I just couldn't buy into this story and the characters seemed like cliches rather than interesting, unique people. I also found all the harping on the rulebook lessons tedious. But, it wasn't painful or didn't offend me or anything, so I'm okay leaving it at a 2. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't for me. ( )

Jeffries creates some great characters! I'm always a sucker for a disabled heroine, but this book was quite enjoyable besides. And on to the next one!

Stands up on re-read, great story ( )

Jeffries creates some great characters! I'm always a sucker for a disabled heroine, but this book was quite enjoyable besides. And on to the next one! ( )

Second in the Swanlea Spinsters series. Pretty good. Helena's sister Juliet elopes and Helena enlists the help of ex-smuggler, Daniel, to track her down. But Helena insists on coming along, so Daniel calls her his wife to help with the caper. Only by the end of the adventure, they want to make the marriage real. ( )

The book starts when the heroine, who has a limp, goes to the hero's house (an ex-smuggler) to ask him his help in locating her sister who seemed to have eloped with a fortune hunter and possible smuggler. The hero reluctantly agrees that she accompany him in his search, while he's trying to pick up the trail of her sister. But the only way she can accompany him without ruining her reputation, is if she pretends to be his wife. And so the search begins, and of course they have to share rooms in taverns and deal with smugglers, some of which are friendly and some not. Their proximity makes their attraction to each other hard to ignore, but she's a gentle-bred lady, while he's a low-born ex-smuggler who only recently became respectable, so they are both reluctant to act on it.The book was not bad and kept a nice enough pace and balance between action and romance. However, the hero and mainly the heroine were not my cuppa: she was overly naive and innocent (she even didn't know how men and women mated) but also intelligent, courageous and spunky -to the point of stupidity I might add- while he was over-indulgent for my taste. Fans of these qualities will no doubt like this one. A note though, that this is the second in a series, and the hero of the first one is closely related to the smugglers. I didn't have a problem following the story without having read it, but even the reason behind the sister's 'elopement' is related to events that took place in the first book. They are explained here, but briefly. ( )