Harbinger of Books

Lord Ferdinand has won a small country property, Pinewood, in a game of cards. The day he goes to check it out he finds the town is very quaint and enjoys himself at a carnival. It is there he meets a very beautiful and mysterious woman. The next morning he arrives at Pinewood expecting a run down property and instead finds it thriving and occupied by the very same mystery woman, Viola Thornhill. Ms Thornhill is a woman of many secrets and refuses to leave her home, but Ferdinand believes he has won the property fair and square and insists on moving in.

The story is a sequel to [b:More Than a Mistress|29126|More Than a Mistress (Mistress Trilogy #1)|Mary Balogh|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1167965998s/29126.jpg|1111587].Perhaps this is why the story really did not work, to be fair it did start out well. But then by chapter 3 or 4 Viola decides the best thing is to run Ferdinand off by making his life miserable and telling everyone in the town how awful he is and how he is out to destroy her. She fights for her home by acting like a petulant child, because you know mistreating people is more important than oh say a deed or the law. I am not so sure the book ever really recovers from here. Viola is very unreasonable, nasty, petty and stupid...did I mention REALLY NASTY?? Her and her maid seem to have some deep rooted issues, I mean I get trust is hard to come by but the one guy who is willing to help or compromise you treat like this? Viola tell Ferdinand that he just is not "man" enough for her as if that is not enough after she has kicked Ferdinand like a sad puppy she then proceeds to get pissed off because he does not come running to her. Alas Ferdinand is the true fool because he keeps coming back.

What I did like about this story was the male virgin with the female courtesan nice change of pace. I also liked seeing the Duke (Jocelyn) as a daddy. While I liked Ferdinand I was looking forward to seeing his transformation of dealing with childhood demons similarly to what the Duke went through in More Than a Mistress. That transformation did not occur in this story Ferdinand remained a constant character never really changing and to this reader he never quite became the hero he strives for.

The writing was good, but there were quite a few holes in the plot, for example the mother actually believes she was a governess?? No one had any idea of the step-father's debts? The ton would befriend a high class courtesan, men and women alike...can you see it at a ladies brunch "I say dear, Charles just does not seem very vigorous whatever do you suggest??" To me as a historical romance it does not really work, to me it felt more like a contemporary romance based in Regency England. In this time period women just did not have a lot of rights but Viola seemed to think she and Ferdinand are on equal footing...said another way the bastard prostitute is on par with the son/brother of a Duke. Go figure this one just did not work out well for me.