Review: HISTORY, MYSTERY, THE DANCE OF ROMANCE
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
Sebastian Stanhope, third son of a second son of a Marquess, has just been told that he must marry, Mirabella Wentworth, the daughter of a Duke, and a Duchess in her own right, to settle a gambling debt.  Both Sebastion's father and the Duke think that Sebastion should be unendingly grateful, because Sebastion has no title, nor funds of his own. The one big problem here is that Mirabella is only 13 years old.  Sebastian is 19.  Sebastian, who is known as "The Saint", finds it repugnant and unfair to Mirabella, so he leaves right after the wedding to allow her freedom to grow up on her own terms.  Mirabella sees his leaving as abandonment.  When these two meet, again, six years later, Mirabella has definitely grown up, and Sebastion finds that he is indeed lucky, but not because of money and status.  His wife is the most exciting woman he has ever known, and well worth waiting for.  She has still not forgotten his lack of communication and wants nothing to do with him, or does she?Many times, I have read that a reviewer had picked up a book and, literally, could not put it down until it was finished.  That had never happened to me.  Well, it has now.  I got no sleep last night.  I could not stop reading until the end.  This book has the most romantic, honorable, loving, respectful hero ever written.  Sebastian is why us ladies read romance.Mirabella was just 13 when a stranger came to her home and married her.  She never heard from him, again.  Many reviewers have said she was spoiled and was unlikeable.  No one indulged Mirabella.  Her father ignored her.  She had no other family.  Her husband was not in evidence.  She was not allowed a proper season, to enjoy her coming of age, because she was already married.  She was raised by servants.  Where was the spoiling?  I thought Mirabella was properly outraged and it was no wonder she distrusted the marriage and her husband.The plot of this book was very original, yet true to the genre.  The plot was also very even.  The writer captured the imagination and kept one turning the page.  The characters and the dialogue were the stars for sure.  There were equal parts humor and pathos.  The sex scenes were steamy and emotional, filled with a lover's passion, a lover's promise of forever, and love talk extraordinaire.  Diana Quincy delivers every facet of the perfect romance.