Captain Philip Dacre believes in total order and discipline
and knows that everyone on his ship will listen to and obey his every word. He
hasn’t been home for several years and has trusted his sister, as well as a
series of tutors and governesses to take care of his children. He’s due a few
month’s leave and the latest letter from his sister suggests that things are
getting pretty dire with his offspring.
Ben Sedgwick enjoys his life as a quiet country vicar. He’s
engaged to be married to Alice, his best friend since childhood, but she keeps
postponing the wedding because she’s suffering from a mysterious wasting
disease, which makes her very easily tired and makes it difficult for her to
walk. She wants to be a good wife to him, not just be married out of pity. At
the moment, Ben’s biggest worry is all the unhappy parishioners complaining about
the out-of-control Dacre children. Their latest tutor fled, and their terrible
reputation has spread far and wide, making it impossible to hire anyone else.
Ben’s future father-in-law, an influential lawyer who helped
him get the parish living, tasks Ben with helping out until Captain Dacre can
return and take them in hand. Having grown up with an artist father who had two
wives and was far more concerned with his career and his wealthy patrons than
his many children, Ben had to be responsible and spent a lot of his life
raising his younger brothers. Consequently, he has more experience with spirited
children than many single gentlemen.
Naturally, when sunny and optimistic Ben Sedwick meets the
strict and emotionally withdrawn Captain Dacre, there are some personality
clashes. However, the attraction between them is undeniable and the more time
they spend together, trying to get the Dacre children to trust in their father,
so they can be persuaded to behave a bit less recklessly, the more obvious
their feelings for one another become.
This book is very low-angst and while it’s not quite as «homophobia
probably doesn’t even exist» as Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall, despite
the characters living in a little town, it doesn’t seem like judgment or legal
trouble is going to come our characters’ way for deciding to live happily ever
after together by the end of the book. This is the first book in a new series, Seducing
the Sedgwicks, and we meet one of Ben’s brothers and hear of a third. Since
I’m late to the party reading this, I already know that each of these men gets
their own book, both of which I’ll probably read in the future.
Judging a book by its cover: This cover is an eye-sore. Neither of the characters look anything like they are described in the book, and the blond one, who I'm assuming is supposed to be Ben, looks especially sad and unlike his description.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read
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