via Goodreads
Imogen, Lady Barclay, is adjusting slowly to living alone with her elderly female family members and their horde of stray animals. She is hoping to move into the dowager house as soon as the roof gets fixed, and is looking forward to starting a garden.
Percival Hayes, the Earl of Hardford and the new Lord Barclay, realizes that he will have to visit his estate in Cornwall eventually, but he never expects to find so many people and animals living there. Setting up an estate takes a lot more work than Percy realized, and before he can begin to decide what to do, things begin happening. Mysterious things that nobody will explain to him, and it is soon up to Percy and Imogen to solve the mystery of what or who is trying to run them off the estate.
I recently checked this out of my library so I could refresh my memory before writing this review, and also because my mom hadn’t read it yet. Wouldn’t you know it, but she lost the book. We haven’t lost a library book since I was maybe 6 or 8, so this is really quite frustrating. Not to mention that I hadn’t gotten around to writing this review yet, so now I have to go by memory.
This book has a lot of elements. Multiple houses and family members, not to mention an entire town full of people. This book easily wins the award for ‘biggest cast’ of the series. Also, there are a million stray animals and PIRATES. This book is not just a romance, but also a full-on mystery novel. It was very cool.The chemistry between Imogen and Percy was quite good. I tend to think of Imogen as a young and slightly more roughed up but less strict Professor McGonagall (from
The chemistry between Imogen and Percy was quite good. I tend to think of Imogen as a young and slightly more roughed up yet less strict Professor McGonagall (from Harry Potter). She’s delightful in a serious kind of way that just really makes her endearing and spunky at the same time.
Percy, for a character we are just meeting, is extremely well developed, and there were times when I felt we almost knew him better than Imogen. Not to mention that Percy is the only male lead who is not a member of the Survivors’ Club, which, thankfully, doesn’t seem to phase him that much.
Overall, I would recommend it, especially if you’ve been loving the series so far! As with all of Balogh’s books, this series just gets better and better.
HHC Rating: 5 Stars
Other Reviews in this Series & By This Author: The Bedwyns/ “Slightlys”:: Book 0.5 – One Night for Love Book 0.75 – A Summer To Remember Book 1 – Slightly Married Book 2 – Slightly Wicked Book 3 – Slightly Scandalous Book 4 – Slightly Tempted Book 5 – Slightly Sinful Book 6 – Slightly Dangerous Book 6.5 – Once Upon A Dream The “Simplys”:: Book 1 – Simply Unforgettable Book 2 – Simply Love Book 3 – Simply Magic Book 4 – Simply Perfect The Huxtables:: Book 1 – First Comes Love Book 2 – Then Comes Seduction Book 3 – At Last Comes Love Book 4 – Seducing And Angel Book 5 – A Secret Affair The Survivors’ Club:: Book 1 – The Proposal Book 1.5 – The Suitor Book 2 – The Arrangement Book 3 – The Escape Book 4 – Only Enchanting Book 5 – Only A Promise Book 6 – Only A Kiss *(This Review)* Book 7 – Only Beloved The Westcotts:: Book 1 – Someone to Love Book 2 – Someone To Hold Book 3 – Someone to Wed Book 4 – Someone to Care Book 5 – Someone to Trust Book 6 – Someone to Honor Book 7 – Someone to Remember Book 8 – Someone to Romance (2020) Book 9 – TK – Harry