4.0 out of 5 stars
Never Judge a Book by its Cover
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 16 November 2014
What a delightful little novella. This is the third book I've read by this author--although it's the first novella. The first two books were
McAlistair's Fortune
and
Tempting Fate
, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. This novella was just as enjoyable. Ms. Johnson's superior talent for weaving a story shines through in this endeavor. It's a story about a super organized, disciplined, and regimented hero and his delightfully unpredictable lady love. The characters of Patience and William are so artfully created that they seemed to come alive within the pages of the book!
William Renwick, the second son of a second son, had no plans to inherit his family's earldom...and William, an ex-military man, usually has a plan for EVERYTHING! LOL Now that he is the new Earl of Casslebury, William is determined to do his duty by his title and sire himself an heir. In order to do that, of course, he must first find himself a wife. William has set his sights on one Miss Caroline Meldrin, who seems to fulfill all his requirements. Foremost on William's list is a lady who will bring laughter and light into his otherwise staid and regimented existence. In William's estimation, Ms. Meldrin fulfills all his requirements and then some, while her close friend and confident, Ms. Patience Byerly, does not.
William's initial impression of Patience is that she is a somewhat severe looking creature, who is demure, rather plain, and disapproving. She also seems remarkably efficient, and the last thing William needs in his life, is more efficiency. LOL All this changes when William inadvertently witnesses Patience performing a most outlandish and remarkable feat; one which forced him to reconsider his first impression of Patience. For as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover.
William is so fascinated by what he saw that he finds his plan going off course when he begins to spend time with Patience, instead of his matrimonial target. Very quickly, William realizes that Patience is not at all what he thought. Instead she is outgoing, bubbly, warm, full of laughter, and has a wonderful zest for life. William finds himself captivated by Patience and very quickly his plan to court Caroline is supplanted by a new plan to court Patience.
However, as William will soon discover to his utter frustration, any plan involving Patience, must make allowances for unpredictable occurrences. LOL But, even while he is utterly bewildered by the Patience's chaotic existence, he is completely charmed by her. However, before the couple can achieve their HEA, Patience must trust William with the truth of her father's condition; a condition which she is sure will be the doom of her hopes for a happy future.
The story that unfolds is sweet, and romantic, and has lot of instances of gentle humor. I must say that one thing I have noticed about Ms. Johnson's writing, and that is that she is a master at employing humor in her romance novels. This is a wonderful story and one that I highly recommend. FYI, I would say that this is technically a clean romance. There is one love scene, but no explicit details are given--they are merely hinted at--and no crude language is used. Happy reading!
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