Justin Reeve Netherwood, Earl of Kempthorn - better known to his friends as simply Thorn has failed for years to understand what his twin brother sees in their bothersome next-door neighbor. Miss Olivia Lydall is young, reckless, and most likely much too smitten with his brother. So when Olivia mistakenly asks Thorn to help her get the attention of a gentleman, Thorn readily agrees. What's the harm in steering Olivia away from his brother...even while she thinks it's his brother she's getting help from all along? It's a good plan, except Thorn doesn't remember her being quite this charming, or quite this beautiful. But how can he claim a lady's heart when what they have is built on deceit? Olivia has always thanked her lucky stars she found a friend in her next door neighbour even though his dour twin brother is the very epitome of a tiresome bore. But when her plan to land a certain gent with the help of her friend leads her to fall for him instead, Olivia is in new territory. All of a sudden, there's something about him that makes her want to succumb to him, give in to the passion he inspires within her. It's almost as if she's fallen in love with a completely new person...but how could it be true?
Alexandra Hawkins always provides guilty pleasure historical romances. The heroes are generally wicked and the heroines headstrong to stand up to that wicked hero. This book was no exception. The interactions between Thorn and Olivia were delightful. I couldn't wait for the next interaction because they completely threw each other off-kilter. And let's not talk about the sexual chemistry between these two. Even when they were arguing it was off the charts. But it wasn't the H/h that made this a 4 star instead of a 5 star review. It was the sudden disappearance of Thorn's twin, Gideon, and the ending.
I adored this book right up until the last page. I had questions about what was going on with Gideon, but I could overlook those as we made our way to Thorn and Olivia's HEA. The ending did me in. It was kind of abrupt. Olivia and Thorn make-up, she asks when they are going to wed and he says when he finds Gideon. No one had been worried about Gideon before and his disappearance shouldn't impact you getting off the grass and at least get closure with Olivia's father. It was kind of "Hey, he already agreed and after all that's happened we're just going to do our own thing." Given the events that had just happened, I would have liked the closure with her father...even if we weren't getting their wedding at the end.
All that being said, if you are a lover of historical romances you must pick this book up. The banter and chemistry with these two characters more than make up for my dislike of the last page.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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4 January, 2017:
Finished reading
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4 January, 2017:
Reviewed