What happens when a falsely accused traitor’s daughter seeking justice for her dead father and a bored Earl get together? This book apparently. The story follows Ida Strong, she’s just trying to clear her father’s name and try and survive the continuous attempts at her life. She was the stronger part of the book and I found her story to be interesting. Now onto the reason why I did not like the book and why it impacted the rating... our love interest, good ol Earl Simon Nugent. Simon was a lukewarm slightly daft character, he was judgmental and if I’m being honest, I was not having it with his “I love her but she’s not good enough to be my wife so I’ll definitely keep her as a mistress and marry a wife only to have as a breeding for the future heir” I wanted to slap him suffice to say. He really hindered my liking of the book and by the time it was over I had sincerely hoped Ida ended up with someone else. Guthrie, her parental figure, said it best “ Ida deserves better” and I whole heartedly agree. Every thought Simon has makes me want to question why he even wants to be with her. All in all, if we disregard the entire love plot and Simon’s part in this, the story of Ida investigating and trying to seek justice for her father while navigating various death threats was much more interesting.

* Thank you Netgalley and Independently Published for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*