The first in the series and I loved it. Preston and Tabitha were great for each other. The bad boy Duke and the Vicar's daughter. A curse on the town females. But love prevailed. I liked it that Preston fell in love first and the things he did to keep Tabitha. Loved the friends Harriet and Daphne and all the other characters. Didn't think the aunts and Uncles of Tabitha got what they really deserved. Love this author and her books While the story was reasonably entertaining & humorous there is not a lot of romance. A quick & easy read with not much substance. Tabitha is told she must marry a particularly attractive yet boring man in order to inherit a fortune. The problem is she meets the Duke of Preston & it is he who sets her heart fluttering. Tabbitha has some pretty crappy relatives who are not the least concerned about her welfare or happiness. Preston has been shunned from society for one too many scandals. Somehow with their vast differences these two hit it off instantly.The potential was there for this to be more of a pulse racing type novel as one eagerly reads & anticipates the final moment when the 2 characters make love & admit to love one another. It falls short on this & when the love making finally does occur it is not shattering or all that exciting. Also, there is only one love scene. I am not a fan of romance novels that have virtually nothing but love scenes, but really only one? In a romance novel? I suppose if it was earth shattering & amazing it would have been acceptable. As it stands, it was rather disappointing.If you are the sort who is more into a cutesy silly type romantic tale then you will probably find this book is perfect to add to your library. If on the other hand you are more like myself & enjoy tension, passion & danger you will want to give this a pass.
Exceptional. Great characters, solid plot.Tabitha Timmons, yet another spinster from Kempton, is the unlikely recipient of a fortune and needs a trustworthy friend badly.Preston, the Duke of Preston, stumbles into her life at just the right time and needs all his ducal authority to straighten out this mess.I loved the characters, their motivations were so believable, which made the final conclusion satisfying. I adored the richness of the friendships between Tabitha and Preston and between Tabitha and her friends from Kempton.Very satisfying, warm fuzzies galore.
—thebookworminwonderland
I can somewhat relate to some of the reviews posted. I did like the storyline, the rake of a duke was abit over the top for HR BUT I felt that what he did and said was something a lot of guys wanted to say. It did show how mean and deceiving family could be just to have a better standing in the ton and more money. I liked the banter between them. I hope that is really the way they would speak to each other when familiar. A good read.
—vishnu
Formulaic light Regency, but I did like the reasons for the depth of feeling in the hero.
—nathan
Audio
—nene
