Sensuality rating: somewhere between steamy and torrid

Fraser’s third novel confirms my opinion of her as a go-to writer for Regency romance that is actually set in the Regency rather than in that Never-Neverland mash-up that’s been dubbed “The Recency” or “Almackistan.” It’s a gracefully written, authentic feeling story

Soldier Jack Armstrong is too honorable to ignore a deathbed promise, and so he dutifully marries his best friend’s widow just before heading back to the war. But his resentment about being forced to marry a “dull, cold mouse” leads him to live as if he was still a bachelor — not realizing that word of his exploits in Canada could ever get back to his faithfully waiting wife. When he returns home after five years, he’s astonished to realize that the dull, cold mouse is a strong, confident, attractive woman — who wants no part of him. (more…)