Forget Me Not by Sarah M Eden Series: The Gents #1
Publisher: Covenant Communications (2020)
eARC (256 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Synopsis
Nottinghamshire, 1785
Julia Cummings has long been acquainted with loss-her mother, her brother, her sister, her friend, all gone too soon. But the loss that pushed her grief to the limit as a young girl was that of her best friend, Lucas Jonquil, who abandoned her without looking back. Now, eight years later, Lucas has returned to Lampton Park, and Julia has steeled herself-she will never forgive the man who broke her heart.
After losing too many of his friends and family to early deaths, Lucas vowed to live life to the fullest. And after traversing the world, he has returned from his adventures to find his family and home as he left them-except for Julia. The little girl he left behind has blossomed into a captivating lady, a lady who makes it clear she despises him. With little hope of reconciliation, the former friends are blindsided when their parents make a shocking announcement. Lucas and Julia have been betrothed without their knowledge and are to marry immediately. Now Lucas must rely on the help of his closest friends to win the heart of a lady who loathes him-a lady he’s coming to love more deeply every day.
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My Review
I found myself really enjoying this story. It is historical fiction set in the 1780s and deals with an unexpected marriage.
Julia and Lucas grew up as neighbors though Julia was years younger than Lucas. Julia, her older brother Stanley, and Lucas were great friends. But then things started to happen. Julia’s twin sister, Charlotte, died. Lucas’s siblings died. Lucas went off to school. Stanley went off to war and died. And Julia was left all alone. And Lucas never made much effort to visit or to write to her. Julia felt like everyone she had ever cared about had abandoned her.
So when Lucas returns from his travels after being gone for eight long years, the Julia that he sees is not the same Julia as when he left. She is more reserved and retreats into herself, spending time alone as much as possible. She is guarding her emotions so she won’t get hurt again.
At a ball that was supposed to be Lucas’s welcome home party turns, unexpectedly, into Lucas and Julia’s engagement ball. And this is an engagement that neither of them wanted. Lucas did not want to be forced to marry anyone, especially his childhood friend who now appears to hate him for some unknown to him reason. Julia did not want to be forced to marry anyone either, especially her childhood friend who had abandoned her without a second thought.
And so their engagement is announced and they are married a week later, no matter what arguments they tried to make to get out of it. And, after the wedding, Lucas and Julia are off to Lucas’s estate in the north, a place that Julia has never been.
The interactions between Lucas and Julia are so fraught with emotion and tension. Neither knows really what is going on in the other’s head. Julia sees everything as a possible hint that Lucas is just going to abandon her again. Lucas, meanwhile, does not know how to interpret anything that Julia says or does and, on top of that, Lucas is a terrible communicator.
I really recommend this book, especially if you want to read a historical fiction novel that explores how to deal with abandonment. It was really a good read.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley for
review consideration. This in no way affects my opinion of the title
nor the content of this review.
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