Win is stunned to learn he stands to inherit a vast fortune. He's even more surprised to find himself falling for the beautiful, spirited Lady Radbourne, who is the one woman who stands in the way of a life he'd only imagined.
When someone tries to poison Lady Radbourne, suspicion falls on Win. There's a clever killer in their midst, and if Win doesn't solve the mystery fast, Lina may perish. He needs to win her trust, but how can he prove it's she he wants, and not the fortune?
Comment: I got this book because I've liked reading another one by the author and I also saw some positive comments about it in some reviews. I was eager to see how it would be like for me.
In this story we have Lina as the main protagonist and one night she is awaken by someone to be informed her husband has fallen from high heights on a dare and was immediately dead. Lina and her younger sister Cassie now must leave their house for Lina and her husbands have no heirs which means the estate will go to the next male of kin, which happens to be a cousin.
However, after a lengthy trip, Winstead and his small daughter and his brother arrive at the apparent new estate he will inherit - hopefully in good enough conditions to help him take care of the estate he already had and left to inherit this one - discover the lady Lina happens to be in a delicate condition, which means they have traveled all this way and now everyone needs to wait to see if the baby is a boy or a girl.
The problem is that Win sees in Lina all the opposite others tell him she must be like and it also seems someone is trying to stop the estate from going to either Win and Lina...
This was a goon enough story and I liked some elements. I liked spending time reading this novel. However, the romance was a bit lacking and that sort of had n impact in how I was able to enjoy the secondary situations.
What I liked best in this novel was the fact both Lina and Win had very good reasons to want to keep the estate. Neither had a stable past in the financial sense which means we have a set of protagonists who not only deserve to have something of their own but are also trying to have stability for the ones they care about.
I thought this premise alone on the situation would be the perfect starting point for a great romance but the truth is that I found it to be very luck warm.
It's always a positive point for me when the characters have some financial difficulty but by good character (if not just hard work) they manage to be worthy of having something extra in their lives. Lina comes from a disgraced mother and she has tried to do what she could to stop her younger sister from poverty.
Win has managed to keep a smaller state which already have problems and now things are dire and Win spent a lot just to travel. We obviously know he will take good care of this inheritance too.
I really wanted to see how this natural need to provide, to take care of others would be the merging element between the main couple but what I didn't count on was how they lacked sexual chemistry.
Now that I've read the story I must say the way the author decided to put the main couple interacting - even if properly adjusted to the time of the story and based on logical behaviors - in a very boring scenario. The scenes they shared just felt... so boring and when they finally give in to some of the attraction they (supposedly) felt, I got the feeling it was badly done and especially Lina's reaction tot he whole thing not in par to what her life and expectations had been to that moment. She reacted in a very non-wise manner. I guess I can understand but it didn't help me liking to see them together.
This book has a mystery going on, someone is trying to stop Lina and Win from being alive to inherit the estate. I confess I had a suspect until a certain point, where I believe the real villain becomes so obvious it's amazing how it wasn't so before. The whys are sort of understandable in the way usually not very sane villains carry their agendas...
The two elements - romance and mystery - should have been a great combination but the mystery always felt "stronger" for me, and more compelling.
All in all, this was a good effort, there are some good elements in general but I wish some situations/details could have been used more (like the main character's personalities, their sense of self and being worthy and also Win's younger brother having what we could say was Asperger's). Still, a good enough historical for when one is debating what to read.
Grade: 6/10
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