This plays with a very familiar set-up in historical romance - titled main character must marry by a specific birthday to secure inheritance - and beautifully subverts our expectations at each turn. Alexander's prose is so compelling and sharp and they have such a subtle humor I love (particularly in inner monologue). I really enjoyed the use of limited third person POV, because with only Christopher's perspective, we can really feel both his loneliness and his drive to survive to the best of his abilities. It also allows for some really enjoyable plot twists - one or two that are so obvious even our side characters have to poke fun at Christopher for not seeing them earlier (love a meta moment). I would caution readers that this is a slow, slow, SLOW burn, but it builds into a really fitting and lovely HEA.