The synopsis makes this sound a bit more mystery laden then it is. The murder takes place about 2/3rds of the way in, before that the book is pretty much follows typical lines.

I enjoyed this book, I got through it in about 3 hours and even for a romance that's rather quick for me. It keeps up a slick pace, not slowing down after the intial chapter or so of obligatory flashbacks to how the two met, their childhood problems etc. I had some trouble grasping why the author felt she needed to tell us, many times, that Julianna was 'Independent'. Her actions were quite capable and she had proven that she was able to stand on her own feet with a respectable job.

Some minor quibbles with the above synopsis--her one cousin, Crandall, was definately a malicious boy, but her other, Serephina, was more selfish then cruel and did seem to be genuinely happy to see her again when they met once more. Nicholas was the primary suspect for all of two seconds, but with all the enemies the deceased had his was the most minor (and understandable) problem.

Julianna, as I mentioned earlier, is quite competent as a companion, but once Nicholas entered her life again she seemed to have forgotten much of the decorum and common sense she had learned in the 15 years hence. Nicholas for his part argues--both to Julianna and privately to himself--that he isn't a good man, that he's wicked, but he hadn't done anything horrendous. Especially not in light of what his Uncle and Cousin did on a routine basis. He smuggled, he did some espionage for the Crown, did a little whoring...all in all nothing wicked. The both of them were rather bland seperate from each other and marginally interesting when together because they were both convinced the other wanted nothing more then to be siblings! The passion was just sort of there, didn't really effect me.

The only other problem I had was that closer to the end I felt like the author tried to make the twist as off the wall as possible. I was truly interested in figuring out who had the deceased killed, but I was left feeling dissatisfied with the end result. It brought to light some disturbing family secrets that made little sense to be included.

Some of the secondary characters were interesting, though shortly lived. Julianna's friend Lady Scarborough was interesting and her servants and adopted children were all interesting sounding as well. I would have liked more about them, but sadly they left for Italy and that was the last of them. I liked Fiona, the younger daughter of Julianna's employer, but again she was gone as soon as Julianna left that family. The ones who stuck around--Nicholas's family--were standard 'evil relations'. Selfish, neglectful, jealous...

All in all I enjoyed the book and rec it if you want a romance that is mostly light and straight forward. ( )

1.5 stars ( )