Alison Robinson
DNF at 56%. Nate, Viscount Fotherby, thought he was saving his best friend, Lord Merton, from a gold-digging, scheming, fortune-hunter, aided and abetted by an ill-wisher, when he kidnapped Dorie Stern. Unfortunately he almost ruined Dorie's reputation and interfered in a love match. Forced to leave town and rusticate at his family's estate he has since come to see the error of his ways in almost every respect. Formerly a tory he now advocates reform, formerly an absentee landlord he has now become involved in all aspects of his tenants' lives. Assisting a local landowner to find a missing young woman in London he is of assistance to a young lady of quality, who turns out to be Dorie's younger sister Henrietta Stern. Instantly captivated Nate schemes as to how he can effect an introduction to Henrietta given that her family must loath the very sound of his name. It is Henrietta's second season, last year none of the young bucks took her fancy, this year there are three: Viscount Fotherby, Lord St Alban, and Lord Bolingbroke. VIscount Fotherby shares her taste for rescuing women and children but would her family ever contemplate forgiving him for his past transgressions? This is only the third book in the series (although I suspect it is a spinoff from another series) but already appears to be laden with back story references. It feels like at least six of Henrietta's friends have just got married/are pregnant/have just given birth and we as the reader are given the story of each romance. I'm over halfway through the book and very little seems to have happened, just one soiree/walk/visit/ride after another with nothing much decided. I have enjoyed Ella Quinn's books previously but this one missed the mark for me. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.