that scandalous summer by meredith duran

There are a bunch of characters introduced, some of whom have featured in Duran’s previous books because I am not a completionist, I generally find insertions like this distracting. We’ve gotten past the deception plot, but now it’s unclear if we’re doing courtship lessons (they both have to get married to proper partners, after all) or what. This means that the second half of the book isn’t quite as tightly focused. (Elizabeth is *pissed.* The scene where she confronts him is marvelous-layers of sadness and hope all intermingled.) But then Elizabeth discovers that her financial woes are even worse than she previously thought, and if she wants to keep supporting all the people that rely on her, she needs to get married to a wealthy man, like, yesterday. It’s tightly focused on Elizabeth and Michael and their lives in this Cornwall town. You see, the first half of the book is excellent. Just don’t think about Michael’s logic too hard, and instead enjoy the existential angst he and Elizabeth feel as their relationship develops-Michael because he’s lying to Elizabeth about his identity, and Elizabeth because she is toying with a simple country doctor who cannot possibly understand her risqué lifestyle. Where he happens to meet Elizabeth when he finds her passed out in his rose bushes. So Michael decides to go incognito and hide in Cornwall as a regular country doctor. Michael’s brother, the Duke, is feeling rage-y at the world, so he threatens to cut off funding to Michael’s charity hospital unless Michael stops messing around with widows, settles down, and gets married to ensure the family legacy. However #1: The set-up is kind of ridiculous. In this case, she writes two unattached, supposedly carefree people who are really desperately lonely and them finding their deeper connection is just gorgeous as it unfolds. The way she writes relationships as they develop is just really wonderful. I am so glad that Meredith Duran was recommended to me.

Overall: The back and forth between these two is just *chef’s kiss*

Plot: The set-up is bonkers and makes no sense, but who cares?

Character Chemistry: Instant attraction → Denial → We can have just one night → Is this…love? → BUT DUTY!!!

That scandalous summer by meredith duran