As the daughter of a famed author, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight grew up on tales of brave knights and fair maidens. She never doubted romance would be in her future, too. The storybooks offered endless possibilities.
And as she grew older, Izzy crossed them off. One by one by one.
Ugly duckling turned swan?
Abducted by handsome highwayman?
Rescued from drudgery by a charming prince?
No, no, and… Heh.
Now Izzy’s given up yearning for romance. She’ll settle for a roof over her head. What fairy tales are left over for an impoverished twenty-six year-old woman who’s never even been kissed?
This one.
Izzy is practically homeless and about to be hopeless as well when she finds out that she’s inherited something from a friend of her father’s. When she arrives in Northumberland she finds that what she’s inherited is a decrepit castle but unfortunately the previous owner is still living in it.
Izzy is frustrated by Ransom, the Duke of Rothbury but no more than he is with her. He tries just about everything to get her out of his house as he’s sure she’s off her rocker. He DID NOT sell his castle! Unfortunately the papers she has say otherwise and she’s not about to go anywhere. He finally decides to hire Izzy to be his secretary, at an exorbitant daily rate of pay, to go through his hundreds of pieces of mail that have piled up since he was blinded in a duel.He has to find out what’s going on and figures that there must be something in the stack.
Izzy is happy for any excuse to stay in the castle and making the money only gives her coin to fix the castle up to its former glory. Again, Ransom gets in the way. He’s so grouchy! Despite that Izzy starts to like the man and soon is falling in love with him.
As much as Ransom doesn’t want Izzy to claim the castle he really wants to claim her. She’s fun and vivacious; she’s charming and kind; she’s caring and thoughtful – what’s not to like. He also wants to get her into his bed but that’s like a cherry on top. Ransom may say he wants her gone but in reality he’ll do almost anything to get her to stay in his life forever.
OMG what a great book! I loved this one so very much. I’m not sure why I love blind or deaf characters in romances so much but I think it has to do with how the authors have to work that much harder at their romance and it usually pays off big time – as it did in this book.
Ransom is a ornery SOB but after hearing about his childhood I have no doubt that’s how he thinks everyone should be. He was treated horribly so when Izzy comes in and starts showing him affection and caring he’s not sure he likes it but soon craves it like nothing else. The things that annoy him about her soon are things he can’t live without. He’s falling fast for her but there are obstacles. Like – his solicitors trying to prove that he’s crazy or the troupe of role playing characters that seem to follow Izzy, and the ermine that seems to like to chomp on his fingers.
It’s all so very nuts but the book is written in a way that the nuttiness is appreciated and it makes the book that much better. Dare took a simple pair of characters and made them amazing. She took a simple meeting of two people and made it into a wonderful love story. I can’t say enough good things about this romance, that’s for sure. Do yourself a favor and read it – you won’t be disappointed.
Rating: 5 out of 5
This one sounds good! I'll give it a try and hopefully, will enjoy it as much as you did!
So. Good. lol
Sounds great, thanks for the review!
Tracy: I'm really looking forward to this one.
I agree with everything you said. This was such a good book.
ELF and Sidney – Hope you like it.
Rowena – Wasn't it awesome? I just adored it.