This Regency romance had a couple of my favorite tropes: marriage first, leading to courtship and not just hotcha on the Beautyrest (which is fine, especially with a comedic voice) but mutual respect and friendship. Add to that found family, and I was in for a non-stop read.

Matthews does a splendid job with the details of the period, adding just enough reality to ground the story (though I could do without the blood-letting descriptions, because I'm a wimp). I liked the characters, the hero had convincing reasons to be a bit of a Bluebeard, and it was altogether a satisfying read, leaving me wanting to see more by this author.