When Miss Samantha Prendregast arrives at Devil's Fell to take charge of six rebellious girls, the vibrant, outspoken governess is not quite prepared to deal with the tall, dark and dashing master of the grand estate. The children she can manage with intelligence, guile...and a little bribery. Their widowed father, Colonel William Gregory, is not so easily charmed-and far too easy to fall in love with, which she dares not do.William always cherished the orderliness of his life, until this captivating troublemaker began flouting his authority and distracting him with her witty defiance and breathtaking beauty. Despite the fact that they clash at every meeting, William finds himself inexplicably drawn to Samantha's fire. And now he's even contemplating marriage, which would be sweet madness indeed.
But before he can successfully woo her, William must discover what it is that Samantha is hiding from him. But the secret the lady is preciously guarding is far too shocking and dangerous to ever reveal...
Comment: Some years ago, two or three, I've started reading this author's Governess series. I've stopped because I was enjoying them enough that I didn't want to finish them all at once. They weren't the best thing I've had read but they were so entertaining and interesting that I was seduced. In fact, after trying all the author's genres, I have to say historicals is the one I prefer and the one I think she is most successful at. But that's me.
This is the sixth story in the series and I liked it a lot. Samantha is a governess with a shady past. Her childhood was poor and her mother died soon so she was left with her father that treated in such a way it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't cry but I felt like it. Anyway, she became a known pickpocket but was rescued by her employer and since then her life turned better...but she speaks her mind and that got her in trouble where she worked because she couldn't stand seeing injustices. The owner of the governess agency decides to send her to the country after Samantha's latest trouble, and she's to become the governess of 6 children, all of them motherless. Their father was in the military and rules the house like a ship but of course this is a romance and with children's pranks and a handsome boss, what could be more natural than for Samantha to fall for them all?
This sounds familiar, isn't it? Yep, the moment I read the blurb the first thing that came to my mind was "Sound of Music". Lol. Obviously there are several differences, but it's interesting the inspiration. The same thing happened to some of her other novels in the series, which were so similar to movies.
Well, the story starts when Samantha arrives where she's supposed to be but no one is expecting her so she tries to walk but it's almost robbed.
The thing is, her new boss wants to catch spies that cross his land and in particular a couple that trades secrets and the betrays the country. He also wants a new wife because his children need a mother, so he arranges for a party where he can lure the couple and see if the woman he has in mind to propose to could manage the task. However, he wasn't counting on being attracted to Samantha, who still can't really hold her tongue or be submissive.
The sparks flew between them because they argued and it was fun to watch. I think the romance part of all this was very good, there's also a sub plot with another couple having a romance, I liked it. And when the main couple finally became intimate it was both sweet and romantic. I really liked it, I think, of all the books in the series, this one is now my favorite. The bad guys are caught, of course and all ends well. But this we knew from the start that would happen, but the way things progresses until then was very amusing and entertaining to follow.
There were interesting situations and some scenes, specially the one when Samantha explains why she's not married are quite stamped on my head because they made the story more rich somehow. You know, sometimes little details can make a whole book look better.
I really liked this one. I'm not so sure about the next one's blurb, but let's see..I'll be reading it next month.
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