This is my first Amelia Grey. This book reads fine as a standalone having not read book #1.

This book started out absolutely amazing. I was totally in love with everything. It starts with the heroine, Julia, playing in the park with her 4 year old son and getting stuck in a tree while trying to get his butterfly net out. She meets the hero, Garret, this way while waiting for her son and maid to go get help. I adored that scene. It was such a wonderful meeting, a bit silly and somehow built this beautiful tension between the characters. Established their personalities enough that you knew being a mother was important to Julia, as well as her reputation, yet she longed for more freedom and how Garret has been searching for something to help him settle down (he has been a sailor for many years) and thinks he finds it in Julia.

I really think you should try this book if you like
~not overly explicit sex scenes. There were 2 scenes I believe and while I prefer a lot more detail and explicitness, I couldn't deny some beautiful prose in them. Very focused on the feeling and emotions and not the mechanics of it. If you like sweet books or fade to black this might work for you as well, they were well done in that aspect.
~A solid hero. Not sure what word would be best to describe him. Devoted? He is wholeheartedly there for his heroine, no matter what. He's not casting off marriage for some awful reason we all roll our eyes at, he's not trying to dupe his dad with a sham marriage, he is just infatuated with Julia and it never wavers until it becomes a full love.
~The hero rescues heroine trope. While she's not totally defenseless, her sex and time period have left her little options to help herself. The hero helps save her from her troubles.
~You like a widow or a mother as a heroine. Julia was also a vegetarian and I found that unique.

If that is enough to intrigue you, I suggest you give it a try. I, however, am extremely picky and the book kept losing it's steam and my interest as I read on. Specific spoilers ahead regarding my dislikes, please avoid if you don't want to know!

Thanks netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All these opinions and thoughts are my own.
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Spoiler

After all the tension and build up I was a little disappointed in the scenes. They were short and not descriptive, but I know that works better for some people.

The main problem is that Julia wants her freedom from the duke, her father in law. He is very controlling and won't give her any freedom unless she relinquishes her son to be raised by him. It was a good plot...at first. But it took over the whole book for me, it was always about the duke, worrying about the duke, talking about the duke, hypothesizing about the duke, plotting against the duke, planning to fight the duke, and the duke doesn't enter the book until the end. And the conflict is resolve in one short conversation. I was not expecting that and after all of that emotional drama it was rather a let down.

Julia bothered me quite a bit towards the end. I thought one of her choices with her son was ridiculous especially after all of her drama with the way her sons tutor acted. Not that she did the same things, but it all came down to the same logic – he was too young to be treated like that. I really disagreed with one of her decisions. I also felt like she truly didn't understand the hero's love by the end of the book. The fact that she assumed he was trying to take her away from her son after everything he had said and down to protect them made me feel like she knew him not at all. I will say I liked the epilogue and it made them seem like they really were having a happy ever after so that made me feel a bit better.