The "Arabian" hero was different and added interest to the story, as well as the difficult adjustment to society of his children. ( )

There's nothing like a good governess story!

The fake client ruse that began this book made me adore the principals of the Distinguished Academy of Governesses immediately. I love to read about women who use their ingenuity to forge a livelihood amidst the confines of of the 19th century.

With Lady Charlotte Dalrymple, Dodd has created a warm, sympathetic character that you can't help but want to see succeed. The hero, Wynter, was a bit more problematic for me.

I had difficulty understanding how a man could have developed such dogmatic views about the role of women as a result of his living with the Beduoin. After all, he spent the first 15 years of his life living in England and was raised by a strong, charismatic and intelligent mother. How was it possible for him to buy into the beliefs of another culture so completely?

Such is the skill of Dodd and the magic of the entire cast of characters that I was able to set this issue aside and just settle in and enjoy the story.

I look forward to reading the rest of the Governess series as soon as possible.

In desperate straits, Viscountess Dalrumple turns to the newly-founded Distinguished Academy for Governesses to find a woman - unflappable and with impeccable manners and propriety to educate her grandchildren - and her son Wynter - in the manners needed in polite society. They've been living with the Bedouin tribes of El Bahar for the past several years, and desperately need polishing before a royal visit from Queen Victoria and royal ambassadors.

The premise isn't bad, and I liked most of the characters. I even liked the children - which is a difficult thing to pull off in my mind. They were fresh and believable, intelligent and stubborn, but ready to love and eager to please - within reason. But I simply couldn't grow to like Wynter. For the first half of the book he tended to be only irritating, so that I still hoped for his eventual redemption. But in the second half, the character revealed himself as insensitive, insufferably arrogant and self-absorbed. I just wanted to throw things at him. He lives with the ridiculous assumption, gleaned from his 'desert father' that men are the center of 'their' women's universes and that men do not love.

He rests secure in the mistaken assumption that everyone must love him because of the sole and stellar accomplishment of having been born with a penis. And even after having deliberately manipulated her into an untenable and powerless position to gratify his own irritating assumptions about her needs and desires, he insists that she must absolutely adore and want him - all spitting hissing clawing tirades to the contrary. Hate to break it to you, Wynter, but not all women are ecstatic to worship you simply due to your manly accoutrements.

While I admired Charlotte's outburst (and cheered for her and some of its effects), it didn't even seem to dent his imperturbable immature narcissism. After wanting to scream at him for so long, his minor act of repentance/change wasn't nearly enough to redeem him in my eyes. Essentially, he deliberately breaks her spirit - something unforgivable in my eyes, and can't figure out why she's not pleased as punch. And he has the gall to mope that someone's broken his toy.

Simply put, he was far FAR too 'alpha' for me. I find that type intensely irritating. But the writing was well-done and the characters well and believably drawn, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to those who don't mind this sort of character/plot-line. But definitely, DEFINITELY not for me. ( )