Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: The Spitfire Society #3
Publication Date: 5/19/20
Number of Pages: 280

I have wanted to see Anthony’s story since we first met him in The Duke of Distraction from the Untouchables series. He just begged to have a warm, loving, and very caring lady to heal his heart and soul, and he certainly found her in Jane. The story is interesting and moves at a steady pace, but if you are a stickler for period correctness, the entire Spitfire premise is very unlikely. Still, I have enjoyed the stories and am looking forward to future stories (in another series) with several of the characters we meet in this book.

Anthony Colton became a Viscount about a year before – and he’s been inside a bottle since then. His parents were murdered by a highwayman, and it is his fault. He’s to blame for their deaths and therefore he is a worthless sod who doesn’t deserve to ever forget it. He wallows in the guilt and the bottle and sees no reason to crawl out of either. Being sober means he’d have to feel – and he certainly doesn’t want that. Being drunk day-after-day and in one brawl after another has become his normal existence. So, how did he end up having his wounds tended by an angel?

Jane Pemberton just didn’t take during her seasons and her parents blamed her for it. She was never nice enough or demure enough or … well, just never enough. Her parents harangued her about it all the time and were trying to force her to marry a neighbor she just couldn’t abide. So, she declared herself a spinster and moved to the home of her friend Phoebe, who had just recently married (A Duke Is Never Enough), and moved to her husband’s home. Jane sometimes rethinks her decision, but always decides she is ‘alone but not lonely’. Yet, sometimes she is lonely and she feels that way more and more since her friends have married and are deliriously happy. Then, as she is leaving he house one morning, she stumbles upon this bloody pulp of a human crumpled in her doorway. He’s almost unrecognizable and nothing will keep her from nursing him back to health.

Jane and Anthony are perfect for each other. Jane soothes the savage beast in Anthony and helps him to realize that there is still hope in the world and Anthony gives Jane the courage to confront her family issues. When a crisis occurs and Jane thinks Anthony has abandoned her, she summons the courage to confront her issues head-on – only to learn Anthony is there lending her strength. It was a lovely, lovely romance and I truly came to like and admire both Anthony and Jane.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.