What follows are two beautiful love stories - Gideon, who struggles with drinking, runs into the light hearted, free spirited Olivia dancing under the stars one night and falls head over heals for the mysterious sprite of a girl.

McKenna's plans are far more complex then a business venture as he plots to breaks Aline's heart in the same cruel way she broke his so many years ago.

However, no amount of success can heal McKenna's broken heart and he talks Gideon into venturing to London to make a business deal with Lord Westcliff, Aline's brother. McKenna finds his way to the Americas where he teams up with, Gideon Shaw, the son of a rich family and together they become immensely successful with their business ventures. Aline's little sister, Olivia Marsden, faces her own dire scandal and must hide from society after her fiance dies. The next several years are tough on both of them, both for their missed romance and a tragedy that strikes Aline. However, when Aline's father finds out about their secret romance and threatens to ruin McKenna, Aline does the only thing she can think to do - sends away the young man she loves more than life itself to protect him. Although Aline is part of the Ton and McKenna is a servant, there friendship and love for each other can overcome all the odds against them. Some things I liked: Livia and Gideon's story, the housekeeper, Stony Cross, Kleypas' mention and dealing with the 'culture clash' between American culture and British culture, MarcusĪ beautifully written book that covers not one love story, but two! I loved the young Aline Marsden - bold, brave and willing to do whatever it takes to win the affection of the boy who's been her best friend since childhood, John McKenna. It seems very much like a Catherine/Heathcliff type of romance to me with a whole of a lot of needless angst, but there didn't seem to be much development within the relationship itself. The lack of complexity in the relationship kept things stagnant. Aline's ridiculousness was the one thing which kept the HEA from moving forward, and it got annoying. I felt like Kleypas didn't really have anywhere to go with the impasse between Aline and McKenna, so she shifted to the story of Aline's sister and developed that instead. Generally, it is the aristocratic man who falls in love with someone below his station, however in this scenario, it is the woman who falls in love with the man 'below her station.'Īfter the initial setting up of the story, however, things began to fall very flat for me.

This is a fantastic plot-line because of the class issues it deals with. A beautiful lady of the nobility falls in love with the stableboy on her family's estate.

Again the magic kleypas