I liked this story for what it was. A fiction story whether historical fiction, romance, or whatever label you may want to add, it was a nice read, not the best I've read certainly, but good nonetheless.

James, Lord Harkness, a.k.a. Heartless, purchases Verity Osborne at an auction to save her from a worse fate (being purchased by the blacksmith). The premise of the story is Verity winning the acceptance of the villagers, discovering the truth of James' mysterious past and alleviating his current sickness (posttraumatic stress disorder - shell shock). The three genres this book attempts to appeal to, gothic, regency or the "gentle, healing love story" will be disappointed because they all fall flat. The gothic atmosphere is nonexistent and its "mystery" completely obvious to gothic fans, the regency is just plain boring, without the sparkling wit and catty turn of phrase that you expect from the genre, and the "gentle, healing love story" is more of the hero being a jerk and the heroine a martyr. Some problems are that the first third of the book concentrates on James avoiding her and Verity's interaction with villagers and distributing her herbs (think of a good fairy flitting around and bestowing goodwill on all and sundry, and you pretty much have an image of Verity; it might have been a bit more realistic if the miraculous herbs didn't always work), James' mysterious past isn't mysterious or frightening (although war is always pretty gruesome), and what could have been an emotionally touching healing is spoiled by the bland writing (on one page I counted SEVEN "said"s) not to mention the hero's contemptible behavior toward the heroine. Verity is not gentle: she's a rug for James to trample all over, which he does every chance he gets. This is not a gentle love story, it's hardly a love story at all in my opinion. Verity is an unbelievable martyr, sacrificing herself for James (he practically rapes her the first time and afterward is so wrapped up in his own self-loathing that he doesn't even offer her any comfort, but adds insult to injury by practically throwing her out of the room after a cruel rejection, NOT my idea of a hero, sorry). Moreover, James is a pushover, allowing his ungrateful tenants to blow him off and rush to hide their children from him. The villain is recognizable the very second he steps into the story, before it even becomes apparent that there is something villainous going on at all (this is what I mean by stock characters; he is the stock gothic villain). By the time I got halfway through, I was literally plodding through the pages, bored and disgusted. Finally I just skimmed to the end, discovered it to be exactly as I'd predicted, and tossed it.
Final opinion: NOT worth your time.

Verity is a heroine who discovers her inner strength, stops being a doormat, gives generously of herself to those around her, and discovers that she's okay after all.

James is a tormented hero who acts like a "monster" because of an overabundance of shame & guilt. But beneath all that, he is so honorable & noble, that Verity stays in his home for 8 months with only 1 incident, one that dumps another boatload of guilt on James & more esteem issues on Verity. Along the way, however, they become real friends, which is the best basis for any relationship. The romantic feelings are buried because of their situations. When they finally come to light, their strength has healed not only James & Verity, but the entire community.

Although I had a good idea who the villain was, there were enough red herrings to keep it interesting. My only complaint is that there should have been surviving witnesses to the villain's admission of guilt and to James' situation.

This story is not primarily about lust or seduction, nor does it heavily rely on such elements. Instead, it's about two hurting people who grow, and heal, and find abiding friendship and true love. The attraction is there; it just doesn't dominate the story or the characters.

The Cornish dialect was sometimes hard to decipher, but it added greatly to the setting and tone. Enjoy!

This book is most definitely not romantic. The author gets so involved with her 'noble heroine' and the worthy peasants clches that she and the hero barely exchange words. There is no witty dialogue or reparteee, any of the 'getting to know you' one would hope for before they actually do the business.

When they finally do 'it' at about page 200, it is little better than a near rape as she 'comforts' him when he is having one of his flashbacks as to the awful things that happened to him in the war. Then he is furious that she is a virgin and didn't mention it (not that she ever got a chance!) and tells her to get out and he will never touch her again. We get gory descriptions of the blood all over her and what a 'bloody mess' she looks, as if she is some thing, not even a person.

Only when her ex shows up and wants her back does James bestir himself to admit to her he likes her (big deal) and needs her. (selfish brute who wants to forget the war)

He is not a bad man, but if the book was not so seriously skewed to her playing Lady Bountiful we might get to like him more. The whole Lord Heartless image really starts to be unconvincing after the first couple of pages, but he does seem that way as we never learn anything about his former love, or his son--he even says he had only ever loved two people in his life-his first wife and Verity. Parents? Son? The depth of character is just not there.

The entire book was predictable, and the only real star was her depiction of Cornwall, which reads like something straight out of the wonderful Poldark series.

A highly derivative romance, with no sizzle and some very distrubing undertones, and inconsistent characters I never get to feel I care enough about.

I ploughed to the end of nearly 400 pages just waiting for something to heat up, but it left me (and the lovers I shouldn't wonder) cold.

Interesting story line that I had not read much about before. The hero (James) has gone off to the war in Spain and when he comes home he obviously has posttraumatic stress syndrome, which of course no one including him understands. At the same time, the heroine (Verity) is being sold, by her husband at an auction in a little town square. One thing leads to another and James ends up buying Verity from her husband. It is interesting to see how things progress. Verity is not made into his mistress instead she is introduced as his cousin, though many know differently.

The story progresses as you find out what happened to his previous wife and see how Verity comes to care for the town and those around her. Including the bad tempered James.

I enjoyed this story and recommend it to others as not the normal romance.