Suzanne R. - , reviewed on 7/21/2008 + 17 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Mary Callahan's father sends her to spy on the scourge of smugglers, Alexander Drummond, Marquis of Warrick and Revenue Commander (a kind of smuggler-narc). When the two first meet they hit it off like... well, like two things that don't hit it off very well at all, like cats and dogs, or oil and water. Mary's being forced to try out for a position as his daughter's nanny by her father and does everything she can to make the Marquis pass her over... However, when he sees how she handles his bratty daughter he offers her a huge salary in the hopes that Mary, at least, can tame her. It's a case of opposites attract, but the two will have to overcome the huge social gap between then... and Mary refuses to settle for being his mistress, the usual solution to these kinds of situations. Can love conquer all?

*** I really wanted to like this book - First of all, the heroine: Not only is she a commoner, she's one step above a criminal (in fact, her father is a smuggler - and not the aristrocrat-fallen-on-hard-times type). She's smart and independent. She's even feisty, something that usually makes my skin crawl as it's romance-speak for TSTL, but she manages to be funny and feisty without making you want her to die a horrible death. Sadly the writing, especially the annoyingly heavy-handed use of metaphor and simile, got in the way of what could have been a rollicking good read. I really hope Britton works on improving her craft because I suspect she has some really good books in her.

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