I have been wanting to read a novel by Josi S. Kilpack for a while, and reading this one has certainly whet my appetite for more. To begin with, I loved the original premise. Lady Sabrina has found a way to put her wealth to good use, by rescuing and reforming men who have succumbed to dissolution and debt—although doing so in a man’s world requires a certain amount of subterfuge. It wouldn’t do to let these men know they’re being rescued by a woman! In fact, it wouldn’t do much for her reputation to let anyone know her dealings. She could be viewed as eccentric in once sense—and certainly would have been in her own time—and yet I could easily imagine just such a woman having really existed.

If anyone needs rescuing, it’s Harry Stillman, which is where the second thing I loved comes in. I’ve never come across an author of Regency romance who has dealt with the kind of dissolute living that was common at the time in such a forthright way. We get to see Harry at his worst, but we also get to experience the kind of thinking that has kept him trapped there—the cycle of desperation and addiction that only digs him in deeper. And we get to experience the consequences with him too. Nor does Kilpack make it an easy road to recovery for her hero or sentimentalise his situation in order to elicit the reader’s sympathy. Quite simply, he reaps what he has sown, and yet I found myself silently willing his recovery.

I enjoyed watching the change in Sabrina and Harry’s relationship as Harry’s recovery progressed, and I enjoyed experiencing the gradual deepening of their emotional connection and the complications that came along with it. In other words, Regency lovers, make sure you’ve checked out Josi S. Kilpack!