Julia Howard lives at her brother Charles's estate, which she runs for Charles while he is in London at his parliamentary duties. Charles and his wife Emily pressure her to act more like a lady and land a husband, and Julia realizes that eventually she'll have to leave. Her ideal would be to have her own place, but, though she has inherited the funds for that, Charles controls the purse strings and Charles does not think this proper for a woman. So Julia fakes up an engagement with a visitor, Captain Covington, to convince Charles to let go of the money. Complications ensue.

I wanted to like this book. The heroine's situation interested me, and her frustration with the limits on her freedom, both from her family and from her era, was compelling. However, I found the book painful to slog through. This author does not show a love for language; her prose is so bare bones that one might as well be reading a plot summary in Cliff Notes. In the hands of a better writer (Madeline Hunter, Loretta Chase, Mary Balogh), I would have been truly hooked, but Lee just did not hold my interest after the first 50 pages. I skimmed the rest and skipped to the end. Such a pity, as she had a good situation. The fourth grade level she writes on would make this a good choice for a very young teen, but there are also the customary mandatory sex scenes in it which would rule teens out, I would think - so I don't know who might like this book. I can't recommend it myself.

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