This was a fun, clean Regency Period (think Pride and Prejudice) novel. I loved it! So fun to read. The poor 17 year old protagonist, Marianne Daventry is hopelessly naive, but that is TOTALLY expected from this period of time. There were things that I personally caught on to the second it happened and it took nearly half the book for Marianne to put two and two together. But like I said, it wasn't annoying because it fit with the time period. There was a prolonged tense situation with a rescuer that seemed a bit far fetched (and waaaay too much of a happy coincidence) but this too seemed to fit with the time period.
But oh, how it brought back memories of my own dating experience when I met my husband and while we were dating. Of course, we didn't have such societal rules about if and when we could declare feelings for one another, but just the flirting, the easy friendship, the worry about sincerity, the self-consciousness and the boldness that all come with a new relationship. And especially with a relationship when you choose to wait until you are married to give your whole self. Because of what was proper there in that time (although you do get the idea that not EVERYONE lived quite so strictly by those rules, even back then), it made it relate-able to me.
It's one of those books that makes you nostalgic for those times when a simple look or touch could cause you to get light headed. But it's just like a fire-it starts with a spark, but the fire cannot continue to burn as if it's just sparked. It would be wrong for us to think that just because we don't have huge, wild flames in our relationship that it is not a true fire. If you've ever cooked on a fire or sat by one to get warm, you know that fires are at their greatest potential when the flames die down and there are insanely hot coals. It's different, but it's still a fire. I think this misconception is at least part of why some relationships fail-they lose the excitement and people mistake this transformation as "falling out of love" when really it's just transitioning into a different stage that has a different feel. So when you read this, which I can whole-heartedly recommend!-don't just wish that you could have that again or go back to it, (especially if you've been in a relationship for a long time *like being married for 11+ years*), enjoy what your love has turned into and see if you can't just use your memory to get those heart beats to skip a few times again. :-)
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