RAHHHH!!!! This was SO GOOD! Added to my short list of historical romances I will never shut up about.

Minerva and Colin fake their engagement and leave Spindle Cove in order to get Minerva to Scotland for a geology symposium because she has discovered proof of 'dragons' (probably dinosaurs) and wants to present her findings. Along the way Colin continually makes up outlandish stories about who they are to anyone they meet, all to varying degrees of success, and thus shenanigans ensue. 

This is a must read for any historical romance fan, and even if you just want a silly fun romance - I highly recommend it!

This book was a hot mess (in sort of a good way). Colin and Min's relationship was a hot dumpster fire, which was entertaining, but in my opinion was a step down from the intimate, emotional, if antagonistic connection that they shared briefly in the first book. I really liked seeing a glimpse of Colin as a deep character in the first book, but it seemed like even in his own book the author often fell back on treating him as a caricature of a Rake. And the intelligent, strong-minded Minerva who took down a giant man with a bag of rocks was often turned into a scared, clueless girl. I would rather it had been the novel that was promised in the first book: two strong personalities with a deep dislike for one another fall in love when they bond and discover one another's true personalities are more compatible than they originally thought. This was more along the lines of "two dumpster fires combine forces to go on a journey, and then they coalesce into one big dumpster fire." It was entertaining, but it just didn't hit me right. I was so excited for Colin and Minerva, because they had such strong, unique chemistry in the first book. It wasn't bad by any means, but it fell short of what I expected for the pairing. I think I was expecting more of a slow burn, and I got a seesaw between riotously insane and deeply serious with some smut thrown in for good measure.

Standard romance plot between a rake and a wallflower, but it's a fun little adventure and not too bodice-ripping.