Rating 3.5

Ellie is in desperate need of a husband to ward off the pursuit of the man who has claimed her father’s title and to provide for both her and her mother. Having turned down her pursuer on multiple occasions, the man now withholds finances she and her mother need to survive. An invitation from her mother’s friend gives Ellie one last season in London, and one last chance to escape.

Roswell dislikes most people, and his mother’s temporary ward for the season is no exception. But as he comes to know Ellie, he finds himself more and more attracted to her and willing to help her find a match. He’s just not sure he wants that match to be with anyone but him.

This was a difficult one for me. I liked the idea of the overall plot and enjoyed Ellie’s character. Roswell was hard to like in the beginning, which was intentional, but I felt his sourness went on a little too long, or perhaps his inner dialogue wasn’t explored enough to help me like him. He only starts being kind to Ellie when he learns she possesses a dowry, which irked me through the book. By the end, he proclaims he loves her even if she is never able to claim that dowry, but by that point I’d been irritated with his attitude for too long. The story did get better toward the end, but I found the writing made it difficult for me to make an emotional connection with the characters. It reads a little stiff for me personally, but I would still give the other books in this series a chance.