A FIGURE OF LOVE

A historical romance featuring a widow and an uptight British gentleman who find love.

As the story opens, it’s 1817, and Gareth Lockheart is listening to Sandford Featherstone, his guide to the behavior of the English aristocracy, talk about how many puppies he’d need to raise hunting dogs. All Gareth wants to do is get back to his investment projects, but in order to do business with the upper echelons of British society, he must learn to act like an aristocrat. He already has the lavish country house—it just needs the finishing touches, such as a beautiful garden. Widowed gardener Serena Lombard originally comes to Gareth’s country home to talk over possible design plans for improving the estate, but she leaves with total control over the whole design and construction project. She initially finds Gareth’s straightforward and humorless manner mildly amusing, but the more time they spend together, the more she realizes that her feelings for him run deeper. As time goes on, though, the two grow closer, and Serena begins to rely on him—and even reveals some of the darkness in her past. However, Gareth needs an aristocratic wife to be seen as a perfect British gentleman, and both he and Serena know that she’s not it. It soon becomes clear that their love might not be enough to keep them together. Spencer’s second novel in the Academy of Love series, following 2019’s The Music of Love, manages to feel original despite its very traditional opposites-attract storyline. This is due in part to the inclusion of Serena’s dangerous past, her young son, and Gareth’s desperation to fulfill a role that he doesn’t particularly care for. The attraction between the two main characters is clear from their first meeting, and their banter and occasional awkwardness around each other make for a consistently entertaining read. Serena’s past provides an exciting twist that will satisfy readers looking for something a little different in the historical romance genre.

An offbeat story that offers unexpected twists on a familiar setup.