A solid Victorian romance with flare.

Two lost souls thrown together by an old man's will is the centerpiece of this book.

The first is Avery James Thorne, nephew to Horatio, the recently deceased. He had hoped to inherit Mill House, where he spent vacations as a child but his uncle had other plans.

He gives Miss Lillian Bede an near-impossible task, to make Mill House profitable. If she can, she'll inherit. If she can't, Avery does.

Avery sets off for adventure in the far corners of the world. Lillian does her best to secure her possible inheritance.

Avery returns to Mill House, a few weeks before the five years are up.

Sparks fly between the two. Misunderstanding flourish. Add in some conniving relatives and a fine plot ensues. ( )

While this is an older historical romance, it holds up well in the writing and characters. Lily is a suffragette who inherits an estate provided she can show a profit in five years. Otherwise, it'll pass to Avery, the heir who was supposed to get the house except his uncle derided him because of his asthma. So Avery travels around the world while he waits for the time to pass. Lily and Avery write to each other as a condition of the will and get to know each other through their letters. But when Avery returns, they must confront their feelings despite their conflict over the estate.
I loved Avery. He's a gentleman who is consistently rude due to his honesty and lack of dealings with women. It leads to some funny scenes as he'll always open a door or seat a lady, but misses verbal cues. Lily is good-hearted but her family background leaves her unprepared to think of marriage. It becomes annoying at times as she wrestles with her feelings vs. her upbringing. The secondary characters are great, and I haven't looked but I expect there are some more books dealing with them. It's a quick but satisfying read. ( )

4.5 ( )

Wasn't as impressed with this one of Brockway's as I was with Bridal Favors. A dying/dead old coot gives the heroine the challenge that if she can keep his house in order and have it prosper for some odd amount of months then she can keep it, if at the end of the time period it's in the red then she looses the house and has to publicly announce that women are not capable of managing such things and the property will go to his grandson. I really enjoyed the letter correspondence section of this book and would've enjoyed the plot more if it that had lasted longer. I also would've liked if the hero had stayed the awkward and lanky guy that he was built up to be during the first half-ish of the book instead of turning into a buff stud. I did, however, enjoy that he was a little shy. ( )

Interesting reading this back to back with Black Silk, both with protagonists brought together by an unusual will. ( )