A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

I think it is safe to say that I like Lorraine Heath's style. This book features her signature writing style and one of those twists that she does well. I think she likes to hide surprises for her readers. And I have not been so surprised by a book in a long while.

I think that is enough hint about what happened in the book. If I said anymore it would spoil the surprise. I was floored when I realized what was actually happening. Most definitely did not see that coming.

This book is about James Swindler, whose name has been said to be "rather unfortunate" by Luke's wife Catherine from book 1. An inspector from Scotland Yard, he was called upon to watch the comings and goings of Eleanor, whose sister Elizabeth commited suicide after her disastrous experience in the ton. An evil marquess put Elizabeth through hell and Eleanor had come to London to avenge her sister.

James watched Eleanor in secret but somehow decided that it would serve his purpose better had they become acquainted with each other, which they did. They fell in love with each other and one night Eleanor asked James to spend the night with her. We all know what happened but the next day hell broke loose.

I like both characters well enough but this book was not as heartbreaking as I wanted it to be. lol James was honest about his feelings and quickly decided that Eleanor was THE ONE. He was all prepared to propose around 40% into the book. The rest of the book was about how to solve the mystery and get the woman he loved safely out of the mess. All the previous characters made a return in this story. As usual, I enjoyed reading about Luke and Catherine best.

This was a romantic mystery kind of story with a heavy emphasis on mystery. Both lead characters were equally in love with each other and wanted to be with each other. I regret to say that I have troule picturing James. I am not certain about who he was, unlike Luke or Jack, whose characters were more defined. James seemed a little wishy-washy to me. Somehow this book is less "heated" than other books. I don't know whether that was me, or it was the book. 2 people so in love and both wanted to be together, where is the struggle?

I recommend this book to readers who want an easy and comforting read with reasonable characters who fall in love early in the book.