Amanda Mariel has created an extremely likeable pair of protagonists in Hunter and Rose, an honourable Earl and a young seamstress being blackmailed into marriage by a man she despises. Hunter's wrestling with himself, trying to deny his growing attraction to and fondness for Rose, was particularly well-written and believable. He's definitely the kind of hero I'd love to see more of in Regency romances; I'm not fond of the Reformed Rake trope and Hunter was about as far from that as it is possible to get. I felt that the villain, Wolfe, was perhaps a little too much of a caricature, but he certainly added a believable element of urgency to the narrative. The book is well-written with a minimum of errors. I would describe it as a 'sweet' romance; there is no hint of sex, even with the villain attempting to abduct Rose to a forced marriage, which seemed odd. I'd have thought it highly likely that a villain such as Wolfe would have sought to ruin Rose at the earliest opportunity, to maker her acquiescence to the marriage that much more likely. In addition, I did find it a little bit of a stretch that an Earl would marry his sister's seamstress without even considering a solution other than marriage (and the consequent damage to his family name) first, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story.
Four stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through Reader’s Favorite.