My rating: 3/5
Goodreads rating: 4.1/5
Published: February 2nd, 2021
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
Genre: romance, historical romance, fiction, regency romance
Lady Sabrina was pregnant and a victim of abuse when she first encountered Harry Stillman at a party. Her husband, Richard, suddenly died of a heart attack after that and she had a miscarriage too so everything was left to her. A widow with her life and business rosy and flourishing until she met Harry again 6 years later. She found him in an alley beaten badly so she had taken him to her house to be healed. Slowly but surely, their friendship has started to grow the more they see each other but Sabrina has a secret which she does not want anyone to know including Harry.
My first proper romance after so long! And mind you, I've actually enjoyed it very much. I liked the innocence of it with a tinge of sexuality. The flow of the story was simple, not as dramatic yet exciting especially towards the end. I do, however, felt that the prose was a little too 'English' for me as it's long winded at some point with Harry and Sabrina's thoughts go round and round. In a way to elaborate or clarify the situation but it did felt a little too much for me at times. Other than that, it was a prim and proper regency romance novel.
The story itself was quite relatable such as abusive marriages, women empowerment, alcoholics and gamblers. Though it's set in regency era, it's still relevant now hence I can empathise the situation they were in. Also most romance novels nowadays are filled with sex plots to make the chemistry happens but I find that proper ones do too. This novel proves it with both Sabrina and Harry having so much attraction to each other without the usual sex before marriage plots. I liked that the innocence of it has been preserved here.
If you love romance novels, you should give this a try. You may think proper romance a nay in our current era but then wouldn't it be nice for a change to have something different. I do find it refreshing and fits regency era perfectly.
A few notable excerpts:
The door clicked closed behind Molly, and Sabrina moved to the window. It was a quarter moon tonight, the crisp sharpness of the outline making the night look like black ink against bright white paper. Sabrina was grateful for her life, her freedom, and her opportunities, and yet was she happy?
"I believe the only people who cannot change are those who are unwilling to face the pain behind the poor choices they have made. Certainly, there are those people. You, however, are not one of them."
"I managed to find a loophole in the will meant to keep me in. I was widowed without an heir for my husband and nothing he owned was entailed upon a male relative. The fact the he died before he found a way to keep me under someone else's power gave me a freedom very few women will ever know. I will never give up my power again. The very potential of the risk that would be is unacceptable to me. So, yes, I am lonely sometimes, but, no, that loneliness will not drive me to give up my rights to myself ever again."
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