The Legendary Lord by Valerie Bowman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Christian and Sarah were an innocent and rather traditional couple, who could have solved their problems if they had simply been more assertive. Sarah running away from her problems to Scotland was supposed to be gutsy, but standing up to her parents, speaking up for herself, and letting them know that she didn’t want to marry the guy they had chosen for her, instead of avoiding the argument, would have shown more guts.
The story was interesting but not exceptional. Christian and Sarah spent a few days alone in a cottage in lust at first sight, because Sarah had gotten lost in Scotland and ended up in Christian’s cottage instead of her father’s. They got to know each other and became friends, but their conversations and activities weren’t very exciting. Christian was very impressed that she knew how to cook; aristocratic ladies aren’t supposed to cook because they have servants. Christian and Sarah played chess and found out they had so much in common they had even named their horses Oberon.
When Sarah decides to return to London, Christian offers to have his friends help her avoid scandal. In exchange, Sarah offers to help him transform into the most sought after bachelor in the ton. Lucy, Cass, and Jane make cameo appearances as matchmaking conspirators, but are largely ineffective because nothing adventurous happens. It takes some time for Christian to be assertive, and I still don’t quite understand why it was so hard for him to know his feelings. The resolution to the conflict was rather anticlimactic, too easy, and caused the characters unnecessary anxiety. If Sarah had told the truth from the beginning, her problem would have been fixed much earlier.
I wanted to know what happened in the end, but how it all happened wasn’t very exciting. I skimmed all of the sex scenes and the second half of the novel. I wanted to like this book more, but I can’t say I loved the prose or the characters. This book wasn’t as fun and funny as previous books in the series, and it didn’t make me feel the kinds of emotions I want from a romance novel.
*ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
