A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

This book is a lot shorter than what I usually read. On my Kindle it says 187 pages. But I think it is an ok length for the story, since the story has a straight forward plotline and few complications.

The story is rather charming, featuring a sweet hero and a slighly uppity heroine. Wes the hero is very much a gentleman with imppecable manners, considering the circumstances. It is impossible not to like him. He is kind, generous, considerate, smart, strong, protective, and oh, secretly rich. In a nutshell: he does not exist. I mean.......maybe I am too cynical, I wish with all my poor jaded heart that there are men like this, but I honestly doubt it. Did I mention that : he is a virgin too ??

OK sorry for that spoiler. I don't think it matters much. This is not exactly a book that is full of suspense.

Allison was supposed to come from a well to do family. I say "supposed" because there is no information on her family background, which is ok. I also do not want to spend time reading about her fancy life in Boston, which has nothing to do with the main story. The readers are supposed to glean that piece of information from the descriptions themselves and I did that. She did appear a bit spoiled in the beginning and did not treat Wes too well. But Allison quickly amended her mistakes when she realized that Wes was actually trying to help her. So no stupid ego struggles, the world heaved a collective sigh.

The romance is a very light-hearted one, typical of a princess being thrown into the hardships of army life. Expect cliches: not be able to cook, sew, or even make coffee. And the wonderful Wes was there to buy just everything she needed, how considerate.

The book has a weak villain, Allison's betrothed, who came into the story late. This was after Wes and Allison have had their "almost sex" and were fighting about why Allison could not stay married to Wes and turn their fake marriage into a real one. They both proclaimed love, which was sweet and all. I cannot help but feel that it was rushed.

Ms. Gordon writes a little funny sometimes. I have had to re-read a few paragraphs and sentences to figure out who said exactly what when. It became a little confusing sometimes and I wanted to say to Ms. Gordon: perhaps it would be wise to re-read what you just wrote and see whether that made sense? It sure as hell did not make sense to me.

I do think it is a sweet and charming story. Wes definitely outshines Allison because he is so perfect. The romance is sweet. The plotline is reasonable. I cannot give it more than 3 stars because I feel this is one of those books written for people who are more comfortable when love and relationship are about saying "i love you". And as long as we love each other things must be alright. There is nothing wrong with it. I however, look for more fundemental quests for love. Love brings happiness and desperation. It is beautiful and ugly. A good romance story for me, would be one that explores love from both extremes. It makes you smile, makes you cry, makes you long for something you cannot have and makes you abandon the one thing that you want most to survive. This book by Rose Gordon has all the fluff but not the substance, by my standard. While I do grin like an idiot reading about how wonderful Wes is, at the end of the book I am left with an emptiness that I cannot define.

For whom it may concern: the intimate scenes came at the end of the book, which I completely skipped after reading half a page. I thought it was rather unnecessary to add sex. My impression was that Ms. Gordon wanted to have sex in the book, which is rather redundant. Sex scenes are not a must for romance stories. If they do not serve the function to build up the story, why have them at all? Just my 2 cents. lol