Love isn’t something real, right?

Synopsis

The cool, aloof earl

And the enchanting lady

For Jack Beresford, Earl of Hawkenden, emotional entanglements are the path to pain. But when his brother brings his new wife and her best friend to his country home, everything changes. Lady Cecily Thornhill is both vibrant and beautiful, and Jack finds himself increasingly captivated by her sunny nature. Yet he must resist her charms, for in a month she’ll be gone—unless his frozen heart thaws before then…

My review

Lady Cecily Thornhill is, after her being initial sceptical, over the moon about the marriage of her best friend Nell with Tom Beresford.
She is happy to be spending some time with them at the country home. But when Tom’s brother Jack also planned to be spending some there. But Jack and Tom couldn’t be more different… while Tom is totally in love with Nell, Jack has his doubts about this marriage. He truly believes that love is not real, and that women are bound to leave the men they claim to love.
So certainly his growing attraction to Cecily is something he should ignore…

Whenever you read a Harlequin book, you know what to expect. So why bother with this book you must think? Well, because I said so!

First of all, we have Cecily. She is kind, loving, warm and wants the best for those she cares about. But she is not just a giddy woman, looking for a man who would provide the most advantageous marriage.
She knows how a marriage out of love looks like, and she wants the same. However she also has her head on her shoulders. Because when Nell married Tom very quickly, Cecily is initially having her doubts about it being so hasted.
But when she sees the pure happiness, she cannot not be happy for her friends!
She is also the kind of person who wants to understand why someone is the way he is. And Jack’s behaviour may be cold and even rude in some moments, but she knows that there is something still haunting him. And her kind character wants to find out what it is and help out every way that she can.

Jack… it’s obvious that he has his heart broken several times. But not because his love was unrequited, but on a much deeper, meaning and thus also hurtful level. Slowly his behaviour makes more and more sense and him being sceptical towards Nell is something I could understand. Not that I agreed with him, but I saw where he was coming.

This was partially a sad story, because seeing how the past had an effect on Jack was terrible. And then learning that is was because of someone that supposed to have your best interest at heart, made it even worse!

But it was also a heart-warming story, because no matter what happened in the past, it can always be overcome.
There are so many sweet moments, enlightening moments and even moments I almost had tears in my eyes.
It was beautiful to see how thanks with Cecily’s presence Jack could face his demons and come clean about his fears and feelings. And that’s what daring to love is all about!