Grandmother, grandmother, who shall it be
Who shall it be who will marry me?
Duke, Earl, a powerful marquess?
When my heart is given to Fyclan Morris…
In New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell’s new novella, beautiful Jennifer Tarleton has no lack of noble suitors, but the only man who captures her attention is the one her father will never let her marry: Fyclan Morris. He’s a brash adventurer, witty, courageous…and Irish! Even worse, her father blames her for their reversal of fortune…
And it’s a fortune—or rather his grandmother the fortune teller—who foretold that Fyclan would meet “the one”, a love prophesied in the stars. He vows nothing will stand in the way of making Jennifer his bride, but is the price too high? Or is a thing called love worth every challenge?
The Review:
Fyclan has always known that he would meet a woman who would change his life forever, but when he finally meets her, Jenny's father refuses to let Fyclan have anything to do with her. Jenny's father wants his daughter married off to anyone, anyone except Fyclan.
Poor Jenny. The fate of her family rests on her shoulders as her father tries to save them from debt by thrusting her at suitors. She's beautiful, if poor, and has no trouble receiving attention from the men in town, but none of them seem to see anything beyond her looks. She'd rather read than be ogled (fair enough!), and I appreciated her view of the world from the opening lines of her character introduction:
"She needed a book. She had to have something to read. She
was desperate for it."
A girl after my own heart! Unfortunately, her father isn't a fan of her reading habits any more than he's a fan of Fyclan Morris, the only man who notices she actually has a head on top of her shoulders.
A girl after my own heart! Unfortunately, her father isn't a fan of her reading habits any more than he's a fan of Fyclan Morris, the only man who notices she actually has a head on top of her shoulders.
Fyclan steals Jenny's heart by rescuing her in the direst of circumstances - She is in want of a book, so he borrows one from a private library on her behalf. Seriously, what a guy!
This novella is very fast paced, moving rapidly from the get-go. In the same way, Jenny and Fyclan fall for each other as quickly and as easily as stepping into a library. Despite their bookish love, there was something missing for me from their connection. There seemed to be a distinct lack of chemistry between them, and much of their developing relationship happened by way of Jenny receiving letters from Fyclan (since he has been banned from her presence by her father). I'm typically a sucker for epistolary love stories, but given the lack of heat between these two, I think I would have liked a little more time with them together to develop a closer connection one on one (so to speak). That said, this hero and heroine bond over the smell of books (literally) so I couldn't help but want them to live happily ever after (forever and ever the end).
There's a semi-fantasy element to the story, with Fyclan being so invested in the story of his fated wife, and Jenny's own dreams of her future daughter. It has a bit of a magical realism feel, which is a little random, but also quite cute.
As I've mentioned before, I'm really on the hunt for good historical romance novellas, so these novella length series introductions are great. This one didn't have quite the chemistry I was hoping for between hero and heroine, but it was a cute, bookish love story that was a fun short read.
A Little Thing Called Love by Cathy Maxwell is a historical romance, released by Avon Impulse on September 22, 2015.
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