The Second Time Around

So they meet again. Patience had not expected to run into Richard at a ball. Nineteen years ago, Richard had missed his chance with the woman he loved, and Patience had to marry a man of her family’s choosing. Past the foolishness of youth, and Patience now a widow, Richard vows to finally conquer the heart of the woman he still loves and marry her. It’s always nice to see a story featuring older characters in a romance and finding their happy-ever-after: both Richard and Patience are over 35. The real hurdle is that Patience’s stepson has the guardianship of her daughters, and she refuses to be separated from them; it’s a rather complicated family situation because of Regency law, however, it was satisfactorily resolved in the end. Both Richard and Patience are lovely people, who truly love each other, and always have; they were victims of circumstances, mostly due to Richard’s love of adventure. Novellas can be restrictive, but I found that THE SECOND TIME AROUND could have been better balanced. I felt Patience and Richard were “rushed” into the initial sex scene. I would have preferred their rekindled romance to last longer before they hopped into bed, which was also a tad too convenient and somewhat unoriginal. The pages used for the second sex scene could have been put to better use, the above mentioned rushed courtship, especially since that second sex scene, while lovely, was unnecessary to the plot, as an event that had occurred previously was sufficient for storyline purposes. Another little issue was that, while perfectly charming, there were many superfluous details about the numerous children, and again this is because of the very short length of the material, otherwise it was delightful. Ella Quinn’s writing is gorgeous, as usual; her attention to detail makes us participants in this beautiful story, and her eloquence conveys the myriad emotions the characters experience. I will never tire of honourable heroes who do what’s right and prove themselves to be worthy of a fine lady. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

Love it but too short