I am so glad this wasn't my first Guhrke novel. I would have been so completely turned off! I agree with other reviewers who gave it less than 3 stars. I managed to get past page 100 (I think) but had to give up. I wasn't 'feelin' the love'. The hero was boorish and the heroine wishy-washy. It read more like a contemporary rather than a Victorian-era book. My recommendation: stick with her newer stories "And Then He Kissed Her" and "The Marriage Bed" and "His Every Kiss".