Heidi Hart

Madeleine Greenway might be my favorite Regency-era heroine ever. Lots of romances feature plucky, spunky, opinionated heroines, but never have I come across one as independent, as skilled, as smart, and as competent as Mrs. Greenway.

This book is chock full of dramatic tension to make readers feel ALL the feelz: Colin Eversea's despair and resignation as he climbs the gallows to be executed for a crime he didn't commit, the exhilaration of his unexpected rescue, the horrible, sick suspicion he feels when it looks like his downfall may have been orchestrated by his oldest brother, who is engaged to the woman Colin has loved since childhood... (and all this just in the first few chapters).

My only complaint is that Colin's attachment to his childhood love lingers even after he and Madeleine have become intimate and it's clear they belong together, which felt disloyal to both women, though of course it all comes out right in the end.