The Skeptical Heart

I, too, think this was a very well written story. I particularly liked how writer methodicaly set the scenes to explain what the true "love" is. I often found a lot of romance books used the word "love" so frequently that it almost lost its true meaning and value; it has deeper feeling than just "fall in love" with pretty faces, and a good marriage is based on the understanding of all the elements that becomes "love". I have read few books written by Ms. DesJardien, so far I liked them all. She has a way to tell a story in an old fashioned, non-flashy manner, she also has a keen sense of analyzing human behaviors so each characters became a real person instead just a fairy tale. I recommend this book.

Augustine Wayfield is the ton's preeminent matchmaker - she has an unerring ability to find the exact right person for anyone who wishes to marry. She's only made two mistakes - the match she made for Lord Sumner (to a cold and frivolous woman) and the match she made for herself (to a man who never loved her). Now she is a widow and Lord Sumner a widower and despite his disastrous first marriage, Lord Sumner (who wants a mother for his son) asks Augustine to find him a second wife and she agrees. Of course, Augustine soon realizes that she might be having such a difficult time finding him a wife because she's fallen in love with him herself. The Skeptical Heart is a very well-done Regency Romance, the kind they don't publish much anymore. Both main characters are very interesting and well drawn. Sumner is one of my favorite kinds of heroes - grumpy, humorous, and ultimately very well-meaning. Augustine is extremely intelligent and kind and together they have a lot of nice interludes and conversations. This is a good book to escape with for a few hours.