Will they be able to reach all their goals without loosing themselves on the way ...

It was with much anticipation that I read this morning the related novella and soon after this upcoming novel.

But at a time it seems there is a discrepancy in the dates between the prequel and the novel, like the six months in the heroine’s mourning period in the novella and which change to three in the novel, but also in the starred couple’s characters.

The main protagonists offer both a different facade to the world in the opening scene, Christian is presented a cold fish, upset at his late brother’s antics and profligate spending, while he had a charming and caring persona when he meets people in need in the novella. He even turns his back to his sibling’s widows, upset at being one more time caught in his brother’s games.

So used to his late half-sibling turpitudes, he can not imagine others could have been abused like it was his case. To him, who navigated in the same muddy water, deserved whatever they got.

Why the change of character was unexpected if I had not read the novella.

Same is to be said about Katherine, she appears as a sweet woman quite sad for her husband passing even if she was not in love with him. In some way, she also much appreciated that even out of the picture she could use his name, as respectable as it was. Still when she learns they are three sharing the same patronym, she could have been angry, furious. She is just upset, because for the business woman she is, it unsettles her plans and jeopardizes her work to gain a crown license for her linen bedding affair.

And after her companion convinces her to lend a hand to those women in dire circumstances, like hers, they simply begin a new friendship. No rant about the unfaithful fellow, nor jealousy, nor ire for having been cheated of their money and having their reputation ruined ...

So as they quickly reversed to their empathizing personality, their relationship swiftly move to one of attraction and chemistry. Each helping the other, all the while lusting after one another.

Theirs is a cute second chance romance with a very modern woman for her era and a very progressivist hero.

The big heroine’s secret is quite deceiving, why it is so easily resolved, when her circumstances as one of the wives of a polygamist is much more scandalous than her birth circumstances and her “tainted” past. Yet, it seems to upset Katherine less than her “shameful” history.

It is a story with many many leads to follow, between the three women, their future suitors, the late brother’s will and his game plus the many “deliveries” result of his investments, the heroine’s quest and the hero’s many plans.

A little messy with all those paths to follow, yet I am curious about the next two stories.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Steam level : onscreen detailed lovemaking scenes.

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher St Martin’s Paperbacks, here is my true and unbiased opinion.