


But as Sophia is traveling to the estate, the bridge over the river collapses, dunking her in it. He invites her to a Christmas house party at his estate in Yorkshire, ostensibly to keep Camille and Keating (see Taming an Impossible Rogue) company. Tired of being ribbed by his peers about his by-blow’s occupation, he’s arranged for her to marry an alarmingly pious vicar in Cornwall if Sophia doesn’t agree, he will use his power to destroy the Tantalus Club and everyone Sophia cares about.Īdam Baswich, Duke of Greaves, unwittingly provides Sophia with an opportunity for one last hurrah before her sentencing. This was going along well for her until her father randomly chose to care about her existence again - not to acknowledge her, but to threaten her. Raised in obscurity, Sophia eventually finds a comfortable place at the Tantalus Club (a gentlemen’s club owned by a woman and staffed entirely by ladies, if you haven’t read the earlier books in the series or my reviews of them) - and she appears in both of the previous books in the series as a supporting character. Sophia White is the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Hennessey, sired on his wife’s maid. Of course, the reason she can get away with being all of these things is because she lives a life outside the bounds of the good ton. Sophia is exactly the sort of heroine I have been yearning for: cheerfully independent, even in the face of difficulties not a virgin and not ashamed about it knows what she wants sexually and isn’t afraid of her passions good-natured and forgiving but not a pushover decisive and undeterred from pursuing what she wants out of life. I tore through this in about 24 hours because I just couldn’t stand to be parted from it. Well, this is one of the best historical romances I’ve read in a long time. I really mean that.
