Oh how I adored this book! This is my third Elizabeth Rolls book and I think it's officially my favorite.In my last review (of The Dutiful Rake), I mentioned that one of my favorite things about ER's books was the unnecessary angst often brought about by the insecurity and self-doubt of the hero and heroine.
I must say that this particular book didn't have any of that, and yet, I adored it.
We first met our hero, Richard, in His Lady Mistress (which is one of my all-time favorite books, but definitely falls into the "unnecessary angst" category), as Max's fraternal twin brother. In that book, we learn that when they were children, Max dared Richard to jump a fence (or something) while riding, and the horse fell on him, shattering his leg. He was told at that time that he'd never walk again, but our hero was too stubborn to listen and now walks quite well, albeit with a limp. We're maybe 6 or 7 months after the conclusion of HLM, as Verity is nearing the end of her pregnancy and is living in the country with Max.
Back in town, Richard and Max's stuffy Aunt Almeria (whom we also had the "pleasure" of meeting in HLM) coaxes Max into agreeing to stay with her in London. Unbeknownst to him, she's also agreed to take on her Goddaughter, Thea, for the season.
A childhood friend of Richard's, Thea has been living with her Aunt Maria for the past seven years, after her fiance died. When a wealthy relative passes on, his will states that if she marries with her estranged father's approval, she will inherit a large amount of money. If she does not marry, she will receive 200 pounds a year until she turns thirty, at which point she'll receive her full fortune.
Thea, however, is determined not to marry despite her father's grand plans to the contrary, and is quite happy to avoid the Marriage Mart completely. Now, if only someone could convince Almeria of the fact, perhaps things would be much simpler!
As you can tell just from the title, our heroine, Thea, isn't "an innocent" as is required in order to be considered a marriageable female in those days. As with the previous ER books that I've read, I did guess the full extent of The Big Secret (dun dun dun!) quite early on, but that didn't make the story boring like it could have.
While Richard does have one moment where I as a reader wanted to bash his stubborn head in, he's definitely one of my favorite characters. Unlike some of ER's heroes from her other books **cough**Max**cough**, he does not try to resist his feelings as they develop naturally for Thea, nor does he tend to say stupid, hurtful things in a fit of pique every four chapters or so.
Thea is definitely one of my favorite Regency heroines. She takes blame when it is rightfully hers, and she courageously stands up for what is right not matter what the cost to her personally. While she does try to make certain noble sacrifices, it's obvious from Richard's reaction in one scene in particular that she's not cutting off her nose to spite her face, but rather is just being realistic in the face of doing what she knows is the right thing. This is fairly unusual in regency romances, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see such a heroine in an ER novel.
It does tend to move a bit slow at points, and there's only one true "love" scene, which while nice, honestly just seemed to be thrown in there because it was expected. Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I've just read way too much [b:Twilight|41865|Twilight (Twilight, #1)|Stephenie Meyer|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41DcKN0STkL._SL75_.jpg|3212258] and other YA novels lately, but sometimes a "fade-to-black" is all that's really needed, and even a well-written love scene just seems a tad bit gratuitous. The sexual tension is fairly mild, but well done, and as I said, the singular love scene is quite nice.
This is definitely one of my favorites, mainly because I just adore Thea.
 - Elizabeth Rolls)