Excellent historical romance
Rating: R for sex
Sex: multiple scenes
Language: mostly the Lord's name in vain
Violence: kidnapping, assault, near drowning
HEA: yes
Would I read more of the series: yes
This author does a good job developing her characters through dialogue. Everything these characters do was influenced by their history. In this book, the plot is well thought out, the pacing is excellent, and the romance is truly sweet. It's fun to see characters from previous books, and from other series. Wendy Vella has a collection in my Kindle library all her own.
----SPOILERS----
Primrose is having her first and last season at age 25. She is being sponsored by Lady Jane, a friend of her mother's. Her parents and brother are on their way to India for botanical reasons, and she can't travel with them. They have been invited to a house party by Duke and Duchess Rossetter. Benjamin Hetherington is also a guest, along with a slew of his brothers and sisters. His sisters-in-law are trying to get him to be interested in Primrose, and he says he's as interested in her as he is in someone's gout toe. Of course, Primrose overheard, and she flees. He runs after her to apologize, and finds her in the middle of a pond. He's concerned for her safety and goes in after her, and is astonished when she pulls herself out on the opposite bank. Later, a carriage is overturned into a river, and Primrose was nearby. A young girl explains that her dog was missing, and Primrose went into the water after the dog. Benjamin went in after Primrose. Then they're playing hide and seek with the Duke's children and other children, along with accompanying adults, and Benjamin finds her on the ledge outside the window, and grows irate with her. He doesn't know what else to do, so he kisses her. Primrose has never been loved by anyone, not even her family. Benjamin will not trust a woman because his mother left with her French lover when he and his twin, Alex, were young. The house party goes to the nearby town to participate in their festival, and the men do a pie and pint relay. They also participate in a boat race, and one of Benjamin's friends falls out of the boat and hits his head on the side. She races in again, and saves his life. Primrose learns Benjamin cannot tolerate the sound of clicking jaws, and hers clicks. So she chews hard candy to drive him crazy (I think she's mad at him). One night, Primrose is going to the library to borrow a book because she can't sleep due to thinking about the kiss so much, and she overhears someone is going to steal a priceless priceless book. She tries to stop them, and gets kidnapped with the book. Benjamin was out walking the grounds, unable to sleep for the same reasons, sees what's happening, and jumps on the back of the carriage. After a day's journey, he rescues her, they sleep in a barn, and the next morning he gets abducted keeping her safe, and then she saves him by doing the same thing he had done. They hide in an inn, and in the morning they have breakfast with Lord and Mr. Sinclair and Duchess Raven. The thief takes the book onto a boat, and Benjamin gets it back, tossing it to Primrose on the bank. He then jumps overboard, and she jumps in after him, of course. They return to the house party, discovering that Alex has been thrown from his horse and is unconscious. Benjamin is distraught, and cruel to Primrose. He had taken her Innocents at the Inn, and his honor dictated he offer for her, and she turned him down. Her reputation has been ruined, though no one knows what happened, simply because she was abducted and alone with men. Lady Jane takes her back to London and is insistent she marry a grandfather who needs a young wife to provide an heir. When Alex awakens, he has a heart-to-heart with Benjamin and gets him to realize he can trust Primrose, but then Benjamin is ill for a week. He rushes to London, but Primrose is gone, having run away because she will not marry that man and she has nowhere to go, as her parents have rented out the house for the year. He discovers she's gone off with her only friend, Heather, who is eloping with Jeremy to Gretna Green, and he chases her down. He rescues her again from the thief, pulling her out of a stream where the thief had tossed her. He confesses his love, she calls him a liar, but somehow he's able to convince her, and they get their happily ever after.