Thea is officially a spinster. After a few seasons attempting to garner attention with youth and ribbons and no dowery to speak of Thea left the ballrooms of the country and settled into life as a Vicar’s sister. She spends her days writing her brother’s sermons and keeping her nose in a book. Many a fine hour is spent in quiet study of the latest tomes.
Gabriel is officially a rake. He’s spent his adulthood flitting from ballroom to ballroom managing to capture the heart of many a youthful debutante and the bedroom of many a widowed Lady. But with the purchase of a country estate Gabriel is ready for a bit of quiet amongst friends for the holiday season.
That is until Thea finds a baby in a manger…
A baby wearing Gabriel’s crest…
Convinced the child is Gabriel’s by-blow Thea storms in to confront the rake. But the child’s story won’t be dealt with so easily. As the mystery of the baby gets deeper and deeper. These two opposites will find that what they may really want this holiday season is love…
Review
“I know you’re not the sort to lose your head even over a man who looks like sin walking, which his lordship does”…”It’s your heart I’m worried about” (152)
This is such a Cinderella story. A woman transformed by finding love. When we meet Thea she’s a confirmed spinster. Completely entrenched in the boring life of a Vicar’s sister. It only takes one meeting from Gabriel to begin to crack away at that stodgy facade. Out come rosy cheeks, curls, and a desire to dress pretty again. It was fun to watch Gabriel’s kisses turn Thea from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
What I wasn’t as in love with in this book was the mystery plot line. I thought the mystery took a really long time to come to a head. For about 90% of the novel we have 0 clues. ZERO. I was slightly frustrated by this point. The love story progressed on a nice story-arc and those bedroom scenes were absolutly wonderful! But that pesky mystery [who the baby’s mother was and how he ended up abandoned in the church] kept popping up!
Granted trying to solve the mystery and taking care of baby Mathew was the entire reason Thea and Gabriel were forced to be together. I mean, Gabriel completely ignored Thea after a first kiss and a re-meet at a country ball. If fate hadn’t thrown a mysterious baby their way there would have been no hope for this couple falling in love.
So it’s a good thing baby Mathew was left in that manger. Because once Gabriel gives Thea a chance he discovers a smart, practical woman who is just dying to let her hair go wild and embrace her wanton ways. They have the best kissing scenes in this book! Right from the start they have sparks.
I think of all the Christmas-themed romances I’ve been devouring lately this has been the least “Christmas-y”. True, they find a baby in a manger and Thea is the Vicar’s sister…but other than these satellite references there is no real attachment to the holiday. This is not a book filled with yule-tide greetings and traditions. But it was a lovely winter Romance. Feel free to do this one before or after the holiday season. It’s a nice way to warm up a winter weekend.
3/5: Solid winter read
I love the expression by-blow. It kinda makes me laugh, but it’s also a sad way to refer to a baby. Better than other alternatives, I guess, though. I love when a rake sees the true beauty and character and intelligence of a “spinster.”
So was Matthew Gabriel’s by-blow?
RachelKiwi….you know I can’t give away the mystery via a blog comment…I’d be blackmailed by the general blogging community! lol. I like by-blow too. It’s dirty and dismissive and antiquated all at once…the linguist in me loves it. The baby was cute enough to over come the title. It was one of those perfect romance babies that coo-ed the whole time, slept through the night, and only spit up on someone when it was funny or cute. It was a fake baby…so not so sad to use such a nasty title, lol.
I know, but i’m consumed by curiosity. tell me in person next thursday!