4.5 stars
For most of her life, Viola Carroll was forced to live a lie. Then she went off to the Napoleonic wars, with her best friend and constant companion Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood, and because of a horrible accident where she was presumed dead by everyone who knew her, she decided to just let most people assume her former self was indeed dead (so her title and estates could pass to her brother), making it possible for her to finally live as her true self. For the past two years, she has been living with her brother and his family, acting as her sister-in-law, Lady Marleigh’s companion. Then her sister-in-law gets a letter from Miranda, Gracewood’s younger sister, and it’s clear that neither she nor he are doing well. Stuck by herself in a big, lonely castle in Northumberland, Miranda is about to go all “Gothic heroine”, according to Lady Marleigh, and something needs to be done.
Viola isn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of being out among other people than her family, and is absolutely terrified of facing Gracewood again. Lady Marleigh doesn’t suffer fools, however, and since she is literally Viola’s employer, Viola has to reluctantly agree to accompany her. When they arrive at his imposing castle, Gracewood is clearly so drunk and/or drugged that he thinks they are ghosts and actually fires a gun at them (thankfully, due to the inebriation, he’s a terrible shot, so no one is injured). His dreadful state makes Viola see that he can’t possibly be left to moulder, grieve, and destroy not only the rest of his own life but most likely that of Miranda too, as she refuses to leave her brother.
Gracewood has a badly healed leg injury, so can’t move about without a cane. He has severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt because he lived and his best friend died. He’s been dulling both his physical and emotional pain with alcohol and laudanum and generally withdrawn so much that most of his servants have quit and the only one left who cares for him is his teenage sister Miranda, who was clearly always an original and unconventional individual but is now becoming decidedly peculiar. Lady Marleigh wants to take her to London and make sure she has a season, but Miranda won’t leave her brother, so Lady Marleigh needs to get Gracewood to a state where his sister can see she doesn’t have to stay constantly by his side. So Viola starts to try to nurse Gracewood back to health, and the chemistry between them is palpable, even before Viola reluctantly tells him the truth about who she is.
Full review here.