Now Evan has a noble title, a manor house in shambles, and a stranger for a bride, all thrust upon him by a grateful ruler. What he doesn't have are all his memories. Traumatized from wounds incurred on the battlefield, Evan knows there's something he can't quite remember. It's important, dangerous—and if he doesn't recall it in time—will jeopardize not only his new marriage but someone's very life.”
Series: Book #1 in the “Serendipity & Secrets” trilogy. (Connected to the “Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery” series.)
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Singing a hymn; A rector reads from “The Book of Common Prayer” at a wedding; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Diana thinks that she’s never been certain that God cared about her prayers or if she was significant enough for His interest (most in her life didn’t teach her about God, but one teacher told her about God wanting a personal relationship with her through Jesus); Diana prays for God to help situations, but isn’t sure He hears them because nothing seems to change and wonders if praying even did any good; Evan wonders what God was thinking because his life isn’t going as he planned; When Diana plans a lie of omission (due to her father’s actions and threats) she thinks about God still loving Rahab even though she lied (Diana thinks that the safety of a child is justification for the lie) and hopes God will forgive her; Evan thinks he has no business hoping that God will bless his and Diana’s marriage (because they were forced into the marriage); Diana is concerned that she is sinning because she thinks that God is remaining silent to her prayers (and therefore not guiding her); Evan makes a comment that he feels like God has played an “awful joke” on him about his current circumstances (being an earl and getting lands, married to Diana, and gaining her inheritance; Diana is hurt by this comment); Diana thanks God for answering her prayers (by bringing Evan into her life); *Spoiler* In a moment of hurt, Evan thinks that Diana isn’t a blessing from God like he thought because she was lying to him about the baby; At the end, he thinks that God didn’t led him astray outside of His will despite what he thought *End of Spoiler*; Evan asks God why He keeps firing other plans at him & why didn’t God allow him to stay a soldier; Evan says God saved him on a battlefield, even though there were times he wished God hadn’t; *Spoiler* Towards the end and while during a kiss, Diana thinks “She, who had never been loved, was loved by a good man. If she ever needed proof that God heard her prayers, this was it.” *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God & Jesus; Mentions of praying & prayers; Mentions of churches, hymns/worship, a daily chapel services in a school, ministers/vicars, & sermons; Mentions of Easter & the titular head of the Church of England; A few mentions of those in the Bible; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of an abbey & stained glass; A couple mentions of religious art; A mention of being Christian;
*Note: The phrase “God hates a coward” is said by a military man; A woman is called a ‘harpy’; Mentions of lucky & being lucky; A mention of laying one’s “ghosts to rest”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘idiot’, a ‘stupid’, a ‘zooks’ (exclamation by a man that is apologized for saying around a woman), and two ‘biddies’s; A couple mentions of curses are cut-off; Eye rolling; Fighting, Being shot at, Shooting, Shooting/killing someone, & Seeing someone stabbed (up to semi-detailed); Being slapped/hit, injuries, blood/bleeding, & pain (up to semi-detailed); Evan has many flashbacks, PTSD, panic attacks, anxiety, and nightmares of his time in the military (semi-detailed); Diana’s father and brother are verbally and physically abusive to her & we see this on-page (including her being slapped/hit and shoved by her father & shrinking when they are around, semi-detailed); Evan has a temper at times and physically lashes out (not towards Diana, but she is still scared by his actions and that he may turn it on her); Diana lies to Evan & Evan keeps secrets from Diana (*Spoiler* he is not happy when he finds out she has been lying to him which lead to them not talking to the other for some time *End of Spoiler*); Diana’s father is glad her sister died because of the same of her having an illegitimate child and wishes the baby would have died as well; A side character’s brother berates him for his actions and being a second son (he is mostly unaffected by her words and sharp comments); *Spoiler* Diana’s father plans to cheat Evan out of her inheritance and makes Diana go along with it by threatening her nephew (making her lie by omission); To keep her father from harming the child, Diana steals/kidnaps him (she feels guilt, but feels more terror about leaving him) *End of Spoiler*; All about many, many mentions of wars, fighting, battles, shooting, spies, treason, injuries (including losing limbs), deaths, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of assassins & assassination attempts; Mentions of a potential murder; Mentions of brawls, beatings, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (including Diana being slapped/hit by her father & Evan punching a man for his comments, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of