I had a massive fit of the giggles during the opening scenes of this Victorian-era romance. The heroine Emma’s younger sister, Lily, is addicted to a series of penny dreadful novels and convinced she is constantly on the verge of stumbling upon a major crime. Invading the house across the street to investigate the ‘murder’ Lily thinks she witnessed, she manages to accidentally involve herself and our poor heroine in an actual crime when they end up knocking out a gentleman and Lily steals his signet ring.
Emma spends a considerable part of the book trying to react to Lily’s tendency to drag her into trouble, and managed to thoroughly endear herself to me at the same time. I thought she was adorable with her fiercely protective nature, and not surprised in the least that Simon fell for her. Of course, there are lots of shenanigans, not least when Simon’s former mistress (who Lily thought she saw Simon murder - you can probably guess what they were up to) arrives back in the picture at a very delicate moment.
This was a light, charming, thoroughly enjoyable read. Despite the humour, there was plenty of deep character building for the two leads and I finished the book very much believing they were an excellent match for each other. Fun and a bit different from the run of the mill historical, I’m giving this one five stars.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.