Karin A. (Jerseygirltoo) -
Helpful Score: 1
I bought this book just based on the plot description, and I'm so glad I did. It's a sweet, traditional Regency with an unusual premise. Catherine(known as Kitty) falls in love with Lionel, Viscount Benning, at first sight. Only problem, she is 12 years old and he is 20! Plus, he has to help his uncle run a plantation in Jamaica, so shortly after that he leaves the country.
The next time they meet she is 15, still much too young to attract his interest, but since Lionel is friends with her older brother she manages to tag along with them on occasion and he finds her to be a delightful and charming young girl, although he thinks of her as a younger sister. They have serious conversations and she gives him the idea of fixing up a derelict estate he has inherited. He is not wealthy, and depends on the uncle's plantation to make a living even though he hates living in Jamaica. If he is able to make his own estate profitable, he will be able to stay in England, and of course that is Kitty's plan! She is quite determined and thinking ahead, to when she will be old enough to marry. Everyone who notices Kitty's feelings thinks it is just a childish infatuation, except for one of her relatives, a Dowager Duchess who sees that Kitty is old for her years. The Dowager becomes Kitty's confidante and co-conspirator. Lionel sets the wheels in motion for restoring his estate and then has to return to Jamaica.
However, the third time he comes back to England, for good, is the charm! Kitty is now 17, but there are other plot twists and difficulties before she is able to achieve the HEA she has worked so long for, and Lionel realizes he loves her as a woman.
This book is very well written, and don't let the age difference put you off. By the time Kitty is 17, Lionel is only 25, not such a big age gap, plus you feel they are equals because she is so mature and intelligent.
Highly recommended for lovers of traditional(meaning no sex!) Regencies.
The next time they meet she is 15, still much too young to attract his interest, but since Lionel is friends with her older brother she manages to tag along with them on occasion and he finds her to be a delightful and charming young girl, although he thinks of her as a younger sister. They have serious conversations and she gives him the idea of fixing up a derelict estate he has inherited. He is not wealthy, and depends on the uncle's plantation to make a living even though he hates living in Jamaica. If he is able to make his own estate profitable, he will be able to stay in England, and of course that is Kitty's plan! She is quite determined and thinking ahead, to when she will be old enough to marry. Everyone who notices Kitty's feelings thinks it is just a childish infatuation, except for one of her relatives, a Dowager Duchess who sees that Kitty is old for her years. The Dowager becomes Kitty's confidante and co-conspirator. Lionel sets the wheels in motion for restoring his estate and then has to return to Jamaica.
However, the third time he comes back to England, for good, is the charm! Kitty is now 17, but there are other plot twists and difficulties before she is able to achieve the HEA she has worked so long for, and Lionel realizes he loves her as a woman.
This book is very well written, and don't let the age difference put you off. By the time Kitty is 17, Lionel is only 25, not such a big age gap, plus you feel they are equals because she is so mature and intelligent.
Highly recommended for lovers of traditional(meaning no sex!) Regencies.
