This is a lovely trad Regency story, very much in the vein of Georgette Heyer. I enjoyed it immensely, though I did find the heroine a bit irritating with her constant mood swings near the end. Big Mis is not one of my favorite tropes, but it is a standard issue in trad Regencies, and this one is done with a relative minimum of fuss and muss. There was also a bit more description of kisses and the like than one usually finds in these sorts of books, which was refreshing (the lack of intimacy is my least favorite thing about trad Regency romances).

I love Ms. Ashford's work, and it was fun to dip my toe into her backlist. I've read several of her older works, as they have been reissued by her current publisher, and look forward to reading more. ( )