Nan and Heath Duncan, siblings abandoned by their papa and abused by their guardian, have no choice but to survive on the London streets. When a kind gentleman rescues Nan from such a life, the siblings are separated and raised in two vastly different social worlds. Just when both are beginning to flourish and years have healed some of their wounds, their long-awaited papa returns and reunites them—bringing demands with him. Nan is expected to marry a rich suitor she’s never liked, and Heath is expected to forsake his gentle spirit and become the hardened man his father always was.
Dangers unfold, secret love develops, fights ensue, and murder upsets the worlds Heath and Nan have built for themselves.
They’ve waited their whole lives for their papa to return, for tomorrow to come—but now that it has, will they be able to see through to the truth and end this whirlwind of a nightmare before it costs one of their lives?
I've sort of gotten myself into a rut recently... one where I'm not always keen to try new authors. However, Kimberley Woodhouse raved on this book and I just had to try it. I adored it! One thing you know I'm fond of are stories with children or adoption/found family themes, and this had that in spades. I also loved that the only POVs were the "children." I think, especially at the beginning, that this helped to really feel the characters. Now, I read some other reviews saying that they didn't much care for Nan, but she was my favorite POV, with Gilbert a close second. There was just something about her that I adored. I think the story was a unique one, and not your typical gothic novel. I think the author's style is so fresh and I enjoyed it. I love all the character that she put into the Stanhope family, the parents and Charlotte, as well as Gilbert and Nan. I do think that Lord Humphries and his family were very very strange. They were giving Pride and Prejudice vibes very strongly. Everything sort of made sense at the end, but it took so long for me to be able to put two and two together and sort that whole mess out. The sailor dad also uses "bloody" a ton. It might be his favorite word ever. The one thing that had me off kilter for the middle half of the book and here's your WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!! I just couldn't get over Gilbert falling for Nan after being raised as siblings for a dozen years. That weirded me out for the longest time. Eventually, I got on board with it, but it was an uphill struggle for a minute... SPOILER ENDED
Overall, I adore this book and the characters. I wish I could have held on to them just a little longer. If all regency were like this, I'd read a lot more of it. I also wanted to share my favorite quote from this story:
"Whatever troubles you this day, the Lord thy God would like to know. He may not always change it, but He certainly showers it with grace."
I received a review copy through NetGalley, but was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment