Kleypas admittedly writes standard romance fare: the rake inherits a title and lands, falls in love with his dead cousin's widow, is the first man to ever woo her like she deserves, happily ever after. And yes, you can argue that it's not fair that the women are always virgins and never have to improve their character, but I'm not going to argue that because Kleypas does such a good job of making these characters so compulsively readable that you find yourself thinking, God, if every man was this devoted to improving his life to find a woman, I'd have a lot fewer "sorry he sucks" conversations with my girl friends. The side characters in this book are what make it perfect: Trenear's younger brother who throws himself so into the role of helping fix the land that he ends up adopting a piglet out of the goodness of his heart, the wild twins, the forthright businessman and his interest in the quiet Lady Helen. It's a fun read for anyone looking for a nice historical romance.