They used to be close; friends and maybe, before he left, on the road to becoming something more. But after his father’s death, Paul Fraser was forced to leave his Highlands home and could only keep in contact with Juliette Andrews through letters and rare visits home. Their letters brought them even closer until, Paul thought he’d earned the right to ask the baron’s daughter to become his wife – although he was only a doctor, with no noble titles to his name, he was sure he and Juliette suited and that they would do well in life, together. But Juliette never answered his proposal, gave him no reasons, and then suddenly stopped writing, and Paul finished his schooling, all the while keeping Juliette in his heart and wondering how to get her back. Now it’s two years later, Paul and Juliette are both back in the same place again, and he’s determined to either make Juliette his wife or know the truth about why she won’t have him. Unfortunately, Juliette is just as determined to stay a spinster and never reveal why.
It’s a battle of wills set against a backdrop of actual battles (English vs Scots, poor vs. rich, as always) and complete with a London season, courting via kittens, mysterious inheritances, a villain so vicious and ludicrous it strains the limits of believability (just how much could the gentry get away with? I feel like when abductions start happening, it might be the time that somebody starts to take notice, but that could just be me), and a younger sister who better get her happily-ever-after in one of the two remaining books, after how hard she works for Juliette and Paul in this one.
Sequel to Undone by the Duke, and followed by Undressed by the Earl & Unlaced by the Outlaw, Michelle Willingham’s Unraveled by the Rebel is second in her Secrets in Silk quartet. (And is, as of this writing only $.99 on Kindle at Amazon, FYI. Which is how I came to read it, and now the other ones are not quite as cheap, and Amazon has tricked me again.) There is a lot happening in this book – many secrets, a lot of backstabbing, some mischievous plotting on the part of previously mentioned younger sister. In fact, when I started reading, I was a bit worried that the timing of the story might be off – by the end of chapter one, we know the back-story behind Ms. Andrew’s reluctance to marry, for example, and after that, I figured – since those were the big secrets – where would the drama be for the rest of the story? But fear not, there was still plenty of drama to be had. I mean, we don’t even meet the random, unknown Viscount uncle till Chapter 5 or something, so there’s piles of plot left to go around.
The book is worth it for the term “wall-hedge” alone (as in the masculine version of a wallflower, which I am absolutely stealing and using from now on), but there’s still a great deal to recommend it: The Andrews sisters are all unique and interesting, and their relationships are complex and well crafted; the bad guy is completely batshit; and there’s more than one side-plot that’s interesting all on it’s own (a father returned from war, for example). All told, it’s a gentle friends-to-lovers story – a hero who puts his patience into practice (or at least, time-period appropriate levels of patience: I still wanted him to back off a bit, but I get why he didn’t) & a heroine who takes her time and tries to make the best choices for everybody, even as she’s being pressured from all sides, and watching them come together and try to overcome the giant obstacles in their path makes for a charming story.