Daphne Dale never could have imagined that when she answered an advertisement in the newspaper that she would find true love. Now she has the opportunity to meet her unknown suitor, but it means traveling to Tabitha’s wedding, and into the heart of her family’s sworn enemies. Everyone knows the Seldons are terrible rakes and bounders, but Daphne will risk anything to gain the happiness she is certain is right around the corner.
Lord Henry Seldon is aghast at the latest addition to the house party guest list—one would think after the unforgettable scandal Daphne Dale caused at the duke’s engagement ball, she wouldn’t dare show her face at the duke’s wedding. But here she is, poking her nose where she shouldn’t and driving Henry mad . . . with an unforgettable passion that will turn enemies into lovers.
The Dale and Seldon generations long feud is nothing to sneeze at. The fact that a Dale is at a Seldon engagement ball is scandal enough. But while on the hunt for her mystery penpal/lover, Daphne ends up ensnared by a handsome man who must be her enemy, Lord Henry Seldon.
This was a cute and funny (although not laugh out loud funny, more fun and whimsical) Regency that I breezed through in a couple of sessions. Its not perfect, and frankly the sex scenes were almost obligatory rather than passionate, but it was a novel enough principal with great chemistry between the H/H for me to really like it.
Daphne is a traditional Regency heroine, levelheaded, whip smart, and beautiful. Her motivation for responding to a lonely hearts ad is never fully explained, but nonetheless I liked the sassiness of her first letter and this very plausible manner of courtship through letters, which was probably commonplace during the Regency.
Lord Henry is not a rake, he is actually a very sensible man who usually is cleaning up the family messes. Its a prank that puts his lonely hearts ad in play, and his response to a sassy letter is also unexplained…there is not a lot of hand wringing about his loneliness or desire to marry. I found that a bit refreshing, as I enjoyed reading in between the lines a bit. That he gets to masquerade (a bit) as a rake while charming Daphne is were some of the comedy comes into play.
I enjoyed their chemistry and dialogue, and some of the scenes are over the top, rompish, and funny. The romance is believable, sweet, and the payoff is well worth the tension through 90% of the book.
I could’ve done without the sex scenes. There were only really two, they were towards the end of the book, and they didn’t add much to the plot. The “passion” was more awkward, and I was rolling my eyes a bit because it was hard to believe either one of these characters got carried away with the moment…they were both much more calculated. So if you are looking for hot intimacy, this definitely is not it.
However, if you are looking for a breezy, funny beach read this should do the trick.
This is part of a series (Rhymes with Love) but I read it as a standalone. There were references to other characters, but no full chapter set ups and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.
I may consider re-reading, but given my stacks unlikely. However, I can see some readers adoring it and reading again.
4 out of 6
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Adult subject material | |
| Intimacy | |
| Intimate scenes of vanilla variety. | |
| Violence | |
| Not much | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Sexy intimate scenes and suggestive content make this a better read for mature readers. | |
