This book started off promising, got quite slow in the middle, and then ended okay. Overall, it seemed like the author was attempting to mimic Jane Austen's writing/storytelling, and did a decent, though slightly, dry pass at it. It wasn't a poorly-written book or anything: I just had to force myself to push through it. ( )

Skimmed this. A fun read, but the ending seemed heavily influenced by "Emma". ( )

I liked this gentle romance novel, several romances, some not so wise populate this story and the two main characters, Louisa and Valentine I found interesting. Their first taste of freedom out from under the iron thumb of their father, Sir Clement Carnell and of course everything can't run smoothly or the story wouldn't be interesting. I also liked how the husband Louisa's father choose also found love and found that he could love.

A nice story, well done and I found myself eager to find out what happens next. ( )

My review at Booklist:

Blending the verbal style of Jane Austen and the sly humor of Georgette Heyer, this hardback edition of Morgan’s 2010 paperback follows siblings Valentine and Louisa Carnell after the death of their cruel, despotic father. Both see their sire’s passing as the gateway to a new and better life. They begin slowly with dinners at their Devonshire estate, which has seen no happiness since their mother’s death decades before. At these events, Louisa must quell the advances of the suitor her late father chose for her, the owner of a bordering estate who is cut from her father’s cloth. Fortunately Louisa has a confidant, a widower whose counsel she gravely regards. At the dinners, to which they invite their estranged cousins, Valentine falls for a married woman who runs a faro club in London. When everyone moves from the estate to London to partake of the celebrations after Napoleon’s defeat, Valentine gets embroiled with the fashionable crowd while Louisa tries to discover who she and her brother really are.— Pat Henshaw ( )

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