2.5 rounded up to 3 stars. This is in the bottom half of the 14 books I've read by this author. I didn't entirely like the characters, or believe the plot, or feel the chemistry. It wasn't terrible, just all-around lackluster. My least favorite part was the heroine's decision regarding a debt, and my favorite part was with her and a brick. Overall I was a little disappointed, but I'm going to continue with the series. ( )

dnf

**eARC Netgalley** ( )

This was an interesting read. I liked the way it started with David forging Marcus signature on the marriage licence. The story was enjoyable especially the mystery and suspense, the only problem i had was the romance, i felt like Hannah and Marcus didnt really have much attraction together, he spoke to her daughter only once in the entire book, David was more of a father to Molly in the 4 weeks he spent at the vicarage than the entire time MArcus and Hannah were supposedly married. Apart from that the book was enjoyable. Although i didnt care for david's character in this one i hope in the next one he matures well enough.

THANKS TO NETGALLERY AND KENSINGTON ZEBRA BOOKS FOR THIS ADVANCED READERS COPY ( )

This was a pleasant read with well written characters, humour and all the drama and refuse-to-admit-we-have-attraction a good romance requires. I particularly enjoyed that the female characters did not fall headlong into stereotypes of the period or genre. They remained feminine, somewhat bound by societal rules but also had intellect, compassion and strength. Hannah, as a vicar's widow, is able to explain some of her meeker behaviours on upbringing and her station during her first marriage yet leaves no doubt as to her true feelings and is willing to bypass propriety when warranted. Linden writes her as a flushed out character who has a belief code that she lives by but who also has true emotions, reactions and considers her instinctive reactions against public expectation rather than swooning or turning to hysterics as other authors would have her do. Marcus and David Reece are also more than stereotypes once you turn a few pages, bringing dimension to the various relationships in this novel. The inclusion of Hannah's daughter, Molly, is handled very well. She serves as motive for Hannah's actions and as a means to explore the personalities of several characters by way of their interactions with her. Any good romance needs some drama to sustain it and Linden opens the story with a dramatic trickery that forces our reluctant lovers together. She is correct in knowing that more adventure is needed later to urge the characters to their final realizations, but the sub plot concerning counterfeit money and a nefarious challenger to out hero did not fit as well as it could have. Hinted at from the beginning, too little detail was given to the reader until the end. It made it hard for this reader to care very much about this part of the story. The only merit I found in this 'mystery' was in the brief interactions between brothers David and Marcus and then between Hannah and Marcus. I did enjoy seeing the brothers interact as a team rather than their usual adversarial relationship. A nice Saturday read...and yes, I am curious about the continuation of the Reece family romances in What a Rogue Desires (David's story) and A Rake's Guide to Seduction (little sister Celia's story). Perhaps I'll look one of them up some other Saturday. ( )

This book isn't bad; it's just built around unbelievable behavior. I simply couldn't accept that Marcus would pretend to be married to Hannah just to keep his stepmother and sister from finding out what a rotten trick David had played. ( )