When this came up at NetGalley, I was super excited. I loved her Wyndham books and expected to enjoy this book like I did those. It started off well, with a intro similar to the lead in of Pride and Prejudice (you know the one, "It is a..."), but the more I read, the more I didn't enjoy this story. This story was missing that special something found in her Wyndham series. The problems started with the barrage of characters in the beginning. I counted at least seven names and descriptions in the first ten pages; making it difficult to know who was whom and which characters this story was supposed to be about. It has always been my belief the the hero and heroine should be easily identified in the beginning, with the extra characters added in like eggs hollandaise sauce--slowly and carefully. I was able to put names to faces by the middle of the story, but this was also when I figured out where the story was going, who the bad guy was, and how it would end. I know some stories follow a general pattern but this story was almost too predictable. Not to disparage myself, but I am not the most logical person when it comes to mysteries. I don't usually see the clues authors leave and am left wondering why I didn't see it when it reaches the end. And I quickly saw how this story was going to end.I'm not sure why this book wasn't an enjoyable for me as her other books were. They are in the same genre of romance, the same time period, and published by the same publisher. It is basically the same as her Wyndham series, yet I could not enjoy it. I read on Goodreads there is another in this series set to publish this year; I'm not sure if I will read it. On one hand, this is an historical romance author I enjoy and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid may have been a blip. On the other hand, this book was such a downer compared to her others that it would break my heart to realize that this was a new trend instead of a one time mistake.
