I appreciated an author depicting what it may have been like to have autism during the Regency era, but the depiction was so subtle most of the time that her behavior could have also been explained by being a very sheltered young woman with extreme social anxiety. And there were times when she didn't understand something and other times where she seemed to be able to understand people just fine; and given how her sister and mother talked about people I found it hard to believe that she wouldn't be aware of different terms for illegitimate children. Overall though, I think that anyone who has ever felt like they didn't quite fit in or had people judge them unfairly will relate to Eleanor. I would have liked to know a little more about her behaviors in public that led to people referring to her as "eccentric" - she seemed more shy and awkward than what I would have thought of as eccentric. As for Monty - he's one of those characters you like, then get frustrated with, then like again, then want to smack (and a few people do get some good swings in on him), then like again. His reasons for getting Eleanor involved in his life's drama are not great, but he did step up when she really needed him to. Her sister is pretty awful the entire way through the story and I can't say I felt all that bad for her in the end - I do feel for her having to go through everything alone, but had she not been so unnecessarily cruel to Eleanor she probably wouldn't have had to. The big question there is if she will pop up in a future book, unless this whole thing gives her a personality transplant I don't want to see her get her great big love story (am I being too tough on her? maybe, but I just don't think I could root for her). Now, back to Eleanor and Monty. I liked that their story takes place over time but I wished the time of their separation hadn't been so long. The upside of that was that it gave Eleanor the chance to learn for a fact that there were other people out there who would accept her and other men who would have happily married her. Even though she knew she could never marry Mr. Staines I think it was good for her to know she was indeed very lovable. I really liked Lavinia in her book, but found her to sometimes be a little overbearing here. She sometimes tried to take control of situations for Eleanor and tell her what to do (all out of love) as though she feels Eleanor can't be trusted to make her own smart decisions. I also didn't like that she tried to blame Monty for everything with Juliette - she had her eyes on her own Duke way before Monty and Eleanor got involved with one another. And how did Juliette and Mrs. Howard, who are all about gossip, not know about the rumors regarding that Duke's bad behaviors? Tangent done. I liked the big reunion scene with Monty and Eleanor, but he definitely owed Mr. Staines an apology - could her really blame the man for falling in love with Eleanor? The only thing missing from the epilogue was a quick update on Eleanor's father - I would have just liked to have known that he was back on his feet and happier now that his daughter was back home.