Looks can be deceiving!

Synopsis

His heart is a fortress… And she’s trespassing!
After losing all he holds dear in a horrific fire, Max Aldersley, Earl of Rivenhall, shuns the world—until he catches Effie Nithercott digging holes on his estate! He banishes the intrepid archaeologist and the unsettled feelings she rouses within him. But she returns even more determined and infuriatingly desirable than before! He wonders just how deep she’s prepared to dig—so far she’ll reach the man beneath his scars?

My review

Max Aldersley, Earl of Rivenhall, has been through a lot. After he has been scarred for life, he lost his passion of the sea, he lost his fiancée and people are just scared of him.
So now he hides on his estate and doesn’t want to be bothered by anyone.

But Effie Nithercott has a mission and she will go against his wishes! She is an archaeologist and she just knows that there are real treasures hidden on Max’ estate and just keep digging holes in the ground.

Max is determined to chase Effie away, but Effie is stubbornly refusing to leave. Who will claim victory?

I’ve read several books of Virginia Heath, so I kind of knew what to expect. But this one just stands out as the best one (until she writes even better ones!).
Both Effie and Max are stubborn people not letting someone else dictate them.

Max is reclusive for the obvious reasons. Being scarred, he has seen too many people just looking at the scars and nothing more. And some people are just terrible, as covering children’s’ eyes.
He is certain that nobody sees further than the scars, with of course the exception of his family.
But is he truly the bully he seems to be once you get to know him better?

The way Max invents new names for Effie is hilarious, and it shows that Max is more ‘human’ than we think.
He is a gentle man, thinking about Effie’s welfare and worries of her being outside on her own.
But he is also funny, something you wouldn’t expect at all.

Effie is tired carrying the “burden” of being a woman. She is an intelligent woman, making extraordinary discoveries. But because she is a woman, people do not take her in account. So she is determined to make her voice count!

This pair was just what I needed! They have both their own reasons for mistrusting people, but when they are together they accept each other how they are without any judgment.
A beautiful story about how the inner beauty and intelligence it what truly matters. And that accepting the other just the way he or she is, is what loving someone means.