The book is all about lies - little fibs, giant life-changing lies, nosy busybodies' lies. One lie after another got boring. The hero and his family were okay (the hero's sister was especially nosy) but the book really failed for me because of the heroine and her mother. Heroine was too naïve, too oblivious to the characters in her own family, and everyone bent over backwards to keep secrets from her in order to keep her innocent and naïve. She was also really childish and selfish; whenever she didn't get her way, she holed herself up in her room and wouldn't talk to anyone. She also yells about how honesty is so important to her and that is how she lives her life, but her actions and words tell a different story - seems lying is as easy for her as it is for everyone else in this book. But her mother held the biggest secrets and even when confronted, would not tell the truth to her daughter until the very end.
As for the romance, the couple married eight days after meeting each other and went at it like jack rabbits the rest of the book. For such a virginal heroine, she took to sex like a pro after her wedding night. What was worse was that this virginal heroine, who blushed at the mere thought of her wedding night, knew she was pregnant in less than six weeks after her wedding night without the help of Clear Blue. I skipped right over most of the sex scenes, they were not too graphic but were flowery.
1 star and onto book two (part of the regency box set) which is about heroine's maid (who is really a titled woman hiding from her abusive father). Seems more lies are in store for my reading.
5
2