thieves, bandits, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of a kidnapping; Mentions of betting, gambling, & gamblers; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of nightmares (of war-related actions and events, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of hateful words (from family members); Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & lies of omission; Mentions of blackmail; Mentions of dead & injured horses (including horses having effects of the war as well, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hunting & poaching; A few mentions of duels & men shooting at the another; A few mentions of grief (Diana for her sister); A few mentions of jealousy/envy; A few mentions of vomiting; A couple mentions of possible hangings; A couple mentions of prisons (Diana feeling like her family house is one); A couple mentions of a knacker’s yard for old horses; A mention of someone looking as “weak as a half-drowned kitten”;
*Note: Diana’s father threatens Diana with sending her nephew to an orphanage to keep her under his control & threatens to harm the child when he cries; Diana wonders if there’s any honorable men in England (that do not have a cruel streak, uncontrolled temper, and “a need to dominate every woman in his life” because those in her limited experience are like that); Evan keeps his PTSD, panic attacks, and anxiety (the first is unnamed in the book but clear to be that) a secret so he doesn’t get sent to Bedlam (a hospital for the “insane”); A woman is called a “cow”; Mentions of an infant being very sick (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of some soldiers going “demented” and harming themselves and others after their minds break after their experiences; A couple mentions of a elderly man who’s memory isn’t good and is called “demented”; A mention of some believing that women shouldn’t read newsletters “lest they offend their delicate sensibilities” (Diana finds this to be hogwash).
Sexual Content- Three hand kisses (including greetings and unwanted ones), four forehead/hair kisses, two cheek kisses, an almost kiss (semi-detailed), five barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses, and two detailed kisses (one that leads to a bed); Remembering kisses & an almost kiss (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to be kissed, wondering about being kissed, & wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (including a bit of Diana’s bosom showing in a dress (which is not-detailed), up to semi-detailed on everything else); Diana’s brother taunts her that their father is going to married her off to a man who is “old, fat, and in need of an heir” (including a potential suitor that is thrice her age); Diana’s father looks at her as selling her off due to her inheritance (Diana feels like a horse at auction); A man is obsessed in ruining Diana, wants to assault her/have a “bit of fun” with her, corners her a few times, plans to seduce her (even after she’s married), wants to “sample her ‘delights’”, & threatens to spread the rumor that he has bedded her; *Spoiler* Diana asks her teenager-aged maid to claim Diana’s nephew as her baby to keep from Evan from finding out about her sister’s secret *End of Spoiler*; A lawyer asks if Evan is going to have a mistress (and if so, he’ll be discrete about it); Diana finds accidental contact/touches with Evan “pleasant, exciting even”; *Spoiler but Important Content Info* Evan is told that he should consummate his marriage with Diana due to her father being able to call for an annulment if they don’t; They do talk about it before kissing in a bedroom and then blowing out the candles; The next paragraph says it’s hours later and “they were husband and wife now” (this happens a bit past halfway through); There is a mention later of Evan only showing her physical affection in their “darkened bedroom” but kisses her anyway in the daylight because he wanted to; Later, Evan wishes he and Diana could be alone together in their bedroom for a week with the door locked, wants to have a “grand making up” after hurt feelings, & says he has things to tell her that “don’t require words” *End of Spoiler*; Evan & Diana share a bed/bedroom for some time during this book; *Spoiler* When Evan finds out about the infant, he thinks that Diana’s “gentle, virginal air had been a sham” thinking the child is hers *End of Spoiler*; When sitting together on a horse, Diana’s legs drape over Evan’s thighs (barely-above-not-detailed); A man comments on wanting the “company” of the female staff of a household; *Spoiler* A man pays Diana’s brother to make a situation where he can get his hands on her and promises to pay him more if he’s successful *End of Spoiler*; A few men calls Diana “delectable” and a “pretty morsel”; Men leer at Diana, stare at her body, & comment on having “fun” with her; Many mentions of Diana’s late sister who was seduced by a man during her first season & had an illegitimate child from him (including the whole story being told to others, twice); Many mentions of illegitimate children (also called “by-blow” children); Many mentions of seducing, affairs/infidelity, mistresses, & married couples having lovers (and some justifying it); Mentions of a wedding night, having to consummate a marriage, sharing a marriage bed, & a husband’s rights and expectations of his wife (including