When the past needs your help…

Synopsis

What happens when a governess’s first love comes back from the dead? Find out in this Gothic second-chance romance.

To claim their future

They must rewrite their past…

Eighteen years ago, Juliana Myles fled her home and built a new life as a governess, believing her childhood sweetheart had been sentenced to death! Now Sebastian Lloyd is back from the dead and wants Juliana’s help in proving his innocence…

Sebastian has spent a lifetime running from an unjust verdict. But he’s tired of being haunted by his past. Yet working with Juliana to capture the true culprit also means being confronted by searing memories of their passionate history. And the temptation to bring their love story back to life…

From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

My review

After seeing her sweetheart being sentenced to death, Juliana Myles fled her home eighteen years ago and built a new life. Now she is not only a governess but also a good friend of the family who she is working for. So even if there are moments that haunt her still, she is content with her life. That is until a ghost from her past suddenly appears and needs her help to prove his innocence. Saying that Juliana is shocked to learn that Sebastian is not dead at all would be an understatement, and while she is sure that his thoughts on the real culprit could not be possible, she agrees on discovering the truth. On their search for the truth, it is difficult to not recall the many memories they share. But with the sense of betrayal they are both feeling, and pretending to be a married couple, could their love stand another chance. Or have the events of the past broken them and their love?

There is always something so hopeful in reading second – chance stories. How a love that seemed truly over and out, can be reignited, and that will bring the main characters (hopefully) back together.

But in this story, Juliana truly believes that her love story with Sebastian is truly in the past, as she saw the man she loved being sentenced to death a lifetime ago.

As a reader, of course we already know that it won’t be the case, but I was curious to read what exactly happened so many moons ago. And of course I could understand the shock Juliana has when she realizes that what she sees, isn’t a ghost at all, but is in fact Sebastian, the man she loved.

Juliana’s story for sure saddened me for a great part of the book. Yes, she lost Sebastian, even if she never believed in his guilt, but facts proved her of her wrong. But it’s not only that Juliana lost Sebastian, also her upbringing, how her father raised her and her brother, and how alone and lonely in fact Juliana has been, just broke my heart.

Even when it was just her and her brother, without Sebastian in her life, her life was rather beige. Only once the romance with Sebastian began, it seemed that Juliana had something good in her life. Only to have it ripped away from her…

While in the present she for sure has a good life, working as a governess, but in fact being truly a friend, her life somehow turned beige again… And beige is not the kind of life that Juliana deserves. Because the kind – hearted person, the gentle person that Juliana is, deserves a life full of colour, full of love and full of passion.

Full of love, like the love she had with Sebastian, who reappears from the dead, not only to seek out the truth, but also to seek out revenge…

I could understand where Sebastian was coming from… As an innocent, there cannot be a more terrible thing to be punished for a crime you didn’t commit. And it is even worse if you have to pay it with your life…

Sebastian has lost everything eighteen years ago, and I could also understand in a way why he blames Juliana for his fate. And thus it also makes perfect sense that he wants her to undo the wrongdoings of the past.

The crime that Sebastian was sentenced for, for sure was a despicable act. An act that Sebastian believes to know who to blame. But for me, it was so despicable that just like Juliana, I refused to believe that Sebastian would/could be right…

Juliana agrees to help Sebastian, but to prove that he is wrong, as in her heart she cannot believe that kind of betrayal. And that shows once again what a kind and gentle persona Juliana is. Because the people she loves, and that love her, cannot possibly be able to such terrible things.

So while their goals are so different, they are also alike, as they both need the truth to come out. A truth they try to seek while pretending to be a married couple.

A pretence, yet with a history, we all know all to well what that means, don’t we? 😊 A pretence that brings back so many memories, filled with love. A pretence that makes clear that love doesn’t just disappear, but can be ignited once again, if it is the pure kind.

And seeing that happening between Juliana and Sebastian, made me a bit laugh. Not because it is funny, but because they are both so determined to not give in to what those memories do to them, but because it is so obviously in vain…

In this book, we not only see a quest for the truth, which is obviously important to lay demons at rest, and clear your name. But we also see how powerful love can be. Love can make you protect your loved ones, love can stand the test of time, and even the most difficult test, the test of trust, belief and even the test of death…

In this wonderful story, we see how the right thing is always the right thing to do, no matter how painful that may seem. But we also see how a second chance at love is the most heartwarming thing there can be. And that love, the purest kind of love, always finds a way back, and can be worth of all the pain you had to endure.