I got this ARC from Netgalley and this is my honest review of it.

Harry the eldest son and heir of the Duke of Breconbridge has pursued the beautiful Julia Wetherby into the country to ask her to marry him. This is only her latest ploy in their courtship but hes confident that once he manages to make his feelings known she will be his.

After all he is handsome,rich and one of his ancestors were a King (albeit this was out of wedlock)
After she suggest they take an early morning ride he happily agrees seeing it as the perfect moment to propose marriage without being disturbed.

But the horse wich he is assigned is difficult to handle and when Julia thoughtlessy jumps out from behind a bush she scares his horse so much that it rears causing Harry to fall and hit his head and break his leg.

Julia not being the most solid rock to lean runs off and he loses consciouness. The next thing he knows is that a young woman who he first assumes is a servant is taking care to have him treated for his injuries and bring him back to the house.

Of course she is not a servant at all but Julias younger sister Augusta,called Gus.

Despite Gus and their father telling her to take responsibility by attending to her almost fianceeiInstead of staying and taking care of him Julia goes back to London because she cant stand any sort of unpleasantness and dont want to have to marry a cripple as Harry might end up to be.

Their father goes after her and leaves Gus to take care of Harry,who is between life and death for some time but recovers and startscreate more work for Gus by sending for his private musicians,his dogs.Leaving her to have to make room and board for them.
He also wants her to spend time with him since he gets bored.

Gus is equally charmed and exsperated at his behavior. But how could he ever want someone plain and ordinary like her when his preference seems to be for beautiful and women like her sister? Its best not to get her hopes up

She is also trying to keep him from learning that her sister has abandoned him and is partying in London.

.The nursing back to health plot while falling in love is hardly a new one in the world of historical romances. Its also not my favorite plotline but this had other things going for it like the fact that it is set in the 18th century,one of my favorite periods when it comes to historical romances and I had read another book by this author wich I liked. Might as well give it a chance.

I thought Harry was a complete idiot at first and then he had his accident and changed. Wish this transition had been more gradually as Harry before his accident seemed for a lack of a better word weak in his personality and a bit too easily pushed around.

His character got better and more likeable as the book went on and he started to have to make compromises and face the reality that his life was a very different one now after his accident. That is not to say he doesnt get mopy but he snaps out of it when realizes he has to be there for Gus.

I liked Gus personality shes not one of those aggressive and feisty heroines that makes you groan because they have to be right all the time and get their will. Shes tries to do her best and is confident in her abilities in running a household but a bit naive when it comes to her own feelings and dealing with men like Harry.
She does call him out for his behavior once or twice and doesnt let him use her as a doormat.

I liked that the author didnt just have Harrys leg heal magically without reprecussions of any kind. His frustration felt very real to me and knowing personally someone who has had leg surgery the recovery is long and takes a lot of work and yes even in this day and age some people will make fun of you.

It was also interesting to learn that excercise machines like the chamber horse existed in the 18th century.

I did wish that Julia had suffered some consequences from her actions.As a character she feels like a plot device and is very one-dimensional.

While this has a few uneven bits its a solid romance if you can manage to overlook the fact that for one ,I dont think a man would ask a girl to marry him before he had talked with her father nor do I think a young lady would have been allowed to stay behind without as much a chaperone to keep up apperances ,no matter if the man is invalided.

I mean his leg might be broken but his hands and mouth are still working ;)
I also noticed some grammatical errors in the book and a location name mysteriously changes from Mildenhall to Mendenhall in the course of the book. I expect they will be corrected in the final version of this book. ( )

I'm knocking this down a star because, after living with it for a while, I realized that Harry was a presumptuous, entitled jerk and Gus never calls him on it. It is not okay to invite a trio of musicians to stay at a stranger's home just because you're bored. It's no okay to assume that your not-small dogs are allowed in a stranger's house. And, it's not okay to call someone on their jerky behaviour, so both Harry and Gus were at fault, and no matter how great they were together, I just can't get over this unpleasant beginning to their relationship. ( )

Harry Fitzroy follows Julia Wetherby to the country with every intention of proposing to her. When an accident happens he badly breaks his leg and all his plans are out the window. Rather than nurse Harry back to health Julia fleas to London and her father follows her leaving Augusta "Gus" Wetherby to care for her almost brother-in-law. There is humor and drama while Harry and Gus fall in love but the story doesn't end there. I enjoyed it very much. ( )

**spoiler alert**
"If he hadn't fallen from his horse, he would never have fallen in love with Gus" (318).

A story about Harry, the eldest son of the Duke of Breconridge, who fell off a horse while trying to impress Lady Julia, the prettiest girl around that he hopes to make his bride. Gus, the responsible, sensible sister of Julia, takes care of Harry after the accident and assists in his medical care, while simultaneously take care of the house for her father and sister. Lady Julia cannot be bothered with a cripple for a mate and runs far away in search of another mate. Her father runs after her, and therefore leaving the responsible Gus to care for Harry only with the assistance of the doctor and Harry's servant, Tewkes. As Harry's leg recovers, he comes to his senses that Gus is the one he should have been pursuing all along.

I finished this book the other night and have been trying to figure out exactly how I felt about it. Although it was not a book that I simply couldn't put down, I also was not dreading to read it when I came around to it. All in all, for lack of a better description, it was just okay. My feelings vacillated between liking or disliking it, I liked the general plot, thought there was sufficient character development, and the author did a particularly impressive job with the medicine field at the time. However, there was a lot of repetition with Gus' low self-esteem, Harry's not wanting her to leave every time he regained consciousness during his leg situation, Harry's affection growing for her because "she was his Gus", and Gus' constant concern for what the house staff was doing/what they would think.

Furthermore, I did like that this was a story about how his life changed for the better when she entered it. There are so many romances out there about how the girl's life changes dramatically once a guy enters, that it was somewhat of a relief to see Gus being the one to take charge, stand up for Harry, and be the positive influence in Harry's life. However, I did not like the ending. I thought it might have been better if the book ended at the wedding, but it dragged on until far later. I did not like that Gus was walked all over with the wedding planning, the surprise guests, the rude guests, etc. Lastly, what I disliked most about the ending was the transfer of low self-esteem from Gus to Harry. A majority of the book, Gus is constantly undermining her physical looks. At the end, the big conflict is their post-marriage dilemma of Harry becoming reclusive due to his bum leg. I absolutely HATED that Gus ended up having to trick Harry out of his funk, at the advice of Harry's stepmother.

Basically, I didn't hate the book, but I did not overly enjoy it at all, hence the 3 stars.

Big thanks to Goodreads Firstreads for providing this free ARC. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I always enjoy when an author writes a strong female character and Augusta, or "Gus," as she likes to be called is everything you could want. Gus isn't the usual female character you find in romance novels. She doesn't consider herself pretty and she is described by others in the book as being rather pain. When the Duke of Breconridge is injured and abandoned by her sister Gus steps in to nurse him back to health. As the Duke heals Gus and he first become friends and then much more. I will definitely be reading other books in this series. ( )