The blurb:
When the Duke of Rothington abandoned Cressida Grenville on their wedding day she was completely brokenhearted. How could a love – and a man – she had believed in so completely have been a lie? Morgan disappeared without a word, leaving her to pick up the pieces.
Three years later, Cressida is ready to put the past behind her once and for all. She is about to embark on a new life when she marries Lord Robert Fairlie.
But then Rothington returns and the placid tenor of her life is turned upside down for the sight of him stirs up unwelcome memories. Of love, how it could be. Of passion barely restrained. But more than that, it makes her look for answers to the question that has plagued her for years. Why did he leave her? And why oh why has he come back…
First Published: 2013
My thoughts
ok, first up, let’s be clear. The Big Misunderstanding (yes, it’s in capitals coz that’s how I always think of these things) could quite easily have been cleared up by a conversation. However, the reason why that conversation didn’t occur, is explained really well and felt very natural. So, even though normally I dislike Big Misunderstandings that hinge on hero and heroine not talking, I accepted it in this case, and even saw the reason for it.
I really liked Cressida’s courage in approaching Morgan on his return and also (ultimately) in being willing to listen to his explanation of why he’d left her. She’s a sensible heroine who thinks through things and accepts her feelings – even anger – in a fairly mature manner.
Morgan was an interesting hero too; he could have been depicted as your standard alpha male, hear me roar – but instead there was a more sympathetic portrayal of him which I really enjoyed. There were some hints of mental health issues too that I would have liked to see discussed more but you can’t have everything of course.
And of course I LOVED the strong female relationships. Not only did Cressida get along with her mother and sisters but she even had a female best friend! I kept waiting for the other shoe to fall (surely a Regency romance heroine couldn’t have four supportive female relationships??) but it didn’t, so yay!
I did find it very strange though that Cressida and Morgan had only been courting for three months, before their wedding day. Had they ‘posted the banns’ then that required 3 consecutive Sundays which meant only two months to fall in love and become engaged. Not inconceivable of course, but highly unlikely. Of course they could have purchased a Common License or acquired a Special License but there’s no mention of that.
And the mis-styling of Cressida’s friend – Lady Rosalie Wortham – bugged me as well. As the daughter of an earl her courtesy title should always be added before her given name, but there were some instances where the author simply wrote Lady Wortham which was her mother’s title.
These are minor irritations though and didn’t stop me enjoying the book.
And the HEA?
Ultimately though I guess you want to know – did I feel the HEA was right? Was I left with a warm and fuzzy feeling or wishing I could get my money back?
Yes, I did feel the HEA was right. The two protagonists’ journey to be together seemed very believable and the explanation of why Morgan left Cressida on their wedding day made sense ultimately. I really enjoyed the strong female characters and I certainly hope that Cressida’s younger sister Daisy gets her own book soon.
Interested? You can buy His Grace Regrets on Amazon.