Book source ~ Purchased
7 August 2012
Historical | Romance
353 Pages
My Rating ~ 3 bites and a nibble
Miss Melissa Atwell has
been confined to her suite of rooms ever since her mother died of a fever when
she was 3. Her step-father, Rupert Atwell, only wanted to protect her, but for
18 years she’s been isolated from the world. With her father’s death and the
sale of the manor and lands, her uncle George, the Earl of Braddock, has come
to collect her, take her under his wing, and find her a husband. He’s hired a
companion for her, Diane Stanhope, to help with this task and act as chaperone.
His son, John, the Viscount of Willington has agreed to help by providing a
list of his friends who would be suitable. Problem is, he’s beginning to think
he wants her for himself and Melissa feels the same. But society thinks they
are first cousins and therefore unsuitable to marry. There’s no one alive who
knows who her real father is, so there’s the added stigma of being a bastard
when they figure out she is not a true Atwell. What a mess.
I loved two other books
in this series so I thought I would love this one, too. But I just can’t. I
feel bad for Melissa, having been tucked away from everything and thinking her
whole life that if she goes outside or touches anyone without gloves that she’ll
die. Her father did her no favors keeping her locked away even if his
intentions were good, that he wanted to keep her away from her true father. But
other than feeling sorry for Melissa, I just don’t like her. Or John. They just
feel off to me. Oh, well. The story isn’t horrible, it’s just my own personal
feelings that bring my rating down. Secondary characters are pretty good and the
villain is shudder-worthy. Ugh. So give it a try and see what you think. Maybe
you’ll like it a whole lot more than I do and that will make me feel better.
Sometimes its hard to enjoy the book when you just dont care for the main character all that much. Hopefully the next book will be a better one for you.
ReplyDeleteI loved two of the others, so I was disappointed, but I'll still read the author's other books. I like her writing.
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