Reviewer: Tracy A Heart Too Proud by Laura London
Publisher: Forever Yours
Publication Date: April 1st 2014
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
Country bred and city green, Elizabeth Cordell lives a quiet life with her sisters in a humble cottage in Kent. But upon the death of their kindly guardian, the orphaned girl discovers that her happy home is now the property of a surprising new owner: the notorious Lord Nicholas Dearborne...
Devilishly rich, diabolically handsome - and rumoured to be a despicable cad - Dearborne arrives in a grand carriage with a wicked woman and a wanton smirk. Elizabeth can't help but be flattered by Dearborne's bold flirtations, and can't refuse his offer to stay as a companion to his young ward. But how long can she resist his masterful seductions - when she craves his kiss as much as he craves hers?
Elizabeth and her younger twin sisters have been cared for for the past 11 years by their deceased father’s employer. After their parents died was kind he supplied them with an income and they lived in a small cottage on his land. Unfortunately he died and their future was uncertain. That was eight months ago. Now the new heir and owner, who is a distant cousin, has come to take up residence for a time. He also brings his ward who is actually his nephew.
Elizabeth and her sisters become great friends with Christopher but Elizabeth can’t seem to get her mind off of his uncle, Lord Dearborne. Strange things start happening around the house when Dearborne takes up residence and Elizabeth is more than intrigued. Unfortunately she doesn’t quite know when to leave off finding an adventure and eventually the bad guy who were in the shadows come in to the light and Elizabeth gets caught up in it all.
This is my first book by Laura London and it was cute. I have to say that I really liked the writing style and the story was very sweet. Sadly the love story left me more than wanting.
Elizabeth may be the granddaughter of a Duke but she was born and raised in the county. She is a country girl through and through and is sweetly innocent. Here comes the rake, Nicky Dearborne, and she’s a bit bowled over. I can totally see how that would happen as he’s cool, aloof and handsome. Elizabeth spends the majority of the book with Christopher, the nephew, and her sisters with a few adventures on the side and a few interactions with Nicky but nothing too earth shattering. Ok, maybe it was earth shattering for Elizabeth as she’s so extremely innocent but in the scheme of things? Not so much.
The couple spends the majority of the book apart with Elizabeth believing that Nicky hates her. He does nothing to clear this up and frankly I couldn’t quite see how they could fall in love when they barely knew each other. Besides that, their personalities were so polar opposite that I couldn’t truly see the relationship working for the long haul. I saw Nicky getting bored very quickly.
So, while I enjoyed reading the book, and again, really liked the writing style and the characters, I didn’t care for the romance. This is a romance novel so not caring of romance is kind of a problem for me.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5