Love and its mysterious ways, even in the Regency era…

Synopsis

Can young love heal the wounds of the past…?

Regency England

When her father — a countryside reverend — dies suddenly, young Patience Worthington is left with no home and little money. In urgent need of support, she is forced to seek out her estranged uncle, a viscount at the vast Worthington Place.

Patience arrives to find that her uncle has died and that the current viscount is her cousin, Gideon. After hearing her plight, he agrees to give her a home on the Worthington estate.

However, when Patience and Gideon learn the cause of the long-standing rift between the two sides of the family, they quickly begin to clash. Now too proud to accept his accept the viscount’s charity, Patience soon leaves Worthington Place to seek shelter with her late mother’s relatives in Bath.

With her kindness and beauty, Patience is an instant success in Bath society and regularly crosses paths with Gideon. Despite their differences, they enjoy each other’s company and form a tentative friendship.

But when dark secrets once again threaten their growing bond, the cousins begin to wonder whether they can ever leave the shadows of the past behind…

LOVE’S LEGACY is a historical romantic tale set in Regency England, with a strong female lead and a moving love story at its heart.

Link

https://books2read.com/u/bzZZVz

My review

Patience Worthington has no other option to seek the help from her estranged family after her father, a countryside reverend, suddenly passed away.
Even if she has no other option to seek out her uncle, Patience is not the kind of woman ready to live on charity.
However, it’s not from her uncle that she will find help, as he also passed away, but from her cousin Gideon, who kindly offers her and her friend a place to stay.
But the past isn’t always in the past, and as the reason of the past rift is clear, it causes the first of many clashes between Patience and Gideon, making Patience even exchange Worthington Place for Bath.
The contact however remains, as Patience becomes a success in Bath’s society and a tentative friendship is made.
A friendship constant at risk, as there are secrets casting a dark cloud over the times they enjoy each other’s company. And both having strong characters of their own, surely doesn’t help to strengthen their already tender bond.

There were many things I liked about this book, and one of them was that it was totally not what I expected this book to be!
I thought that the main characters would fall quickly in love, had to overcome a few hurdles and then would get their happily ever after.
Of course there was romance in it, but not the way I thought it would.

At first instance I thought Patience would be a typical woman, a meek one, only wanting to find love and all the rest was secondary.
But I quickly had to dismiss this idea, because Patience was a feminist avant la lettre. She doesn’t want to be at someone’s mercy, she wants her independence and wants to find her own path.
She also cannot stand injustice and sees what is wrong in the world.
However, she is also a stubborn woman, sometimes doing and thinking the wrong thing, but she always does and think it because of the circumstances.

I admired her courage to just seek out the people who may not be welcoming her because of the past. I liked the way she was reasoning, because what’s the worst that can happen?
We also see her kind character, the ways she always sees the good in someone, but also how forgiving she can be.

And Gideon, wow what an amazing man he is! as a reader we know why he is keeping a secret from Patience, and that secret shows us just how righteous he is. He is doing what no man would ever do, especially in that time set, but he doesn’t care what society may think, he does what the right thing is to do…

The author managed to write a beautiful story, not only a romance, but about two main characters doing what their hearts tell them, and not what society tells them.
This story shows us all that is good in the world, and the ability of people doing the right thing. And that love doesn’t only mean love for a partner but also love, forgiveness and compassion for your fellow man.

While reading this story, I found myself on a wonderful journey, not knowing where I would be going, but sometimes it’s not the final destination that matters, but the journey itself that was worth of every struggle we as a reader and the main characters had to endure. And the end just being the epitome of a great adventure.