My Saving Grace by Danelle Harmon
Heroes of the Sea #10

This being book 10, IDEALLY you will want to read this in order. There's plenty of characters in this story that have had their own stories. Very little recap, just a story told her and there among family members that I would assume were in previous books. This was my first by Danelle Harmon, and even with it being book 10, it felt okay to me read out of order. I am not a stickler for that though. I wasn't left confused or annoyed by other characters or anything. It was nicely done.

This book takes place in 1814. Lady Grace's mother is celebrating her fourth marriage and Grace herself has her sights set on her future husband, naval officer Ponsonby. She will do anything to catch his attention, but so far it has consisted of extremely embarrassing moments that are from endearing her to him. She believes if she can just learn the basics of sailing, he will finally look upon her favorably. Lucky for her, Captain Delmore Lord is attending the wedding celebration and she soon ropes him into a scheme to get her married.

Del is a rather quiet, stoic individual. He blends into the background easily. He controls his emotions. He has had his heart broken and has backed into himself to prevent it from happening again. Grace's spunky personality keeps him engaged and on his toes and he finds himself drawn closer to her at every turn.

Give this book a try if you like
-roadtrip romance – this couple is on the go with a house party, quick sale on a frigate, visiting family members, and back to the ship
-sea captain hero with a decent amount of ship talk/learning and sailing
-low steam – this romance is almost sweet. Two very short kisses and one full scene that was short and not very explicit. The full scene happens after 90%
-A bit of angst and a bit of action. There's a bit of a 'villain' here, but it's not overwhelming. Just a few things here and there that causes instigation
-hero is involved in a duel
-a book where one of the main characters has another love interest in the beginning

I'm so conflicted with this book. The writing was wonderful. I was totally engaged in the story. I really loved the hero and my heart broke for him. But. The heroine. She drove me bonkers. I dislike when the hero or heroine is interested in someone else in the book. I find it really annoying unless it's a short part. But this was not a short part. I could have even forgiven her if by 70% she was willing to give it up. But she wasn't. No. She kept it going until the very end of the book. She put the poor hero through the ringer. Stomped on his heart. Kicked it. And that made me really angry. He deserved better than her I think, especially after the build up of the prologue for him finding the woman meant to be his.

Also the steam was really low in this book. There was some decent tension building and if there was one explosive scene or even just a scorching kiss I think I would have been pacified. But it was all rather tame and I kept waiting for someone to lose it and it never happened.

Yet, there was something about this book that called to my heart. It had so much that I loved about it. I found myself thinking about it the next day and just wanted to get back to reading it. It really did have that historical feel in regards to propriety. The hero was always very concerned about the heroine's reputation. It gives a simple talk after night on a bench the most risky feeling. The breathlessness of if someone will catch them, even though they are just sitting, yet it feels so indecent. That is something I love about HR that I find lacking in more modern writers generally. Everyone seems to be doing whatever they want now. Not here. There's a scene where Del carries a seasick Grace to her cabin and sits with her. Unsupervised. Unchaperoned. And I was almost giddy with the forbiddeness of it.

So I will definitely be trying more by her in the future. I think she's a great storyteller. I do wish there was more steam, but I think with a few plot tweaks I could love it even being low steam.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are totally my own.