Review: His Lessons on Love

His Lessons on Love by Cathy Maxwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
This is the first book I have read by this author. I thoroughly enjoyed it until just after halfway through, when everything sort of fizzled out. Up to that point, the book was great. The main characters (and the secondary characters) were lots of fun. I was worried they would get annoying, but they were actually compelling and some of the scenes actually brought a smile to my face. The plot moved along well, and the main characters' journey toward having a real relationship was very believable. I appreciated the fact that they didn't let silly misunderstandings or perceived slights cause serious issues. They were both willing to admit when they were wrong or had done something they shouldn't, and that was very refreshing for a Regency Romance! They were able to be honest with each other for the most part, which made their relationship really worth rooting for.
But after the two consummated their marriage things just took a down-hill turn for me. A "love scene" does not have to be graphic or include lascivious details to be meaningful and make an impact. But it does need to suitably reveal the feelings of the characters and convey why this is a momentous event--honestly, that's why people read romance novels! But the love scene between our main characters in this book left a lot to be desired. It was short, very to-the-point, lackluster, and felt rote. The lack of real emotion made the few parts that were graphic extremely jarring and off-putting. I, as the reader, was expecting a much bigger payoff after watching their relationship organically grow, and I didn't get it here. And once that happened I really kind of lost interest in the book. It was obvious that a duel was coming. When it did, I didn't care. I knew our two main characters would get mad at each other, and when it happened, again, I didn't really care. I knew our heroine would get self-righteously infuriated at our hero, who would have to ride furiously to her to abjectly beg her forgiveness. I ended up skimming it. So the last third of the book really just disappointed me. I've been reading Regency Romance for about 30 years, and I knew exactly what was coming in this book, because I've read it over and over again hundreds of times.
I will probably try another book by this author, because the first portion of the book was great, but I don't think I would recommend this book, unless you want to be disappointed.

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