The demure Miss Manning

3.5 stars however I decided to rate this 4stars in order to increase the average rating since I think the book deserves better. I really enjoyed this book up until the H and h meet again in Brazil. The Napoleonic Wars being my favorite historical fiction era, I thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspects (which I rarely do in Harlequin historicals, the books' atmosphere mostly not much different from Contemporary romance). Unfortunately it seemed as if the editor found the unHarlequin characteristic unsatisfactory and ordered a pointless love scene and from then on ordered the author to focus more on the romance and leave off the history. This change felt very abrupt and could have been written more smoothly.