New York Times bestselling author Candace Camp’s delectable Willowmere series continues with the story of the accomplished and pretty widow who takes on the American Bascombe sisters for their London debut—only to discover that, when it comes to love, she is the one who is unprepared.
Married young to a charming but improvident army officer, Eve Hawthorne was widowed with little left except for a few extravagant trifles. Desperate to avoid her domineering stepmother, she accepts employment as chaperone to the Earl of Stewkesbury’s American cousins. Who better than a levelheaded widow to remind these young girls that they no longer live on a frontier? But when she flirts with a handsome stranger who turns out to be the earl’s brother Fitz, Eve worries she’s given the wrong impression. Trying to prove herself responsible—with Fitz challenging her at every turn—is hard enough, but a blackmailer with an interest in Eve’s prior marriage proves far more troubling. With the earl away, Eve can turn only to Fitz for help. But dare she confide in him, when getting too close to this confirmed bachelor might risk her heart to his alluring ways?
Its been years since I read Candace Camp (The Marriage Wager, The Matchmaker Series. So many years, that my style of review, elements of the blog, etc were still in their formative stages. I really enjoyed several of her books, and then got turned off by An Unexpected Pleasure and looked around for other authors.
I am pleased to say that the risk I took on A Gentleman Always Remembers was well worth it. The writing is beautiful, the romance sweet and filled with sexy tension, and the secondary characters and set up for future books (this is two in a series) is not over the top or distracting (no dedicated chapters, etc).
Eve is living under the thumb of her uptight stepmama after being left an impoverished widow, when the opportunity to chaperone some wild American girls comes her way. Eager to get out from under thumb, she sets out on the journey accompanied by the handsome, thrilling younger brother of her employer.
What promises to be a whole book of will they/won’t they actually morphs into something much more interesting in Camp’s deft hands. An unfortunate house party of sorts, complete with a wedding, illness quarantine, and a balloonist keep the pace clipped. There is also the added element of suspense, as Eve gets sent mysterious menacing notes upon her arrival at Willomere.
She is also probably not everyone’s cup of tea for a heroine. She is beautiful, smart and very kind, but really nothing super-duper about her. I found that refreshing enough, and coupled with some of her decisions and ability to finally stick up for herself, cheered her on.
Fitz is a hot playboy with enough good looks, money, and charm to be well set for life. He initially enjoys the chase with Eve, and then finds her fascinating. No, there isn’t a lot of explanation of that “magic” of attraction, but I found I didn’t need it. Somehow, these characters made sense to me and although their romance is often subtle (Fitz’s character arc is definitely more show than tell) it felt solid and satisfying.
There are several intimate scenes, and they are tasteful not too explicit and pretty vanilla.
I got through this one pretty quickly, enjoying much of the chaos of the house party, and sweet tension between H/h. However, I think its probably not going to be everyone’s cuppa. First, its filled with tropes of the genre. A rake, a down-on-her-luck but beautiful heroine, a wacky ensemble house party…Camp relies pretty heavily on the tried and true. Second, the romance is subtle and the sex pretty vanilla. I have been knee deep in traditionals for a while, so this felt like a great diversion for me and I am used to subtle romance, but if you have been downing mass market after mass market it may feel like tepid tea.
I probably won’t reread it, but I will definitely be picking up another Camp to read soon!
4.25 out of 6 A sexy yet subtle rakes and companions romance with ensemble house party fun
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Affairs, gambling, marital stuff | |
| Intimacy | |
| Several fairly vanilla scenes | |
| Violence | |
| Not really | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Vanilla mass market appropriate for readers who don't mind intimate pre-marital action | |
