Jennifer
3.5 stars rounded up to 4
I love the story, I just wish there had been more of it in the main H/h's pov. I haven't read another romance where so much of the book is in a 3rd character's pov, but Freya, our heroine who is not the Duke's darling, is nothing if not nonconforming, so it stands to reason that her book would be the same.
I very much appreciated the use of actual history for Harlowe's background! And I look forward to reading Messalina's story next. Her hatred of the man who is to be her hero makes it all the more intriguing.
3 1/2 stars upgraded to 4.
This is a sweet story with a unique premise. A ghost falls in love with a human man who ferries souls to the hereafter? I was so here for it. The romance takes a back seat to the plot, however. Not a single love scene either. My library had this categorized as Romance, so I assumed there would be. So just know that going in. But the storyline and the characters kept me interested even so.
This is a story that is epic in scope and powerfully told. It is the tale of a woman trying to find her place in a world that doesn't understand her. In a world that wants to silence her. This is the tale of a suffragette. It is also a tale of love and loyalty, but it's so much more than that.
Susan has truly written a masterpiece, made even more compelling by the fact that it isn't just a story comprised of completely made-up events and experiences. The things Nora went through really did happen to women back then. They really were treated in such a way, and there were times as I read that I found myself completely overcome with emotion. I was angry, but also thankful for the sacrifices made by those brave women who fought so hard for the rights we hold dear today. The rights we so often take for granted. Which is why it is a book I will give to my daughters to read when they are older. It's history exquisitely brought to life.
It is against this backdrop that we are given the romance of Lady Nora and William Frazier. As the daughter of an earl, the American heir to a railroad fortune isn't good enough for her in the eyes of her family. Nora and William's love is forbidden, but they find a way to be together against truly impossible odds. Theirs is a bond that will not be broken, and while we are taken on quite a journey in the finding of it, they at last get their beautiful, sigh-worthy HEA.
I started this thinking it sounded intriguing, if a little (very) unconventional, but I was not prepared for the emotional depth of this story. Both the hero and heroine had something horrific happen in their childhoods that twisted sex in their minds, and because of this, they understand each other in a way no previous sexual partners have. The more you learn of their tortured pasts and the reasons for their proclivities, the more your heart breaks for them, and the more you root for them as they tentatively try to form a meaningful bond outside of a sexual one. They are just two strangers fulfilling a mutual need, but they long for so much more.
What a phenomenal romance! I almost set this book aside, because the first 50 pages were a bit slow and I was ready for the story to get moving. I also took an immediate disliking to the heroine. Her holier-than-thou proper ways and her bias against those who were not of her race/station certainly did nothing to endear me to her in the beginning. But Lalie is a perfect example of true character growth. By the end of the story she is nothing like the infuriating Miss Eulalie Pritchard we were introduced to in the beginning. As she came face to face with her own prejudices and changed for the better, she slowly became a character I admired and could root for.
I loved Addison from the beginning, and other than pretending he had a nicely trimmed beard to go along with his 80's mustache, I would change nothing about him. :)
Infidelity is one of my hard limits in romance, but what made this book work for me was the fact that Haven hadn't yet told Sera he loved her when it happened. She hadn't told him either. That, to me, makes all the difference in the world. They had a brief whirlwind courtship, were caught together and forced to marry. Taking the circumstances into consideration, I had to give Haven and the story a chance.
