The Wary Widow (Regency Romance)

Backflap: Miss Charlotte Weston was the lovely, sheltered seventee-year-old daughter of an English lord when the sudden death of her father and her swift marriage to an aging German nobleman made her the Baroness Lottie Raimund. But now her husband, too, was dead - and the still youthful Lottie found her self in Vienna as that glittering city played host to the premier aristocrats of England and Europe. The elegant, arrogant Englishman, Max Annesley, offered her the fortune and title to which he was heir. The devilishly handsome, shockingly cynical Prince Paul von Bayersdorf offered her the intoxication that his sophisticated wooing aroused. And the whirlpool of intrigue that was Vienna offered her too much excitement to resist, too much danger to avoid... and a choice in love that Lottie had to make wisely or else pay a foolish heart's dreadful price. The heroine is likeable, honest, forthright and pleasant. There are two heroes and you find yourself at first liking and routing for one and then the other. It is subtlely written and unfolds at the right pace allowing you time to digest all of the turns and twists. The story takes place in Vienna during Napoleon's exile and has a few interesting tidbits about the time and place without boring anyone to death with too many statistics. This one will definitely have to be read again, because I feel like I missed quite a bit in the beginning due to my own biased preferences. That makes this book a keeper for me.