I loved this story. Both characters grew as people and together in a relationship. The romantic tension was there. My only critique is that Isla came up WAY too much. I realize that she functions as the main tension point between characters, but I was so sick of her name popping up and Clara freaking out immediately.

Any tiny remnants of self-control I have leave my body when I see a new Eloisa James. 👋

Clara is an well-read, impulsive, unmarried lady whose fourth season ends abruptly when she is accosted and shoves a high-profile man. Her overbearing mother is perpetually disappointed in her and makes a decision to send her off to a distant aunt in Scotland. Instead of getting in the intended carriage, she opts to take a different carriage bound for Scotland that was intended for a no-show housekeeper.

Caelen is the widowed laird of Castle CaerLaven. His meddling sister puts an advertisement for an English housekeeper without his knowledge because his castle is a hot mess and his current housekeeper is terrible. He's writing books on fly fishing and whisky, because why not? And he fly fishes naked, because why wouldn't you?

When Clara arrives at Castle CaerLaven no one believes she is a housekeeper. Every single person clocks her as a lady within minutes, if not seconds of meeting her. But she still gets his home organized, discovering that he hasn't done much to take care of the castle since his wife died two years ago. The whole village is under the impression that Caelen is still grieving his wife, which gives Clara the same impression. They clean the castle and hire staff and Caelen realizes that he does actually want to marry again and he wants to marry Clara.

Hijinks ensue. Each one assumes important and ultimately incorrect things about the other. He keeps proposing, she keeps declining. And since this is the Accidental Brides series, it's not a spoiler that they do get married.

I really enjoyed this story. Clara is a quirky, fun heroine and Caelen is a Scottish laird with two shirts, 200 books and a castle. What else could you want?