Stella West's artistic talent made her the toast of London, but when her beloved sister dies under mysterious circumstances she abandons everything and heads for Boston. With single-minded determination she fights to pierce the ring of secrecy surrounding her sister's death. Upon meeting Romulus White, a publisher with connections into every important power circle in the city, she quickly realizes he could be a valuable ally in navigating Boston society.
Romulus has been pursuing Stella for years to create art for his magazine. Her luminous illustrations are the missing piece he needs to propel his magazine to the forefront of the industry, and he will stop at nothing to get her on board.
Sparks fly the instant they join forces, but Romulus is unsettled by the unwelcome attraction he feels toward Stella, fearing she might be the one woman who could disrupt his hard-won independence. He may have finally met his match in Stella, but is helping her solve the mystery of her sister's death worth the risk to his publishing empire? AMAZON
This book started at a slower pace but with some unusual main characters. They were interesting in both their strengths and weaknesses. Stella and Romulus were both aware of some of their shortcomings too. Stella is not only beautiful and talents, she's also headstrong. One of the things that Romulus said was that he enjoyed watching her walk down the street and heads would turn. My favorite words that he spoke about her was, " She had class and style but the most important thing was that she had the heart and soul of a lion." She is also someone unused to being pushed aside when she has something to say. You want to really rile her up? Just tell her that she is being an illogical woman, that ought to do it. The family dynamics in Stella's family was well shown as was her grief over her sister's death. She was used to a tight knit loving family who loved and fought fiercely for what they wanted. Romulus had the exact opposite and between that experience and his cousin's failed marriage, he was terrified of that kind of committment with a woman. He was interesting that he was intense and totally focused when it came to his magazine. He admitted that his interests were many and that he could bounce around from one thing to another as it caught his interest. He was somewhat immature; handsome but immature in some ways because he got his main sense of value from being in charge with his business. Although I liked this book, it didn't hold all of my interest until we got closer towards the end and then a few surprises started popping up.
Evelyn and Clyde were also a good secondary part of the story. When you looked at Evelyn's desk plate is read "Evelyn White", but that wasn't totally accurate. Yes, she is the cousin to Romulus White and is a co-owner of the company and managing editor but she is also more. She's also Mrs. Clyde Brixton, although the two of them had a huge falling out and have been separated but not divorced for years. To make it worse, Clyde is/was one of Romulus' best friends but Romulus is tired of being in the middle of their battles. He cares deeply for both of them.
On a side note I really liked the cover for this book.
I received a copy of this book via Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.
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