There is some clunky phrasing and choppy flow, along with several instances of wrong word usage, all of which had me itching to be the editor on this book, but which I’m sure will be polished up before the book’s official release. I did not care for this heroine much at all, but this author definitely has potential and I’d be willing to try her work again in the future.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/549470733
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4892754307
Comments
Post a Comment