The Kiss

Years ago Georgiana, a tenant’s daughter, became great friends with the young Marquis of Ellesmere, Anthony, and his cousin, Quinn, until a tragic accident irreparably scarred Georgiana and destroyed the friendship between cousins. Now, Georgiana is the widow of the late Anthony and subject to Quinn, the lost love of her life come back to take over the estate.

Quinn had long since given up on love, having lost everything he cared about due to the lies of those close to him. Now he cares only for his daughter, or so he tells himself, but face to face with Georgiana he cannot deny that there is one other person he wants to trust with all his heart.

Sometimes historical romances rather feel like they're all the same. Even though this shares similarities with others, I do think the story stands apart. I liked the characters introduced here and despite the fact that I'm not usually fond of the "multiple misunderstanding" plotline I didn't mind it so much here. I did find Gerogiana's inability to believe that Quinn could honestly care for her a bit annoying, especially in light of everything he does for her, although it never became totally overbearing enough to turn me off from the story. I found the love scenes to be steamy without being overly graphic which I thought was nice. I liked the different animals in the story from Gwendolyn the hog, to the falcons and Quinn's cat. I really liked Quinn's daughter's name, Fairleigh, and felt her character was enjoyably precocious.

Overall a very nice historical romance that I would certainly recommend to lovers of the genre. ( )

Historical romances are dramatic by definition but authors have wide latitude in how they express said drama. Nash has created two of the most annoying protagonists ever! Misunderstandings and noble self sacrifice are time honored devices but Georgiana Wilde is the most presumptuous, irritating character I've ever had the misfortune to read. I slogged through till nearly the final climax but the incessant, unrelenting misunderstandings were just impossible to get past. I finally just threw the book down. I didn't care how it was resolved. ( )