Nina Finch never could have imagined that her first kiss would be at the hands of a mercurial, urbane art critic who holds the power to ruin her life. De’Ath never could have imagined that he would meet a woman who upends his carefully constructed life in the middle of a rose garden. Or that he would hire her to be his amanuensis.She’s spent her life repaying her brother for his rescue. She dons outrageous disguises and forges incredible art. And she does all of this while dreaming of the quiet contentment of a cottage and a fluffy cat snuggled in her lap. Because she’s used to a life full of jagged edges and narrow precipices and daring escapes. They should be declared enemies. His patronage grants her an exceptional opportunity - to determine the extent to which his discerning art critic’s eye has the power to upend her existence and land she and her brother in jail. But it’s not his critical eye that tempts her. His sleek angles and sardonic smile and dark brows and intense gray eyes tempt her. He has an uncanny ability to both eviscerate and energize her and his riveted attention turns her world upside down.Alan, Lord De’Ath knows that Nina Finch is more than she seems. Every instinct he has in his formidable arsenal of observation is bellowing that this woman is the most lethal creature he’s ever encountered. Lethal to his equilibrium. Lethal to his control. Lethal to the cage of ice and arrogance that shields him from censure.All Nina wants is the opportunity to bake gooseberry tarts. All she wants is escape from the snarling muddle of obligation and guilt that make up her days. De’Ath has the influence and the tools to wreck her dreams, but he’s becoming a part of them. I absolutely adored this complex, multi-layered love story about falling feet first like Alice into Wonderland. It’s about becoming beguiled and entranced against your better judgment. It’s about finding the one thing on earth that grounds you more than you ever though possible - and discovering it has the capacity to either send you soaring or hurtling toward the ground.The essential elements seem benign:A bargain between an art forger and an art critic. Forced proximity and a relationship built on lies that is rife with banked tension.A woman who is hiding her identity and a man who is intent on uncovering every single one of her secrets.Joanna Lowell’s prose has the Midas touch. It is full of subtlety and wonder. It singularly captures the invisible ties that bind her characters together. It blooms from the page like a florid, lush bouquet of the very roses that surround these characters when they first meet. Highly recommended for fans of Elizabeth Everett, Evie Dunmore, and Mary Balogh.A huge thank you to the publisher for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review. Some of my favorite quotes:She wanted. She wanted beauty and pleasure, stolen moments to remember years from now, when she was living her quiet life, in Hensthorpe, with her aunts, their cats, Fritz. No, she wanted more. She wanted him.He’d said he wouldn’t speak of it. He’d make no reference to herhair, or her mouth, or her deep eyes that seemed to hold worlds. He’d make no reference to his soul-shaking longing to know her and be known to her. Holy God. He could barely breathe, lungs flattening. What she searched for in him - the self he hid from the world-offered nothing but annihilating darkness. The honey that seemed to well in him whenever they drew close- that was her sweetness. He drained it from her. If he got too close he would leave her dry and bitter and lost. He was triple the fool because he was still imagining it, imagining that he might lay himself bare. The two of them unmasked. Naked souls.