Review: Swoon-worthy hero!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 8, 2013
The wedding day; it's the happiest day of two people's lives.  In the case of Sebastian and Tessa, it's not their happiest day-it's their fathers.  Wagered in a game of chance, one nineteen year-old mister and one thirteen year-old duchess marry, going their separate ways barely after the ceremony is complete.  Six years later, they are resigned to their fate and meet once again, still unhappy with the imposed wedding.  Totally and utterly unhappy.  Well, more like: mostly unhappy.  Ok, maybe more like: not completely happy.  Actually, the wedding might not have been such a bad idea...Yikes--I have such mixed feelings about this book that it's so hard to give it a rating!  First off, I definitely felt bad for Sebastian and Tessa's situation right away and could totally see where they're coming from throughout the book.  The characterization is fantastic, because you can see how each one's background shapes who they are in the present.  Sebastian is such a sweet, understanding, honorable, and `saint'-like hero that it's so hard to not like him, which makes it so difficult to read how Tessa is constantly trying to prove he's bad.  Tessa is such a loving character to her friends that it's so sad (and takes some of the fun out of the book) how she pretty much punishes Sebastian, because she misunderstood his past and present intentions.  Some of the stuff she pulls is so childish and immature, which at times made her unlikable when I wanted to like her.  Luckily, that doesn't last the whole book.The book has many surprise twists towards the later half of the book that at times seemed completely implausible even though they made the story even more entertaining and happy for the characters.  I did feel that one of the early misunderstandings between Tessa and Sebastian was a bit silly.  It's one of those things where someone is trying to tell you something important for days and the other keeps cutting you off so you can't.  I mean, come on: it's important!  Just spit it out and save yourselves some future angst and aggravation that is totally and completely avoidable!  The secondary characters were interesting, and I loved so many of the surprises with them!  I didn't see many of those coming at all!Other than Tessa and Sebastian getting to know each other and overcoming other forces trying to break them up, there really isn't any other major plot lines.  Tessa trying to prove that Sebastian is as bad as she built him up in her mind, and Sebastian wooing her takes up the majority of the book.  I will admit that there was one scene where I teared up, because I felt so bad for Sebastian and Tessa.There are sex scenes but nothing too graphic so I'm labeling it as medium heat level.  I definitely recommend this to those that like historical romance with clean cut heroes.  I would have rated this as a 4 out of 5, but since it did make me cry, I'm going higher.  It's weird that I would rate something that made me cry as higher, but I figure if I cared about the characters that much, then it's a 5 out of 5 for me!(Originally posted on my blog; I received an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)