Verity always tried to keep the family estate in the family, because her high-functioning autistic sister couldn’t handle the change of relocating, and her mother wouldn’t allow it.
Living in constant fear over her mother’s threat to send her sister to an asylum, when her father dies and sends the estate into the hands of a stranger, she decides that she must marry him to save her sister.
However, he is a rake who wants nothing to do with his new property, or the girl whose determined to marry him.
I don’t think I’m going to leave a star rating for this story– personally, it would probably end up somewhere around a three-star for me, but I think it’s really a case-by-case situation. Refer to the review and content rated below.
Honestly, this book made me feel very sad at times. It’s really difficult for me to read about how poorly people with autism were treated in the past, and the emotional and verbal abuse that the character in this was subjected to. The whole idea of her mother trying to send her sister to an asylum… that was absolutely horrid, and I don’t even have words to express the angry emojis that were going through my head at that character.
Our main characters were pretty interesting. I felt like Verity’s motivation was very clear, and that made it so I understood where she was going throughout the story. The main guy, Daniel, was definitely a rake, or at least he had been prior to the events of this book. I thought that added an extra layer of depth to his personality. While some of his ideas and views on things really seemed more like what a modern person might say, I did like how he learned to not be judgmental of others.
The romance was kind of interesting. I liked how they were pretty open to each other the whole story, because I could have seen them each harboring a lot of secrets, and I was glad we didn’t do that. There were a few scenes that felt a little… awkward, for my taste, but nothing too awful.
Also, I thought the sister relationship was really well-written, and felt pretty realistic, which I wasn’t expecting. I liked the dedication that Verity showed toward her sister, and I was actually really happy with the way that they stuck together, no matter what. (Growing up with a great sister, I absolutely despise it when books are always depicting mean or petty sister relationships.)
Overall, I thought there were definitely some enjoyable parts, and I’m excited to read more books by this author in the future. However, because of some of the topics that were major elements of the story, this one wasn’t a favorite of mine, and I would definitely put some trigger warnings (no disrespect to the author, because I totally understand why she put this in the book, but I still feel like I should make a note of it).
The autistic character in this book is constantly in danger of being sent to an asylum, and I do have some other notes, but I’m not going to include them here, because there are some spoilers, but that whole element was just really hard for me to see in this story. I really couldn’t find myself relaxing while reading it, because I was so worried about where we were going with things. Honestly, it was a roller coaster of worry and not being sure what was going to happen with these characters.
This book really made me think about what life would have been like for someone with autism in the past, and it made me very grateful for the fact that things have improved. It was upsetting to read in parts, but I also believe it’s important to remember what happened to people in the past so we can make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
Honestly, I think it must have been very hard for the author to write this book, but I’m glad she did. It brought a new element into the historical fiction realm, which I appreciated.
This regency romance is available to read on Kindle Unlimited (at the time of publishing this review), so go ahead and check it out there, request a copy for your local library, or purchase it through your favorite book retailer. I would definitely be interested in reading more books by this author– although the romance content for this book was a little stronger than my personal taste. However, the obvious love between sisters really made this story for me. Besides, I’m always a sucker for a clean regency. 😉
EMOJI REVIEW!
- 🩷 sweet romance interspersed with harder topics
- 🃏 reformed gambler/bad boy
- 🎩 takes place in the regency era
- 👒👒 great sister relationship
- 😨 an autistic person who might be sent to an asylum?!
- 📱available on kindle unlimited
Well, I think that’s all I’ve got to say about this book. While I enjoyed parts, I think that the harder topics were difficult to read about, because I’m a very sensitive reader. If this book seems like a good fit for you despite the trigger warnings, please check it out!!!
What’s your favorite clean regency read?
keira anne with an e 
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