This is a regular guilty pleasure re-read. Plain, spinster bluestocking marries scarred hero after they're thrust together at a party trying to avoid Regency-era Mean Girls. Lots of self-doubt on both their parts, great insecurity and angst. A nice little mystery moves the plot along. Right up my alley, except one big spoiler from the end: I am really tired of the psycho lesbian trope! STOP. IT.

Looking at Jo’s other works, looks like this is the only proper regency/historical romance (time-travel doesn’t count in my book). Here’s to hoping she writes more wallflower heroines!!! ( )

This is a regular re-read. Plain, spinster bluestocking marries scarred hero after they're thrust together at a party trying to avoid Regency-era Mean Girls. Lots of self-doubt on both their parts, great insecurity and angst. A nice little mystery moves the plot along. Right up my alley, except one big spoiler from the end: I am really tired of the psycho lesbian trope. ( )

Plain, intellectual Agatha wishes she could have both a husband and her fertilizer experiments. But given that no man has ever been interested in her, and she doubts any would let her continue her studies, she's resigned herself to the loveless life of a spinster.

A chance encounter with the horribly scarred Lord Leighton leads to a swift private marriage. Both Agatha and Magnus used up all their courage just getting to the altar--neither has any left to try to bridge the gap between them. Weeks pass, and it looks like their marriage will remain unconsummated and fulfilling.

Then Agatha starts experiencing terrifying accidents. The threats to her life give her even more determination to have a true marriage with her husband.

I quite liked this. Agatha and Magnus are fairly unique in the Regency world--neither is handsome or popular, and although Agatha is smart she's not witty. There's no make-over scene where Agatha gets loads of new clothes, helped by a simpering French modiste, there's no courtship, there's no waltzing. The couple falls in love after their marriage, powered by their animal attraction to each other and their kind deeds toward others. It's far from perfect (Magnus seems inordinately focused on the "berries" that apparently sprout from Agatha's breasts, and near the end everything is swamped in matchmaking other characters), but it was good enough that I've sought out another book by the same author. ( )

This was a sweet romance.