by Emily Greenwood
Story rating - 5
Felicity Wilcox has a profligate uncle who has lost her home gambling, the home she promised her mother she'd take care of on her mother's death bed. With a scatterbrained father, she has had to grow up younger than most, managing the estate until the new owner arrives and scrimping to stretch their resources so they can survive.
James Collington is determined to rescue his family's estate and redeem the family name from the scandal his brother created. In so doing, he enters into a gamble and wins a country estate, which he plans to fix up and sell in order to pay off the debt on his own family home. What he doesn't plan on is the plucky young woman who appeals to his sense of honor and tries to talk him into refusing his prize, something he can't do.
Felicity embarks on several plans to drive the new owner away, unaware of his long-term plans to sell her family home, but James Collington is far too appealing, and in spite of her desire to thwart him at every move, she finds her feelings ensnared as he matches her game of wits, incident by incident.
I found Felicity to be endearing, mainly because she was unapologetically who she was. Not fashionable, not wealthy - ruined. Her playful spirit buoys her up through difficult times, along with her "I can do anything" attitude. And James is an alluring man who has issues of his own. A worthy foil, he isn't aware of his own faults until his aunt delicately points them out to him, and then he has to come to terms with them on his own.
I found this to be well written, well plotted, and a thoroughly enjoyable romp with secret passages inside a manor house, a hero and a heroine who play well off each other, both with strong personalities. Excellent characterizations. This is one I would read a second (and potentially more) times.
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