4 Stars from me.

This is book six in the series The Ravenels.

Cassandra Ravenel is feeling a bit lost after her twin’s wedding and she desperately wants a husband of her own who will love her just as much. The super wealthy and powerful Tom Severin took one look at Cassandra and decided she was exactly the thing to bring him out of his current state of boredom.

Tom is a very interesting character. He has many strange quirks and lucky for him his friends accept him just as he is. Cassandra is fascinated by him right from the start, but she wouldn’t accept him as a potential husband, because he himself had said that he can’t give her the love she desires. A scandal threatening her reputation is forcing her to make some hard decisions. And she eventually agrees to consider Tom’s suit. The scandal serves to bring them together and also to make some points about the unequal way in which men and women of the time were treated.

The contract negotiations between Tom and Cassandra were funny and entertaining. I also loved reading Tom’s interpretations of the various novels that he ended up reading. And Pandora gave Cassandra the best advice on her wedding night.

I really liked Tom. He grew a lot as the story went on. He was forced to expand on his five emotions and he made room for love and empathy, among others.

“Feelings are inconvenient,” Tom said. “It’s why I decided to limit mine to five. For most of my adult life, it’s been easy to keep to that. Then I met you. Now my feelings have multiplied like rabbits, and I seem to have nearly as many as normal people do.”

Cassandra is sweet, kind, generous and loving. She was very patient with Tom and believed enough for both of them to wait him out. And they work well as a couple.

I enjoyed the writing style and the banter between the characters.

There isn’t any fast-paced action in this book, but it focuses really well on the relationship developing between Tom and Cassandra.

Was I hooked by this book? Definitely, yes.

Genre: Historical Romance