Lord Felix Brightman is certain that no one can see through his clever disguise as a stable hand. How else could he, the Earl of Enderley, accurately gauge the management of his Cornwall estate? But a pretty—and surprisingly pert—maiden sees through his façade instantly. So he offers Alice a deal: if she helps him out, he’ll do everything he can to help her realize her dream…
Yet attraction simmers in the air between them, and it’s not long before Alice and Felix find themselves tempted to compromise any notions of propriety. After all, lust leads to disaster. Marriage is out of the question. And Alice is determined that nothing shall stop her from pursuing her passions…even if the road to London—and certain success—could lead to certain ruin.
On the whole, this was a cute read, but unfortunately also a very forgettable one. Nothing about it was actively bad, yet very little stood out enough to linger once I turned the final page.
Honestly, it’s never a great sign for a romance when I find myself far more invested in the secondary characters than the main couple. In this case, the perfumer Madame Clémence and the broken-hearted Duke of Tynemore (one of Felix’s closest friends) completely stole the show for me. They were the only characters willing to speak honestly and call out the main pair for all of the ridiculous ways they were behaving. In fact, I would much rather read an entire book about either of them finding love (and not necessarily with each other) than revisit Alice and Felix’s story again.
Now don't get me wrong, the banter between Alice and Felix could be cute at times, and I can absolutely see what the author was going for. The problem is that I never truly believed their friends-with-benefits arrangement evolved into love on either side. We’re told there’s growth, but we rarely get to see it happen. Alice gives no real indication before Felix’s proposal that she wants more from life (marriage, family, or anything beyond her current circumstances, you know all of the things she had told him so often before that she didn't want) so the shift on her end feels just as abrupt as Felix suddenly deciding to propose (and for all the wrong reasons might I add). Felix, meanwhile, spends most of the story insisting he is better off alone and wants no attachments, despite being visibly miserable without her and already deeply attached to his friend Tynemore. The emotional progression just didn’t feel fully earned.
I was also confused by how easily their relationship was accepted by society. No one in the ton seems remotely bothered by an Earl openly escorting a complete “nobody” around London. Yes, the Duke invites them both to his party, but they also attend the opera, Vauxhall, and several other public outings without so much as a whisper of scandal. Considering how reputation-driven Regency society typically is, this felt like a missed opportunity. I would have loved to see gossip play a role, perhaps patrons whispering in the perfume shop where Alice worked, or a coworker overhearing rumors and stirring trouble, especially since said one of her colleagues clearly didn’t care for her.
Another disappointment was how little of a threat the supposed antagonist actually posed. Given the ominous reputation surrounding the former estate manager, I expected something far more dramatic or sinister. Instead, his storyline fizzles out with him essentially running away with his tail tucked between his legs. It felt like a buildup without payoff and a missed chance to add genuine tension to the story.
There were also a few typos scattered throughout that, while they absolutely should have been caught before publication, ended up being unintentionally hilarious. One moment describes a dancing instructor who “propped a head on his head,” and another has Felix asking Alice to “Teach you shat,” which I can only assume was meant to say what. These moments may have pulled me out of the story, but at least they gave me a laugh.
Beyond the typos, there were also a few continuity issues that made me wonder if certain details had simply been forgotten. At one point, Alice visits Bond Street alone after Felix mentions having an appointment. While there, Felix receives a note telling him exactly where she’s gone, yet when he shows up, she’s shocked to see him and asks how he knew to come. He claims he just had a feeling, which makes little sense considering she literally sent word about her whereabouts. Later, Alice urgently needs to return home from London but claims she cannot afford the journey despite having worked for weeks, possibly months, without any real expenses. Naturally, this left me wondering: where exactly did all her money go?
All things considered, I will still pick up future books by this author. For every story of hers that doesn’t quite work for me, there’s another that I genuinely enjoy, so I’m not ready to give up just yet. If anything, I’m far more interested in seeing whether the Duke of Tynemore eventually gets his own happily-ever-after, because honestly, he deserves one far more than anyone else in this book.
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