Series: Spindle Cove, #2
Traits & Tropes: titled hero; reformed rake; road trip; enemies to lovers; bluestocking
Publication Date: 03.27.12
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; April, England/Scotland
Heat Level: 5.5
Rating: 5 stars!
Narration Rating: 5 stars
Minerva Highwood is a bit of an oddity, even in the haven for misfits that is Spindle Cove, thanks to her keen interest in geology. She’s determined to get to Scotland for an important symposium but has to be creative to have any hope of it.
Colin Sandhurst, Viscount Payne, is the definition of a rake and would like to be anywhere but Spindle Cove. Minerva’s brilliant plan can help them both if she can make him see the wisdom in their faking an elopement. With only a week to get to Scotland, sharing very close quarters, and encountering nearly every road trip hazard imaginable, the odds seem to be stacked against them.
It doesn’t help that there’s also a very real attraction growing between them. They’ve only got a week together but that soon looks like just enough time to bare their souls to each other and forge a lasting love.
I’ve found another new title to add to my favorites list and I think I’m beginning to understand all the hype around the Spindle Cove series now. I admit, I was skeptical at first because Minerva was not exactly my favorite character when she was introduced in the previous books. In fact, she was rather obnoxious and annoying. None of that in this book, however. In fact, I found her incredibly relatable with her interest in reading and her tendency toward awkwardness in social situations.
At first Minerva and Colin seem like a total mismatch. He’s an inveterate rake who takes nothing seriously and is merely cooling his heels in Spindle Cove until his next birthday when he can take charge of his inheritance and continue funding his dissolute lifestyle. She’s a geologist more interested in rocks and soil than people and mostly overlooked by everyone, including her own mother. With a closer look, it is readily apparent that these two are quite similar beneath their respective surfaces. At the heart of things, both Minerva and Colin were a bit lost and looking for unconditional love and acceptance that they’d never really had before, Colin because of the untimely demise of his parents and Minerva because of her mother’s tendency to dote on her other two sisters.
I adored seeing Minerva and Colin fall for each other during a road trip that was marked by nearly every mishap and catastrophe imaginable. These two so clearly had feelings for one another and fought them valiantly with enemies to lovers animosity. Regardless of their frequent sniping, it was clear that Minerva and Colin truly saw each other, down to the core of who they were, and each was willing to be what the other needed, even when they didn’t want to admit to that need. There was plenty of humor to lighten up the heavy emotions inherent in the deep connection Minerva and Colin managed to form in a fairly short time and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was completely pleased with this book and will look forward to continuing the series whilst hoping to find a stepback copy of this story for my collection.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/4280645657
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2540508713
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