Sophie Grant (who’s 22) is having bad luck lately. Her home is being demolished so a parking lot/shopping arcade can be put up, she lost her job, and she is recovering from the flu and another virus. So when she gets a letter through her solicitor from Matthew Trevelyan (34), her late father’s stepbrother, enquiring about her and inviting her to stay at his home in Cornwall for awhile, she accepts. She only met Matthew once, when she was thirteen. She went to his wedding with her parents nine years ago. (His wife Delphine died in an accident seven years ago.)

Matthew is now a famous author and has been in America for the past four years. He has now returned to his home in Cornwall. When Sophie arrives at his home, Trembath House, he is surprised. He expected someone younger, a teenager, not a grown woman. He seems to have lost track of time with Sophie but he feels an obligation to check on her since he was very close to his stepbrother, Quentin, who died with his wife Iris (Sophie’s mother) four years ago in an archaeological dig in Africa. Eventually Sophie meets Matthew’s eight-year-old son Philip (Pip), she rests and recuperates for awhile, and finds herself falling for Matthew. But Sophie wonders, is he still in love with his dead wife?

This was a very enjoyable read. I liked the tall, dark, and gorgeous hero Matthew. His son Pip was cute. I liked the gothic setting, the house on the cliffs by the sea in Cornwall. Sophie was a likable heroine. Matthew and Sophie had good chemistry.

A lovely romance by Patricia Wilson. ( )