Reviewer Comments: What a delightful Regency romance! Jo Beverley really captures the spirit of London in the early 1800’s. She brings us into a world where things are so different from how we live our lives. Women had their place and couldn’t run businesses or voice their opinions except in very special circumstances or with accepting a great deal of scandal. Lucinda Potter’s mother may have noble roots, but her father is a wealthy merchant. Lucinda has lived her entire life following around her father and learning his business. She understands how the economics work, how to purchase and sell items and how to interact with his clients. What Lucinda doesn’t expect is that her father will want Lucinda to marry a nobleman and that he will remarry within a year of her mother’s death in the hopes of having a son. Lucinda isn’t sure what to do or where to go. Fortunately, her aunt has offered to sponsor her for a season and so Lucinda leaves her home for the more wealthy part of town. David Kerslake-Somerford has had some incredible life-changing events in the past year or so. He found out that instead of being the illegitimate son of a smuggler, he is really the son of the Mad Earl. When the Mad Earl died, David became the Earl of Wyvern. He also inherited the leadership of the smugglers when the man he called father was caught and shipped to Australia. He now has a crumbling estate where most of the people he cares for are involved in the dangerous business of smuggling and he has no money to either repair the estate or to bring in legitimate employment for those in his town. He decides to offer for Lucinda Potter, sight unseen and based only on her huge dowry. When these two people meet, sparks fly. Secrets abound and they both have things they want to hide. Watching them learn about each other and figure out whether or not they can build something. I loved every minute of this story. Seeing Lucinda and David work on keeping their secrets while falling for each other is a delightful adventure. They are such great characters who are working within a system that doesn’t allow them to think or act outside of the box. I liked learning more about the smuggling world and what would drive people to participate in such an activity. I also really liked the dichotomy that Jo Beverley shows in this book between the trade class and the noble class. She has Lucinda explore what it is like in both worlds and which world she is best able to be a part of. Lucinda has a lot of things to think about and to experience. She challenges the status quo and speaks her mind (to those she trusts). This book is not the first in the series, but you don’t need to read the other books to enjoy it. This book stands on its own. You meet characters from previous books, but the focus is on Lucinda and David.