Diana’s sponsor giving her instructions about it and Diana not listening well to it & Diana wondering when Evan will want to exercise his marital rights, all barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of prostitutes, brothels, & women of “questionable reputation”; Mentions of temptations (for men of women, including Evan feeling tempted by Diana); Mentions of womanizers (including both Diana’s father and her brother) & philanderers (also called rakes); Mentions of reputations, women being ruined, & virtues; Mentions of the waltz being deemed scandalous because of how close the dancers are (one man calls it “quite exhilarating”); A few mentions of swollen lips from kisses (Diana); A few mentions of veiled sexual innuendoes/coarse comments by men about women; A few mentions of women being “bedded” by men (implied affairs/scandalous events, not through marriage); A couple mentions of rumors about a rushed wedding being due to a baby on the way; A couple mentions of men leering at Diana; A couple mentions of jealousy/envy; A mention of a man treating a woman he seduced as “tainted goods” and not paying attention to her again; A mention of some men being interesting women from another country because they’ve “heard so much” about them; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Marriage is called “leg-shackled” once by Evan; Mentions of suckling a child (breastfeeding; Evan thinks that something may be “wrong” with a girl who is unable to suckle her child); A few mentions of Diana’s sister passing away in childbirth after “complications had set in”; A mention of Diana’s father being a “woman hater” (despite having three different wives).
-Diana Seaton
-Evan Eldridge
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1813
277 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
{Trigger Warning for those sensitive towards physical and verbal abuse from male family members}
After reading the author’s connecting series, I’ve been very curious about this series as we see these characters again in those books. I was, however, hesitant over this trilogy because of all the books having the marriage of convenience trope. Which typically adds sexual content and mentions of intimacy that I don’t feel is needed. (As a comparison, if you’ve read “Short-Straw Bride” by Karen Witemeyer, I would still say that book had more about the intimacy and marital content in it than this book did. However, this book still toe the line while that book went completely passed the line of my personal comfort in that topic.) I was concerned that this book having the marriage of convenience trope (which is easily my least favorite trope) would have more content then I would prefer. It definitely had more than I prefer, but it was handled…better than most of the books I’ve attempted to read with this trope in the Christian fiction genre. That said, I still wouldn’t recommend it for those in BFCG’s target age range.
I really enjoyed this author‘s regency books because she pulls the most unique elements of the regency time. Whether that be the clothing the food or just different items that were only in that time and we’ve never seen before. I love researching it and typically getting a good laugh out of whatever the item is (like a shako).
I was so proud of Diana and how her confidence grows throughout the book. Now that was mainly because of Evan, which I’m never a fan of seeing the “savior male lead” trope in a book, but it was good to see her be able to be out from her wicked father’s grasp and bloom. (Though I would have preferred less mooning over Evan.)
I liked Evan, but I’m definitely looking forward to finally reading Marcus’s story soon. Evan was a good guy struggling with PTSD from his time in the military. I feel like the author wrote his experience with that and his memory loss from a certain event very well and was paced well throughout the story.
The faith content was…okay. There definitely were prayers and mentions of God, but if was more of a “learn as we go” theory for the main characters to learn and understand that God is working on things even when we can’t see them. But we see their doubts about God fixing their circumstances (particularly from Diana) and no actual conversations about it. However, things work out by the end and the characters see that He did fix their situations—through the other main character. That just didn’t settle completely well with me because it felt more like a “oh, well, it all worked out because we’re in love” thought rather than a true coming to God with their concerns and being in sincere prayer while focusing on Him (not their circumstances). Diana feels like the proof of God answering her prayers is by being loved by Evan and I don’t agree with that thought process. God always answers our prayers (even if it’s not how *we* wanted), her needed “proof” of Him answering her prayers and it being through a human male (and when they are kissing at that) isn’t the best or healthiest message to send.
I have such mixed feelings on this book. I liked our main couple and a couple of the side characters, but it definitely went right up to the line of where I am personally comfortable with intimacy mentions and crude comments from others. That’s why I really wouldn’t recommend it for any of those in the target age range of BFCG.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
