The Pursuit of Lady Harriett

To be frank, I only made it about 20% in to this (and it's not even a long read).

The book begins with Harriett taking a solitary walk, as Regency ladies always do apparently, and happening upon Lieutenant Jamison as he rides up to Tanglewood on his unruly steed, Wicked. She raises a hand in greeting, but the Lieutenant does not notice her and, in galloping so quickly by her, splashes her with mud.

And that's it. That's the entire premise for Harriett's sudden and deeply entrenched belief that the Lieutenant is no gentleman, even though he later attempts to apologise (multiple times) for it. Perhaps one could argue that his first apology might be construed as insincere but don't they have better things to expend their energy upon than holding grudges because someone didn't notice you on the road and splashed your dress with mud?!

Harriett felt like a spoilt child with no capacity for understanding and forgiveness, and no sense of humour in this first 20% of the book. Their immediate mutual attraction despite this misunderstanding felt contrived and unbelievable in the face of their clear incompatibility of personalities. The lieutenant doesn't do much except chuckle and laugh attractively, so I didn't really care much for him either.