There was nothing wrong with this book or the writing. I adore JQ, but the female leads in both of the books for this series were annoying and definitely not the type of women I want to read about. The MC in book one pissed me off so much I couldn't even write my review. This one is not much better. I've said it before, I'm not a fan of three stooges humor - and this chic is possibly a descendent of Curly... Or Mo... Or Shep. Whatever. The clumsy ridiculousness of this girl is so frustrating that I'm flouncing. I just don't need the aggravating headache on my day off. 

This book was a little different than the normal ol' historical romance. I say that because of the bedroom scenes. I actually like that nothing worked for her -exactly. That she didn't turn in to a simpering love sick sex addict after being penetrated. ya know? It had a realistic side to it in that aspect. They weren't even truly happy together until the end of the book. Meh, I don't know. I guess it was just refreshing not to have the, "Best sex ever totally for sure I'm a sex goddess now and will rule the bed forever" thing happen.

Not a keeper, unfortunately. The plot is really weak, although the writing is lovely, as always in Grace Burrowes' books.

The premise of the story is that Felicity, the heroine and an impoverished but well-born on-the-shelf spinster, has inherited a brothel from a distant female cousin. The cousin's will also apparently stipulates that Felicity learn the brothel business in *all* of its aspects and prove that she knows it with an exam and a midwife's inspection to prove that she has lost her virginity, within a three-month deadline. The executor of this "will" is Gareth, the hero, and he is the one who is supposed to teach Felicity about how to be a prostitute and brothel manager. (Gareth is a former steady customer of the brothel.) Believe it or not, Felilcity is willing to go along with this because she wants her younger sister to have "a season" and find somebody rich to marry, and she figures the funds from the brothel will help her do this, as long as she can keep her connection with the brothel and her disgrace completely secret.  

Well, I didn't like the sordid aspect of the heroine losing her virginity involuntarily and then having to prove that she has lost it, to begin with, and the "we have to keep this completely secret so Felicity and her sister aren't ruined" aspect of the story was very weak - obviously this was not going to stay a secret, especially with Felicity and Gareth visiting the brothel pretty regularly - but there is one even bigger flaw in this whole setup:  Gareth, who is supposed to execute this "will", never reads the will's actual text or checks out its requirements until the three-month deadline is just about up.  And (spoiler warning) the will actually turns out to be something quite a bit different from what Felicity was told and what she believes from the precis of the will that was given to her by the lawyers - she didn't read the actual will either, but the implication is that she was too afraid to ask (end of spoiler). So both of the two main characters end up looking weak and stupid, and that just about killed the story for me.

There are other flaws and holes in the plot, and the resolution of the story has some really dubious legal maneuverings which reduce its credibility even more.

Not the book, but the way my brain works. See, I go in prepared. I read all of my friends' reviews on the book. Then I read the public reviews, but I skip all of the 5's because people who are not my friends usually don't know what a real 5 star rating on GR means. (Yeah, I said it. Usually. Not always) I skim the 1 stars, I focus on the 2s. The twos seem honest. So, I read them and I go in prepared.

Then I find that what I thought I would not like, didn't affect me the same way it did a lot of other people. 

I did not agree with the way our "hero" treated Pen. I thought Penelope was a little bit of a rug in spots and totally should have just punched him. Once. One good black eye... but otherwise, I enjoyed the book.