Source: Goodreads
Simon, Duke of Kerstone, has returned after five years at war. He’s changed since he was last in England. His hopes for a future of happiness have been replaced by a new plan for freedom, and he only needs to wait six months to put them into action.
Everything is going perfectly until Miranda shows up. The girl he’d planned to wed is still unmarried, and soon in need of help. but Miranda believes in fairy tales and refuses to accept that some things cannot be changed. Will Simon choose Miranda over his freedom? or will both their dreams for a happily-ever-after never see the light of day?
I began this book assuming the characters would be borrowed from fairy tales and repurposed for the story, but I was mistaken. The only fairy tale elements, unless you count a passing likeness of Simon and Miranda to Beauty and the Beast, are brief references Miranda makes to different stories here and there, as well as little ice sculptures at a party that look like fairytale couples. Otherwise, this is a good-old historical romance, with the caveat the Miranda is expressly looking for a fairy tale happily-ever-after.
On a general level, the story was good. If we’re going to nit-pick though, I thought they told the reader Simon’s secret too soon, resulting in the reader knowing for most of the book, when it would have made better sense for us to find out when Miranda does. I also had a hard time near the end with some of the scenes because it skipped around a lot, and there are some scenes we needed from Simon’s point of view that we didn’t get, resulting in me as the reader being confused and frustrated, and overall a bit disappointed.  I would recommend it to anyone who reads a lot fo historical romances, simply because the storyline was intriguing, and I think they would find it rather enjoyable and interesting, excepting, of course, the quick wrap-up at the end.
HHC Rating:Â 3 Stars