Lieutenant Linus Lancaster has been hesitant to take the up the living that should have gone to his brother who died in his arms during the war. He reluctantly accepts an invitation to a house party being held by the Jonquil family not knowing that it is a ploy by his sisters to try to find a wife for him. He is not interested in the long line of debutants they march before him, but there is a young lady who catches his eye. Jonquil Dowager Matron has recently taken a companion. Arabella was a neighbor to the Jonquils when they were all children, but left orphaned at a very young age. She has long wished that she could be part of the large, energetic, and loving Jonquil family, but she, instead, was left to be raised by a cruel aunt and uncle. As the house party progresses, Anabella finds herself the keeper of many Jonquil family secrets, and the recipient of Lieutenant Lancaster's attentions. Their stations are so different neither of them believe they have a future together, but can they stand to live their futures apart?
Here is the next in the "Lancaster Family" series. I am not sure why 2 1/2 years have gone by since I read the last one. I have enjoyed all of them. They are clean, predictable, and heartwarming. This one is no exception. The romance between Linus and Arabella is sweet. At one point the reader thinks, "why is he going away, doesn't he know he is in love with her?" but I think that young, inexperienced people sometimes take a little while to figure things out. There is a tie-in to the mythological character, Linus, but it is not a major point in the plot. In the books in this series, the main characters are supported by their family and given timely advice. They are not perfect, but they do look out for each other, which is nice in this day and age when family units are not what they used to be. (256, 2015)
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