Dedication - Janet Mullany

I first heard of this story with great interest because it has an older couple as the h/h. Older than we usually see in historicals I mean. They even had a less than happy past together and I usually like those stories so I had great expectations.

I was however puzzled by how Mullany decides to reintroduce them to one another. The hero holds some knowledge from the heroine and that should have created an unbearable tension between them. That was what I was expecting but not what I felt. Maybe it's the secondary characters and stories that distract from the main relationship but it seemed to me they spent more time worrying about their relative's problems than thinking of their feelings for each other. Then when the truth is revealed they start discussing about how he gave her pleasure or not 20 years ago (??) and then he tells her he changed his will so she will receive half his fortune if she will assist his daughter if needed (??), wouldn't it be better to ask his son for that?

As soon as they were insulting each other they were also falling in each other's arms. It felt weird! They both moved on from their youthful romance to marry other people and seemingly to have a happy life but the truth is that it never felt to me that they had really moved on, especially Fabienne. This becomes even more obvious after another incident from the past is revealed wich brings them both some pain. And when the truth comes out still Fabienne takes too much time to accept her feelings for Adam.

In the end I was left dissatisfied with the story, I've read online how this book was originally bigger and later cut to fit the Signet line. Not sure if that would have solved all my problems but maybe I wouldn't have felt there were too many things in it.

Grade: C+