It's been a long time since I read a Johanna Lindsay book. I did read a great many of her books throughout the eighties and into the early nineties, by which time I had started to really notice some of her standard plot tricks and the patterns she employs in almost every story and I started to get fed up with some of the astoundingly implausible premises she sometimes employs, and I moved away from Lindsay books.

Lately, though, I've been craving a bit of good, old-fashioned, historical romance, and here we are.

As usual, Lindsay's historical setting is well-researched and interesting, and it's communicated effectively (although it's a bit heavy on the explanatory dialogue; I know she prefers dialogue to exposition, but some of the conversations struck me as far too expository and therefore awkward). The characters are pretty much bog standard Lindsay, which is okay (I knew what I was getting into, after all). The heroine is young, sassy, strong-willed, and the hero is a big, strong alpha male, and the heroine, despite her years of outright rebellion and socially inappropriate behaviour, is, ultimately, tamed by love and all is well. Before we get tot that ending, of course, there are plot twists (any Lindsay fan will see them coming) and misunderstandings that cause friction and stress but which could have been cleared up with just one decent conversation between the protagonists (another classic Lindsay plot device).

The love scenes were less graphic than I remembered her writing being. Either Lindsay has toned down her style or I've gotten used to reading graphic erotica, but I found them fairly tame and not very explicit. I'd have to go back to earlier books to see if she has actually changed or if I just remember it differently, but she's been writing for a lot of years and I think I just must have perceived things differently way back in the day.

I would call this book predictable, engaging, and very typically Johanna Lindsay, with all the standard plot devices she normally uses. I was not surprised at all by the story, but you know what? I didn't especially want to be. It was everything I expected, and it was exactly what I wanted: historical romance, borderline bodice-ripper (it's not quite a bodice-ripper, though), dominant alpha male and feisty heroine who is tamed by his love.

When you pick up a Johanna Lindsay novel, you know what you're getting. This book did not fail to deliver exactly that. For me, it's kind of comfort-food-brain-candy, and in that capacity, it is perfect.