Sweet Sara Collins is one of the founding members of the Governess Club. But she has a secret: She doesn't love teaching. She'd much prefer to be a vicar's wife and help the local community. But this quiet mouse doesn't want to upset her friends, and she resolves to help in whatever ways she can.
Nathan Grant is the embodiment of everything that frightens Sara. Which is why she can't understand why the handsome but reclusive and gruff man is so fascinating to her. When Sara decides it's time to take a chance and experience all that life has to offer, Nathan is the first person she thinks of.
Will Sara's walk on the wild side ruin her chances at a simple, happy life? Or has she just opened the door to a once-in-a-lifetime chance at passion?
My Review:
Although this is the first full length novel in the series, it felt a bit flat for me. In the novellas, the limited word count helped to keep the plot moving forward and the characters' defined. Here there was a lot of repetition and wishy-washy feelings from the heroine.
Nathan was the best kind of anti-hero and I was endeared to him from the start. He was much more emotionally damaged by his years in politics than even he realized, so the love story with Sara was as much about Nathan regaining his sense of self as it was about love. Also, the man is so damn sexy he made eating a pasty quite the intimate affair.
Sara was emotionally and mentally damaged by her parents' obsession with being the perfect church couple (her father was the vicar) and her mother's disapproval of Sara at every turn. I needed time with the story to finally warm up to Sara before I cheered her on to go get her man. I sympathize with her panic attacks, but she couldn't even trust her friends in the club to be honest with them. She was so coddled by Claire, Jacob, and Louisa that it was more like she was a kid sister.
If you are already invested in the series by having read book 1 and 2, this is not a bad read to follow up on. It was a solid story as a stand alone. However, the repetition was near enough to be considered filler to push the story to the required word count and not story dictated, so don't be so quick to jump into this story unless you have the time and patience.
8
0