Generally speaking, this book is your standard romantic drama. Lady Jeanette Rose Brandtford, daughter of an earl and twin to the now Duchess of Raeburn, Violet, has been sent off to visit her eccentric cousins in Ireland after causing quite a scandal in London by doing the old twin switch-a-roo at her wedding to the Duke of Raeburn. Apparently Jeanette was in love with another guy, Toddy, and so thought they would marry. I think all this back story may be in another of Tracy Anne Warren's books, but I haven't checked. It seems the perfect topic for a book. Anyhoo, Jeanette has a chance meeting with a guy named Darragh O'Brien, and then finds out he is the architect for the renovations on her cousins' estate. She does not know that he is also the Earl of Mulholland, and so when sparks fly between them, she is convinced there is no future for them. They have quite the little battle going on about what time the renovation work begins in the morning. Jeanette is used to London hours and so wakes late, but manual labor on the house must begin with the sun. Her antics are childish, but still funny.
The rest of the story is what you would expect - them ending up married. However, along the way, there is some very real heartache, and pride keeps these two persons from a happy marriage. There are times I really thought that they wouldn't make it, despite the fact that this is a romance and so must have a happy ending. Their story definitely promotes humility and full honesty in a relationship.
Rated R for sexuality. Most of the book is fairly tame - lots of kissing - but then about 3/4 of the way through the book, things get more intense between them. I give the book 3 stars because the plot moved a little slow throughout most of the book, and then wrapped up like lightening. The book also did not have an epilogue, so we did not have an opportunity to see the felicitous couple after they settled into life. Perhaps that is because there is another book, The Wedding Trap, after it that tells the story of Eliza Hammond, Violet's close friend and companion. Regardless, I would have liked to see either a slower, more developed conclusion to this story, or an epilogue.
