Series: Unforgettable Love, #2
Traits & Tropes: amnesia; reformed rake; impoverished heroine; titled hero
Publication Date: 08.22.23
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; Hampshire, England
Heat Level: 3
Rating: 2/5
Even Georgianna Heyford, daughter of a country gentleman, has heard of the exploits of the rakish Earl of Stannis. Nonetheless, she sees no reason why she can’t cater his exclusive yacht party without falling under his spell. However, an unfortunate misunderstanding sees her sacked, infuriated, and underpaid. Yet, upon returning home, the perfect chance of revenge washes ashore in the village.
Daniel Rutherford, the Earl of Stannis, has lost all memory of who he is. Only Georgianna seems to recognize him, and he thinks she might be familiar, but there’s no way she could possibly be his wife as he claims.
In truth, Georgianna is taking this opportunity to use the earl to do some of the work she’s now unable to hire someone to perform, thanks to having her wages cut short. This will be a temporary arrangement, and no one ever needs to know the truth. But the longer the earl remains with Georgianna and her sisters, the more it feels like he’s meant to stay with them, leaving Georgianna ripe for heartbreak when his memory returns.
I want to start by saying that I love this author and she’s responsible for some of my favorite reads. Unfortunately, this story was not one of them and you chance spoilers from here as I get my thoughts out. Right from the start, I was very much not a fan of the hero’s mistress having such a prominent role. Then his meet cute with the heroine is him mistaking her for a prostitute. I was very much not a fan, and this certainly did not cast him in a good light. Not to mention the fact that his mistook her for one of three women who he’d planned to have join him in bed that night. I also wasn’t crazy about the extreme level of Georgianna’s innocence nor the ease with which he completely overwhelmed her. And yet, we’re clearly meant to see Daniel as redeemed and noble because he cares about those who work in the factories he owns. Even with the mistress being portrayed as a shrew, I was still not a fan of her continuing to have so much page time at the beginning of the book and I continued to struggle to find anything to like about Daniel. Even knowing how wrong his mistress was, he went ahead with firing Georgie, though he did attempt a fix later on, and this was basically indicative of his nature throughout the whole book.
This struggle persisted through pretty much the entire book as he referred to Georgianna as plain and obviously below him in every regard, and just generally behaved at the height of pomposity and arrogance. For me, there was no coming back from that. I adored the hero from the first book in this series and Daniel pales mightily by comparison. I understand why Georgie lied and declared an amnesiac Daniel to be her husband; he left her little choice, but why just keep piling all the other lies on? He did grow a modicum of charm while he was with Georgie and her sisters living a simple life, but that was quick to go out the window when he regained his memory. I get that he was just in denial and trying to protect himself from frightening and unwanted feelings, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach.
Even when we’re told that he’s lending support to a bill that would give women more property rights in the next breath he’s telling someone that he supports that bill simply because he’s trying to support his friend, not because it’s something that he believes in. And of course, he thinks love is whimsical and imaginary. This could’ve still been super cute despite all these issues, right up until Daniel suggested that Georgie could essentially just become his mistress and they be fake married, but only in her small town. Even later he still contemplates marriage to another and refuses to shut down his mother’s and grandmother’s machinations. As if he weren’t already bad enough, we’ve also got to add in some other woman (not even the mistress, another other woman) drama, with an attempted compromise scene. I just thought this was unnecessary and there was way too much packed in here.
After how drawn out this was and how all over the place the plot was, the ending felt very rushed and lacking, not that I was ever likely to feel satisfied by this story. All in all, I’ll definitely continue to read this author, but this story was a total dud for me.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4989456053
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3936406797
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