A Heart So Innocent

by Charlene Cross

UNITED BY CHANCE, THEY WERE MATCHED IN DANGEROUS PRIDE -- AND DESPERATE PASSION

Queen Victoria herself had decreed it: Lady Aidan Prescott must marry. The girl was too wild -- a husband would settle her. But Aidan would never accept her irate father's choice, a wealthy older man who had already buried two wives. She fled London, placing her life in the hands of the arrogantly handsome young Duke of Westover, Justin Warfield, who was to escort her to a Scottish estate where a younger, more compliant bridegroom awaited.

Warfield was fascinated by the copper-haired beauty ... torn between a surging desire for his naive, rebellious charge and the dark legacy which kept him from giving his heart to any woman. The sparks of fate ignited when Aidan's father forced them to marry. Furious, each vowed to live separate lives, refusing to yield to the desire that so urgently flamed between them. But not even the force of their combined wills could quench the inferno that raged in their souls...

Genres: Historical Romance

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

In the early 1990's, Charlene Cross wrote seven historical romance novels.

Reviews

[Meredith is a hot mess]

2.75

dnf @ 80%

This was a waste of time. This was a very plain jane regency historical romance. Marriage of convenience trope here. The writing was good, but lacking when it came to character development or plotting. Very straightforward, predictable storyline. The only reason I'm rounding up to three stars is because the writing was decent.

[Jess]

3.5 stars

I was SO close to giving it 4 stars. I got to like 80% and was sure this book had it in the bag and I was chuffed because I hadn't read anything above a 3.5 star in months. But alas, there's always something that takes it down a notch.

And for me, it was the last 20% of this book. Which was so fucking STUPID. What was the author thinking? She was going great - good world building mirroring the time period (ok except I don't think anyone was that chummy with the Queen LMAO that bit was stupid), great vernacular, the woman-hating mistrustful rich alpha peer for a MMC. Basically she caught me hook line and sinker. But then she just had to go and through in the last plot twist in a way that 1. did not mirror the times tbh =))) and 2. just made no fucking sense and was so fucking annoying. And then she also did ANOTHER twist after that. Two twists with 20% to go - why????? By that stage we just all want them to bang their hearts out, for the alpha to get over his fucking female hating ego and get with the love program and for them to have those babies but no.

It just had to be stupid: she misinterprets a letter from the Queen to her husband (a letter which was also stupid) and then runs off and then everyone totally thought her husband the DUKE killed her and then put him on trial while she's in a convent repenting and swearing off men and shit and kinda cut off from all newspapers. All the while her husband the DUKE (!!!!) gets sentenced to hang for murdering her LMAO and they full bring him to Newgate and literally do not respect him at all and he's about to go to the gallows when miraculously the FMC runs from the convent into Newgate (which makes it sound like it's sooooo easy to walk in) and stops the execution right as the noose is about to tighten :) her husband is furious :) and banishes her to their country seat :)

Why so many :))))) because it's so ridiculous that I'm loss for words. I'm sorry but just banishment???? I would have STEAM coming out of my ears. Fuck loving that bitch - he went from having the proverbial noose to having a LITERAL noose :))))) but hey, this is a romance so obvs he forgives her. i wouldn't :)

Also he's a DUKE!! Mates and penpals with the QUEEN ffs. Not to mention, contextually that was the HEIGHT of patriarchy. You're telling me that the coppers are coming in and just arresting the TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN DUKE, JUST ONE STEP FROM ROYALTY AND ALSO MATES WITH MS BE ALL END ALL?? The super powerful rich and wealthy and influential peer of the realm existing in a MAN'S WORLD would get arrested without any form of decent investigation??? And then the trial goes down in a jiffy and they let a MISTRESS??? provide evidence??? A "flighty" untrustworthy female with scrupulous morals and BAD TON give evidence against a PREMIER DUKE and it gets taken as gospel??? Nahhh that's dumb af. And then while he's angry with his wife for arising from the dead and banishing her, he then hangs out with that gross mistress chick again. Like what the actual FUCKKK She literally made shit up that nearly got the noose around his neck while his wife was technically only "guilty" via misunderstanding as opposed to evil OW's perjury.

Ohhh and then as she's being banished, she then gets KIDNAPPED LMAO by the other dude that the MMC always gets jealous (like why??? you're a duke and the other duke is a beta viscount bro) and the MMC has to work out all his women issues in 5 seconds before rescuing her and finally succumbing to love.

Suffice to say, that last 20% killed my love for this book :)