For Elise by Sarah M. Eden

 Since Miles and Elise were childhood friends, life has taken them in very different directions.  Miles unexpectedly inherited a distant uncle's title and fortune.  Elise mysteriously disappeared and ended up poor widow of a young soldier from a working class family.  When Miles stumbles across Elise and her daughter Anne after ten years of separation, he can hardly believe the transformation.  She dresses and even talks like a commoner. That does not stop him from wanting to take care of her and help her regain her rightful place in society. She resists his attempts to aid and protect her, showing open distrust and animosity toward him.  What happened in the past to make her so fearful of him, and how can he ever convince her to trust him again?

I think Sarah Eden is one of the best LDS historical romance writers.  Even though this is one of her earlier books, it has complex characters with complicated relationships. Eden doesn't shy away from some difficult situations, but keeps the narrative clean. I did find one aspect of the story a little unrealistic.  Eden has Miles and Elise fall into the habit of holding each other's hands and physically comforting each other with hugs and snuggles like they did as children, even though they are now in their 20's.  They do this for several weeks in the story without Miles realizing that it could seem inappropriate, and without it stirring romantic feelings between them.  I don't think any man in his twenties could touch a woman he cared about that much without some sexual arousal. The book was obviously written by a woman rather than a man, and if Ms Eden had asked her husband he probably could have pointed out the problem. (2008, 236 p)