Susan Kerslake lives between worlds, she was raised on the manor, gentry but not quite. She's working as a housekeeper at Crag Wyvern, a peculiar place, full of dark eccentricity. She thought she'd never see Con Somerford again.

Con has inherited Crag Wyvern and he's back to inspect the property. He hasn't seen Susan for eleven years, when they were childhood sweethearts.

Smuggling is the theme of this novel and a fascinating tale it is.

Great plot, great characters. ( )

It had to be bought, the Earl of Wyvern? When you use Wyvernfriend as a username how could you resist? Then you add in smuggling, suspicion, a hunt for missing documents, corrupt servants, an amusing alchemical collection you hit a lot of my pleasure buttons.

Granted it was a pretty typical romance and some of what went on wasn't amazing but it was fun. I liked the characters, even with some of the anachronisms, and the various twists and turns kept me amused. ( )

When they were both fifteen, Susan Kerslake let her ambition and her need to belong get the better of her and told her true love that she never wanted to see him again because he was only a younger son. Broken-hearted Con Somerford joined the infantry against Napoleon to lose himself in death and destruction.

Now, ten years later, Con has inherited Crag Wyvern from the former mad owner and has come to see to the disposal of the house - and maybe catch a glimpse of Susan despite his continuing hurt. Susan, too, has never gotten over Con, but she cannot escape the house and his presence. In order to save her brother David, the local smuggling master, she must find the gang's hoard that is hidden somewhere inside the earl's house.

I very much dislike the premise - I find it very hard to fall in love with the main characters when they (no matter how understandably) are cruel and hateful to one another throughout most of the book. It's very difficult to maintain respect for the heroine when she is still willing to sleep with the hero after he calls her a whore or otherwise insults her.

So this book was a rough read for me. I liked both of the main characters; then they would both act amazingly stupidly and ruin whatever rapport they had been establishing and made me want to smack them. Luckily, they never reached the Too Stupid To Live level.

The writing style really carried it off, though. Con never crossed the line from cruelty born of hurt into unforgivable, and Susan was generally a strong character who didn't pull Hester Prynne type masochistic stunts (except for one scene).

Although the premise of the story had me very wary, the ending was believable and brought about through a fantastic scheme of cross-dressing and hijinks. I loved Con's secretary Race beyond all reason, and his is the book I'll be reading next to see if the series is worth keeping.

Not sure about whether to keep this or not. I'll decide that upon reading some of the others to see whether I love the other characters more. ( )

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