Oh God. This book was mostly fabulous. The wit and charm of A Week to be Wicked was very evident in this book and Dare ties together two of her series with the sister of Minerva from AWTBW and the brother from Say Yes to the Marquess. But then. There is the Incident. About three quarters of the way through the book. I hated it. Other readers may, may find it charming but I found it out of character for Piers. And I didn't think that the description of trying to figure out "who did whom in the library" really came through in this book. Loved the characters. Loved the plot (mostly) and I think regular Dare readers will feel the same.Charlotte Highwood is the youngest of three sisters whose mother was desperate to marry them off. One of her sisters married a viscount amid great scandal and her other sister married a blacksmith. Charlotte has seen from both that the true measure of a marriage isn't from how much a woman can get, but how much she can be loved. Which is why she's so vexed that she's caught alone in the library with Lord Granville, especially since she was trying to warn him about her mother's matchmaking.
For his part, Piers is instantly captivated. Yes, he's supposed to be at this house party to discover whether his host is fit for a government position but Charlotte is more important. How can he win her to be his own when she's so obsessed with finding the lovers and thus freeing herself of their engagement?
I wish we had seen the bratty Frances get her comeuppance (or will we discover in future books that she was just protecting her sister, Delia?) and I'm hoping that we also get to see Delia, Charlotte's best friend, find true love.
Four stars
This book comes out September 27
