The Beast of Blackthorne Castle by D.K. Quinn

 

Another Stuff Your Kindle Day find for me, THE BEAST OF BLACKTHORNE CASTLE appealed to me immediately because of its gothic-sounding title. Sadly, the title is basically the only thing that's gothic about this book, although there is a castle. It's actually a very sweet and very short closed-door romance about a young woman named Emma who goes to Northumberland to become a paid companion to the dowager duchess/mother of a duke.

Nathaniel used to be quite athletic and somewhat social but one day there was a fire in his castle. He managed, with his father's help, to get the servants and his mother out, but then his father became trapped. While trying to save his father, a flaming plank crushed one of his legs, causing scarification and permanent injury. To make matters worse, rumormongers in town have started claiming that maybe he set the fire on purpose to murder his father and get his title early. Because of his painful limp and the suspicions of the townfolk, Nathaniel has stayed inside his castle, becoming weirder and lonelier, to the point where he basically has no social skills at all.

Enter Emma.

As a romance, this was fine. It's very short and therefore moves pretty fast. There's also no spice in it. I guess maybe that's hinted at because the author calls it a "sweet romance," but I've seen sweet spicy romances out there too, so just be forewarned: no spice. At all. It's a lot like those very short traditional regency romances that were popular in the 80s and 90s. I liked all of the characters just fine and there isn't really a villain to root against for the couple. Even the OWs are sweet and seem to be set-ups for the sequel. The only problem was it could feel a little wooden at times. I really wish there had been more of a tangible emotional connection between the leads. This book wasn't bad, it was just a little bland. So if you're looking for something low-conflict with nice characters and a romance that isn't really all that emotionally taxing, you will quite enjoy BEAST OF BLACKTHORNE.

I never would have heard of this author or been likely to pick up her work if not for SYK and now I'm curious about what else she writes. Definitely going to rec this one the next time someone asks me for something with no spice and all that comes to mind is Mimi Matthews lol.

3 to 3.5 out of 5 stars