Julia Byrne

3.7 stars

She'd done the most foolish thing a governess could do. She had fallen in love with her employer.

This turned out to be a little hidden gem. A sweetly stubborn governess who goes to London to gain their guardian's help in containing her charges. A boy on the cusp of being a man and two almost debutante sisters that want to have all the adventures. Their guardian is Lord Deverell and there is some scandal in his past that sent him away and has him hurt and maintaining distance from his family. Miss "Smith" has some scandal in her past too that has her wanting to keep her real identity a secret.

There's really nothing new here but I reveled in the back and forth of Phoebe (Miss Smith) and Deverell. Phoebe had a great backbone that made Deverell want to tease and push her to blushing. The debutante sisters were a bit much and the scandals in Phoebe and Deverell's background became too conveniently tangled weave that gets just info dropped in the end with a villain that maybe, maybe not had legitimate deteriorating mental facilities.

The story, thankfully, allows the chemistry between Deverell and Phoebe to shine and be front and center and I enjoyed the story so much because of them.… (altro)