I really enjoyed this book, although perhaps not as much as the previous one in the series. It didn't feel as detailed, and the plot didn't evolve at the same gradually accelerating pace that just sucked me in in Sweet Release. Having said that the setting was again fabulous, in Ireland, during the period of Georgian repression, and the hero and heroine were also excellent.

The hero was merely a child in the previous book, and here we get to see him as an adult. He made a great hero, but I didn't feel I came to know him as well as Alec in Sweet Release. The heroine is much better described, but did become a bit annoying towards the end. I can't really fault her reasons for some of her choices - she decided to stick with her faith rather than recant and marry the hero, for example, but there comes a time when survival is more important than duty, surely, and she crossed it several times. I think, in conclusion, she was just too damned perfect for me. I liked Sweet Release, because neither the hero nor the heroine were perfect, and, however grudgingly, knew it.

So I'd give this 4.5 stars probably.