I somehow ended up getting the middle book of the series. This is very unlike me as I'm neurotic about reading series in order. I don't think I'll bother to read the rest of the books, though, as this was downright dull. None of the characters interested me. They were dull as dishwater, as the saying goes, with little redeeming qualities. Serena was stubborn to the point of being anachronistic. Sebastian was foolish and overbearing. The villain was a caricature. The dialog was awkward and the navel-gazing so intense you could have fought a war on the high seas.Shame, too, because I love some of Jane Feather's earlier works and series. Too many of the characters were TSTL - Abigail's mother, Serena, Sebastian. Couldn't finish, was too much of heroine doing (stupid) things on her own, even though the hero was there and loved her and she knew it. Seemed to me that the heroine's situation as "one of faro's daughters" being pimped out by her stepfather made her a viable candidate to fulfill Viscount Bradley's requirement that his nephews marry women that required moral or spiritual salvation. Maybe the hero eventually figures this out, but I got tired of waiting. Really enjoyed the author's accurate portrayal of the life in the 1750s though.
