Lady Francesca Bellings has been madly in love with her older brother’s best friend for as long as she can remember and, of course, the object of her affection never considered her much more than an annoyance in braids. But while Thomas Wallingham was off fighting Napoleon, she grew up. Now her life is moving along in all the expected directions of a well-bred lady of the ton, but a chance encounter with her first love throws everything into turmoil.
From a young age, Thomas Wallingham escapes the crushing apathy of his own parents by spending as much time as possible with his best friend’s family. In order to avoid a messy scandal, he enlists in service of the Crown, disappointing his adopted family by going off to war. When he unexpectedly inherits a title, the new Earl of Harrington returns to London desperately hoping five years of estrangement can be forgiven. All his plans are cast asunder when he rediscovers Francesca. Thomas finds that he can think of little else than the willowy flame haired beauty.
After a heated encounter and giddy with romantic feelings, Thomas plans to ask for her hand in marriage but is devastated when a nearly hysterical Francesca tells him she is already engaged to be wed to the Marquess of Dalton in less than two weeks. Loving him more than she ever thought possible, Francesca is terrified of repeating a scandal that nearly destroyed her family. But if she thinks that Thomas is going to go away quietly, she is sadly mistaken. Endeavoring to be in her presence as much as possible, Thomas chips away at her resolve to honor her family and her commitments, and they find it nearly impossible to keep their hands off each other even as her wedding date draws devastatingly nearer.
The problem of a fiancé who won’t disappear is compounded by the discouraging fact that Thomas comes to discover the man is not the evil, lecherous brute he’d imagined, rather a great fellow he comes to genuinely like and respect. But just as soon as Thomas can finally see a clear path to all he desires, the wrath of his best friend, Francesca’s brother, crashes down on them. As the date of the wedding draws menacingly closer, it’s only by the machinations of unexpected parties that clear the way for Thomas and Francesca to be together. But even then, it will only work if Thomas can overcome the diminished self-worth beaten into him by his father, and Francesca can accept the actions of a man who loves her - even if he can’t say the words.
From a young age, Thomas Wallingham escapes the crushing apathy of his own parents by spending as much time as possible with his best friend’s family. In order to avoid a messy scandal, he enlists in service of the Crown, disappointing his adopted family by going off to war. When he unexpectedly inherits a title, the new Earl of Harrington returns to London desperately hoping five years of estrangement can be forgiven. All his plans are cast asunder when he rediscovers Francesca. Thomas finds that he can think of little else than the willowy flame haired beauty.
After a heated encounter and giddy with romantic feelings, Thomas plans to ask for her hand in marriage but is devastated when a nearly hysterical Francesca tells him she is already engaged to be wed to the Marquess of Dalton in less than two weeks. Loving him more than she ever thought possible, Francesca is terrified of repeating a scandal that nearly destroyed her family. But if she thinks that Thomas is going to go away quietly, she is sadly mistaken. Endeavoring to be in her presence as much as possible, Thomas chips away at her resolve to honor her family and her commitments, and they find it nearly impossible to keep their hands off each other even as her wedding date draws devastatingly nearer.
The problem of a fiancé who won’t disappear is compounded by the discouraging fact that Thomas comes to discover the man is not the evil, lecherous brute he’d imagined, rather a great fellow he comes to genuinely like and respect. But just as soon as Thomas can finally see a clear path to all he desires, the wrath of his best friend, Francesca’s brother, crashes down on them. As the date of the wedding draws menacingly closer, it’s only by the machinations of unexpected parties that clear the way for Thomas and Francesca to be together. But even then, it will only work if Thomas can overcome the diminished self-worth beaten into him by his father, and Francesca can accept the actions of a man who loves her - even if he can’t say the words.
Amylynn Bright was reading well before kindergarten and has had a book in her hands ever since. In fact, she once swallowed a bug while walking home from school because she was too busy reading.
The natural progression from reading to writing began with the completion of her first novel, The Lonely Crayon, in the third grade. A poignant character drama of the white crayon, it won first place in a school competition. With novel-writing firmly in her grasp, she evolved to writing screen plays to entertain her girl-scout troop, and advanced to a soap-opera worthy drama in high school.
Amylynn was sure that her masterful theatrical skills would translate into a Hollywood career, so she entered film school and wrote several screen plays which are safely tucked away where no one will ever see them until she’s dead. She also enjoyed writing murder mystery scripts for a theater company, but was somehow unfulfilled when the characters constantly ended up dead.
She’s dabbled in horror (the endings are happy but gory), poetry (for about twenty minutes on a particularly angst-filled day in her teens), suspense (much too difficult), children’s books and, laughably, music lyrics.
One day, a dear friend handed Amylynn a romance novel and told her to read it. The literary snob in her rebelled, but thanks to an exceptionally long stop light, she picked it up and angels sang. Thanks to Julia Quinn, Amylynn fell in love, so to speak, with romance. She has read approximately 564,493 romance novels since that fated stop light moment and figured she’d give romance writing a go.
….And they all lived happily ever after
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My Review:
This was an interesting book about the past catching up with you. I like that the war was symbolic of the war going on in Francesca's head. I also liked that she thought she was keeping her secrets from Thomas, however he knew more than she thought. I also liked that they were each other's crushes for the past. I liked the ending and I would love to read other books by this author. As the wedding day grew closer it was harder and harder for me to stop reading. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy by the author to review, however all opinions are my own.
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