A second chance romance at the Grand Palace on the Thames.
Plot: Magnus is a national hero and has a solid income, so when he set his sights on Alexandra, whose family was in dire straits, he knew he could win her. He didn’t really bank on her having an opinion on the matter, and a disastrous wedding night led to what they both considered a permanent separation. He fled to the continent to continue his military service, and she retreated from society to avoid putting a foot wrong. Five years go by, and Magnus is forced back to England, and to repair the reputation his marriage. So he’s still both deeply attracted to and infuriated by his wife. So she appears to have quite literally wilted as a result of her marriage to him. Surely a few weeks of forced proximity in a suite at the Grand Palace aren’t enough to dislodge this well entrenched antipathy. Shenanigans ensue.
It’s hard to make a second chance romance work. You need to (a) make the reader buy the protagonists as a couple, (b) find the reason for the relationship dissolving to be believable, and (c) buy that the second time will end differently. That’s a tall ask, and why I think a lot of authors go with circumstances rather than personality deficits. Long doesn’t do things the easy way, and gives us characters who frankly, at the outset, really were an excellent match, but lacked the emotional maturity to weather the difficulties of life as a partner. Not only that, but they did not spend their five years apart working on those parts of themselves that made them incompatible but rather further entrenching their views and personalities.
As ever, Long doesn’t want to give us villains. Here, the true villain is an excess of what we’d consider positive traits. Magnus prides honour above all. He has saved lives, inspired countless people, and is known for always being true to his word, taking care of those who need it, and always knowing what the right thing to do is. Alexandra was also quick to throw herself in front of the metaphorical bomb facing her family, and has built her life in the shadows for fear of dishonouring Magnus. Where a slavish devotion to honour has made Magnus rigid and unfeeling, it has robbed Alexandra of the vigour of life. They needed to stop getting in their own way and learn to actually communicate to flourish as individuals and a pair.
I don’t know how Long maintains momentum like this 8 books deep, but I respect the hell out of it.