The Sum of All Kisses - Julia Quinn

He thinks she's an annoying know-it-all...

Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she's long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.
She thinks he's just plain mad...
Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn't matter. She doesn't care that his leg is less than perfect, it's his personality she can't abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless ...
New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn's enchanting third novel in the Smythe-Smith quartet is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud and tug at your heartstrings in equal measures.

It's so good when Julia Quinn is at her best. I think this TSOAK may well be my favourite book in the Smythe-Smith series so far. Lots of banter between the h/h but especially I liked the enemies to friends to lovers plot line (I guess several of my favourite books do have this plot line).

I liked both Hugh and Sarah, I liked that they are both given some depht of character. Especially Hugh who has had a lot going on in his life ever since the duel with Daniel Smythe-Smith. It was interesting to see the events through his eyes and how guilty he felt about his, and his father's actions. No wonder he felt he had to do everything Daniel asked of him.

Sarah was a trickier character to like in that sense because, although she feels Hugh ruined her life, it never seems something as serious and the life threatening events that befell both on Hugh and Daniel. Although I do understand that a good marriage may as well be that important for a young lady in that period.

Sarah makes no secret of her dislike for Hugh and he doesn't much like her character (obviously) so it is quite entertaining to see them evolve to a friendship of sorts and then on to something more.

The scene with Hugh's father, near the end, was one of those funny scenes by Quinn that makes us laugh out loud even after closing the book. A really good one on my opinion.

Grade: 4/5