Historical romance is a tricky genre overall. You want your characters to be relatable, while set during a time when simply spending 2 minutes alone with a man was enough to force a young lady down the aisle to meet that man and spend a lifetime with him. A lot of authors tend to have their characters get together towards the end of the book after they are forced to wed for some reason or another.
And that is ok, everyone who loves to read this genre of books expects that, and we burn for it. Then there are the authors of this genre who make it what we all secretly wish it was -- full of spicy scenes and allowing the characters to fall in love BEFORE that trip down the aisle. I recently reviewed another historical romance and thought the plot was completely unique and dreaded the thought of never again having a book shock me.
I was wrong! This book has once again shocked me with how different it is and found myself finishing the entire book in a mere 2 hours. Susan Golden has outdone herself with this book. The dynamic between Emma and Giles is one forged in fear, understanding, and ultimately love.
At not yet one and twenty, Emma Poundstone, a proper young lady from the Cotswolds has fled to London’s barbarous East End to escape the hideous future her disreputable uncle has concocted. Alone and near destitute, she seeks to sell her last item of value – her father’s snuff box. But that single act of desperation leads her to a fateful choice between virtue and practicality that threatens to alter all she has held true about love.
Giles Fairmarch, Duke of Wexham, is firmly convinced that love only brings misery, so he conducts his life in a manner guaranteeing its avoidance. But on one fateful day, a bedraggled creature catches his attention as she passes him on a London sidewalk. And when he follows her into a jeweler’s and impulsively buys the snuff box she seeks to sell, he starts down a road he has vowed never to travel.
Emma’s beauty, vivaciousness and innocence rattle the rakish Duke to his core and he gladly awakens her to the thrills of shared passion. But can he have all he craves from her without offering up the love he so distains?
Does the Duke decide to be a stupid regency man and almost ruin happiness with Emma? Yes. Does he do exactly what every single reader hates and sabotage himself? Yes. Does he eventually realize what a jerk he has been and remedy the situation? YES! He makes you want to scream at him to stop being blind and stupid and just admit he was wrong about his thoughts on love, and Emma makes you want to cry with her at the injustice of it all.
He saves her from the streets knowing nothing about her, pampers her, feeds her, makes her hope for her future only to have her hopes and dreams crushed like a flower under foot. Emma shows Giles time and time again how much she loves him without ever once saying it -- and Susan writes it in such a way that you don't NEED her to say it, you just know. And Giles knows, even though he turns on her and parades his new woman in front of her as if he doesn't care.
The ending of this book makes you tear up with happiness and adoration for these characters. You fall in love with them, and their happiness makes you happy. Emma is not a typical regency woman, she has lived on the streets and starved due to a horrible situation she found herself in. Giles finds her merely by accident and yes, he wants to make her his mistress, but he ends up falling for her instead. Yes, he does some stupid things but who doesn't?
I cannot recommend this book to you enough, readers! It has just the right about of spice for a regency romance book while still keeping with the customs of the day. I love this book, and I will be buying it for myself soon!
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