Twice Shy by Sophia Holloway

  

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance
Content: Clean

 

Rejected by her bereaved father at thirteen and then jilted at nineteen, Elizabeth Ashling is deeply distrustful of men and has no wish to return to London Society. However, circumstances mean she must endure a Season, and there she meets Sir Lucius Radstock. He is as ardent a horse-lover as she is, although that is the only subject on which they appear to see eye to eye. He is initially irked by her coldness, and, in a moment of temper, gives her the nickname, 'The Unassailable'. To Elizabeth's horror, this encourages more unwelcome men to make a play for her, although she remains ignorant of who coined it. As Elizabeth thaws towards Sir Lucius all seems to be going well, until an old rival reveals that Sir Lucius has been as duplicitous as the rest of his gender. 

 

I love this author and was so excited to read this. I wasn't disappointed. I liked the slow pace of the romance. Although, I did feel like some elements were carried out a bit too long, especially the main characters hang-ups about men, and her fears of being betrayed and abandoned. Although they made sense considering what she had been through.

One thing I really enjoy about this author's works is the way she uses third person omniscient in her stories. I love how the narrator floats from person to person showing us what the different characters are doing and saying, from the main character down to the gossips at the ball. This doesn't work in all types of books but it works for me here. Oftentimes there is humor injected into these parts that will have me giggling. I also continue to get a kick out of some of the names the author comes up with.

Elements of this were very reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice. The assumptions made in this book could have been annoying, but worked for me here, for the most part anyway. The last one that ends up coming between the characters was annoying, because I felt like it was accepted as fact too easily, considering where it came from. 

Overall, I loved this book and I'm looking forward to the next book by this author.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Allison & Busby for providing me a copy of this book.