Series: Rogues to Lovers, #2
Traits & Tropes: class difference; working heroine; titled hero; hero has amnesia; someone is trying to kill the hero
Publication Date: 01.24.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London/Bellehaven Bay, England; Summer
Heat Level: 4
Rating: 5 stars!
Poppy Summers is struggling to keep her father’s fishing business alive and has no time for much of anything else. She certainly doesn’t want the complication that is sure to come when she finds a man washed up on the beach, tangled in one of her fishing nets. Even more troublesome is the man’s headwound and his assurances that he’s a duke.
Andrew Keane truly is the Duke of Hawking, even if his prickly rescuer doesn’t believe him. He came to the seaside resort town of Bellehaven Bay hoping to escape a potential scandal in London, only to have someone try to kill him. Keane is determined to find out who wants him dead by pretending the blackguard succeeded, but he’ll need Poppy’s help to stay hidden while he investigates. Poppy isn’t interested in the scheme, but she can’t turn down the money he offers to pay for food and the use of her seaside shelter. As Poppy tends Keane’s injuries and they work together to find his enemy, Keane begins to chip away the walls around Poppy’s heart. The connection between them is real, but it leaves Poppy torn between her dreams and her loyalties to her family and their way of life.
I’ll be the first to admit that I was unsure about this book at first. Poppy initially came off as very judgmental and prickly, quick to assume and tiresome in her fatalism. For a while she wouldn’t even tell Keane her name. All that said, this just paved the way for a ton of truly lovely character development for Poppy as she and Keane came to know one another, and their connection grew. I loved seeing how she gradually came to trust and confide in him and he in her. Perhaps the single best part of Poppy’s journey for me was how she followed her heart and decided to trust in Keane and her feelings for him and take a chance on building a real relationship with him despite her fears about the obstacles they were sure to face given the differences in their social stations. Keane’s ardent, steadfast pursuit of Poppy and his patience in convincing her that his feelings for her, and therefore their relationship, were real was utterly charming. After her being so used to taking care of everything and only being able to rely on herself, he showed her that she could lean on him and believe in the connection they had. I loved how he kept reassuring her of his feelings and intentions and in return, she always had faith and never doubted him. These two kept lines of communication open and there was never any unnecessary angst or miscommunication trope deployment and I loved that. Keane’s demonstration of his feelings for Poppy, and in turn, hers for him, made this one of the most romantic, swoonworthy books I’ve read in some time.
The ultimate goal for me in reading romance is to be swept away by a hero who is determined to be with his heroine no matter what and who has those feelings reciprocated by a heroine who is just as set on building a real relationship with him. We truly got that here. Though Keane was the one doing most of the pursuing, Poppy was pursuing him as well in her own, more subtle way, sometimes in ways she didn’t even fully acknowledge to herself. I loved that depth that was established with these two and how their feelings and fears were explored through communication and used to build a solid foundation for their relationship. The pacing of this one did feel just a bit slow at times, but the mystery of who attacked Keane kept things going and I loved that Keane and Poppy were working together to address this external issue. This was a delightfully romantic story with plenty of the swoonworthy dialogue that just melts me, and I loved it.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/295761844
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4772430225
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