With her options dwindling and time running out, Darcie must rely on her instincts as she confronts the man she falling in love with. Is he an innocent and misunderstood man ... or a remorseless killer who prowls the East End streets?
Comment: This book had been in the pile for some time. Recently (meaning, months) I saw it was a freebie on some online retailers and I took the opportunity to finally get it.
In this book we meet Darcie Finch, a poor woman, down on her luck, who is about to let go of her pride and do whatever necessary to get food but at the final chance, her sister sends her to a doctor to become a maid in his house. She accidentally meets him on her way to his house to seek employment, though, and there is something about him that is very mysterious. Still, she talks to him and starts working in his house but between the weird things about his work as a doctor and Darcie's growing feelings for him, he discovers her talent as an artist and that is the beginning of a new path for Darcie...
Sometimes blurbs are perfect summaries of the premise of a book. Sometimes they aren't and some other times they are even deceiving. I can't understand why some are well done and others are not, it's one of those mysteries but when it comes to this book, when I read the expressions "penniless and alone, Darcie Finch is forced to accept a position that no one else dares" I immediately imagined a romance where the heroine would face some adversity but finally be"rewarded" with the eternal love of a man feared by some but who would be perfect for her.
The premise and the blur led me to imagine a story where the differences between them would be more obvious. Yes, I also read the gothic descriptions part but I didn't consider it to be such an important item. Sadly, I wanted more of the romance and less of the gothic...
I wouldn't go as far to say the blurb is deceiving n this case; I do think there are far worse examples of this. However, I did expect something slightly different and I slowly lost hope I'd have the elements I looked for. This is not a bad story and the gothic details were well incorporated overall but.. everything relies a little too much on certain details and not on a plot that makes sense all the time. I can understand why the author chose to hide some things, or to let them not be too obvious for the reader but at the same time that was annoying and when we are revealed some truths or explanations, it feels... meh. Not as huge as we are led to believe. (Especially from a behavior POV).
The romance is a let down as well, for me.
Darcie is a sweet heroine, very strong and she becomes more and more amazing as the plot moves along but despite this being a third person narrator, the POV is always on her alone and her steps and not in the couple. I found that the choice to "hide" doctor Cole's thoughts was understandable but limitative and so much was lost, I'd say, in terms of character development, because if we only have the focus on her, he always feels as an "under done" character.
In the end, they get together but it just doesn't seem as romantic as it could but yes, I was glad they found common ground somehow even if not that in an obvious way.
The plot has some situations depicted which I think were well led. The author did a good job in letting us follow some clues towards a certain destination but the final effect is that for such a huge amount of secrecy and wrong clues, the outcome isn't that amazing...
All in all, this had enough elements to be a god story and some things do work out well. From a purely romantic POV, I did like how the end happened, especially in relation to secondary characters. The main couple, of course finds happiness but apart from that, my impressions don't go past average so I doubt I'll read more in this series...
Grade: 6/10
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