Lucy Wilcott is the widow of a prizefighter, a man much below her rank. She's beautiful and hates her looks because that's how she ended up marrying the pugilist to save her father and pay off his debts. She eventually did love her husband, but now she's back under her father's thrall. When the Marquess of Thrale comes to visit, he notices her because of her looks, but decides she's not a viable candidate for marriage. Lucy seems empty-headed, and Thrale wants an intelligent wife, but he gradually discovers how smart she actually is. He also is interested in pugilism, and Lucy knows a lot about it from her husband.
Ms. Jewel always finds a new take on Regency romances, so fair warning there's a lot of boxing terms and discussions. I found it interesting, but it's probably not everyone's cup of tea. Lucy and Thrale are a good match, their sex scenes are hot even while the romance is a slow-burning affair. The romance wrap-up happens pretty quickly at the end; I personally would have liked a bit more leading up to that, but another fine story in the Sinclair series. ( )

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! Thrale is my new book boyfriend. Lucy and Thrale are wonderful characters. I like that Thrale does not accept Lucy's empty look at face value when he meets her again. He looks beyond the front she presents to the world. Lucy tries to hide her intelligence and interest in the world behind a façade of the simple-headed society miss to avoid being hurt or hurting those close to her. Her reputation is in ruins because she, a gentleman's daughter, married far below her station. She married a pugilist. She also came to love him and their sex life. When she was widowed she returned home where no one speaks of her marriage.

The Marquess of Thrale likes the sport of pugilism and practices it. Lucy teaches him things he did not know about pugilism. She was an avid student of it because of her husband. She has insights that Thrale never expects a woman to have. I like that Thrale treats her as an equal during their discussions of it. I also enjoyed their fight scene. I loved that Lucy was treated as an intelligent woman who was interested in more than fashion and gossip. Her forthrightness was wonderful to hear. I also liked that Lucy could admit, if only to herself, that she liked sex and she liked it rough. When she and Thrale finally get together, their sex scenes were some of the most arousing I have read. I loved the honesty between them at those times.

I hope more books are planned in this series. I enjoyed this book. ( )