Courtney Milan is my jam; she does things with romance novels that I've never seen before. She brings in mental and physical disabilities, racial diversity, stories that make perfect sense in the time period but are still filled with ass-kicking women. I'm super excited for her to start a new series, because I loved her last one.
This book was awesome, although... I don't know, a little dark? She's lost her family money and is trying to raise all her younger siblings on a shoestring budget from the work she does. He's always loved her, but he's also the guy who is responsible for her father's conviction, so she can't stand him. He also has some kind of unspecified disordered thinking, which he doesn't want anyone to know about. He counts to calm himself down, he needs things ordered just-so.
It's a lovely story, but a couple of things didn't quite work for me. They have some witty banter that didn't feel witty, it felt oddly forced. Every time it popped up again I rolled my eyes just a little. And there's a bit at the end, which is obviously setting up the next book, but it made me so saaaaaad. It hit a very personal fear of mine and I found myself flipping pages unhappily, because I didn't want it to get worse, and then it did.
I love CM because she makes her books feel realistic and grounded in reality, even when they are fluffy romance. But this one had just a tiny bit too much "the real world sucks, even if you're in love" for it to be pure escapism for me.
Grade: B
2015
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