Author: Penelope Ward
Audiobook, Audible
From the moment Felicity Dunleavy spots Leo Covington showering outside with her binoculars, she is captivated. Then she notices that his housemate has caught her in the act. Now THAT is embarrassing. So, when they finally meet by chance in town that is most certainly an awkward conversation starter.
The thing is – Leo is equally intrigued by the red-haired beauty and he invites her to “tea”. You see, he is a British aristocrat who’s having a sort of gap year before he goes back home to England and faces the responsibilities of his future earldom. Felicity grew up in the foster system and she has a hard time trusting that people won’t leave her. So, all they can have is a summer fling.
They fall in love in love but they know that they can’t be together, so they decide to part ways and not contact each other.
Fast forward five years and Felicity is back at her home by the lake. Her foster Mom had passed away and left her the beautiful house by water. She hasn’t been back in the last couple of years, not being interested in coming back to the empty house. She sees the pile of mail that was sorted out for her (sympathy cards, etc) and she finds a letter from Leo. She reluctantly open it and in the letter he confesses that he is writing this letter during his engagement party, but that he can’t get her out of his mind or his heart and if she answers him back, he will throw caution to wind, ignore all his family obligations and take a shot at being together. Felicity checks the date of the letter and sees that she has three weeks to stop the wedding, so she herself throws caution to the wind and hops on a plane to England to tell Leo that she loves him. Well, the problem is – she misread the date he wrote on the letter. The letter was sent to her two years before and she finds him now the Duke, and “happily ” married.
This is a contemporary romance but with the Brit aristocrat and the little orphan sometimes it does read like a historical. I really liked the story and was rooting for the couple to be together, but I had a hard time, in 2021, getting this aristocratic family crap that makes this is a forbidden romance. It’s not like he is the King of England, you know? I think that we needed to see more interactions between Leo and his family (the most interactions are with his cousin Sig and with his grandmother) to understand where he is coming from. I know his dad having terminal cancer plays a big role in his decisions, but I guess my little heart that doesn’t get aflutter with talk of princes and castles just didn’t buy it completely.
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD – BEWARE
I also wish that we saw more how Leo deals with the aftermath of Felicity coming back into his life in relation to the wife. To me, it felt like he just looked at her and said “See ya!” and took off to be with Felicity.
But all in all, it was a fun listen! After all I get my favorite narrator ever say my surname repeatedly … Mrs Barbosa… I must confess I swooned a little. LOL And Jacob Morgan with a British accent is a treat on its own. Also Andi Arnt can do no wrong, so narration-wise, this is perfection.
