A case of mistaken identity brings together a shy young spinster and a reckless rake in this sexy Regency romance by the award-winning author. With her London Season come and gone, desperately shy Imogen Duncan is a confirmed spinster at twenty-six. Now she must look on as her younger sister Mariah begins her own Season with her choice of handsome suitors. It is an exercise in stoic … exercise in stoic resignation–until an accidental kiss bring her unexpected adventure.
Burying his guilt from a decade-old tragedy beneath a life of debauchery, Caleb Masters, Marquess of Willbridge, is content enough to meet willing widows in dark gardens to numb the pain. But he is wholly unprepared when an innocent young woman stumbles into him, turning his superficial world on its head.
Drawn to the rogue who mistakenly stole her first kiss, Imogen finds not a suitor, but a friend. Free to be herself for the first time, she discovers a strength in herself she never knew she possessed. But when friendship turns to passion, Imogen will accept nothing less than Caleb’s heart. Can a healing of the past lead to the promise of a future together?
more
This is my favorite type of romance. I love when a hero and heroine each have their own distinctive arc. When the story opens, Imogen has bought into the belief, pushed on her by society and her mother, that as an aging spinster (she’s 26) her only value is in caring for her parents in their later years. Caleb carries a burden of guilt because he believes he’s responsible for his younger brother’s death.
The two become friends and the slow burn to love begins, beautifully written by Ms. Britton. Both characters gain strength from the relationship, Imogen ultimately realizing her own worth, and Caleb releasing his guilt.
Both Imogen and Caleb won my heart and I’m eager for Twice Shy #2!
I am not sure if the author meant to do this, but the play on words in the title is great. This is a very sweet story of two people who become friends, best friends, that slowly develops into love. Caleb seems likes a happy-go-lucky kind of guy but he cannot get past his demons. Imogen is a lovely character but she is a bit mousy when it comes to her mother. With the help of Imogen, Caleb finally overcomes his demons but in the process he loses his friend. Can he win back Imogen?
With Love in Sight – Christina Britton — Gotta love the wallflower! This book was very cute. Great leading lady. Sweet leading man. I really loved the central conflict in the story, and the strength of character it took to resolve the past scars and current fears of all the characters. I can’t wait to read about more members of these two families! Happy Reading!
Imogen is a spinster , noone ever sees her even her own mother is rude to her. Upon hearing to biddy bodies talking about her she runs to seek solitude . She runs in to caleb he is a lord . He sees her beauty when no-one else dose. They form a friendship and sooner he see he needs her by his side as a friend possibly more.
I really enjoyed this the characters came to life as i turned each page our lady is a shunned spinster but has a spunky strong attitude. I wish it ended with more info but still i loved it and recommended it
New author, first book, won’t be the last. A friendship between two unlikely people started with a kiss. A man filled with guilt finds peace with a shy young lady. Can they both find love with each other? An amazing love story that kept me up all night.
Two people afraid of love that are also very stubborn will have you saying will they or won’t they. Their first meeting would have set the gossips flying and it definitely met they were going to be interesting. I loved that everyone around them saw what was between them except for themselves and her mother. There were times I would have loved to knock them both upside the head, but they had family to pretty much do that. The story about his brother’s death was heartbreaking and that pain had been carried for way too long by everyone. The ending left me wanting more from them.
Imogen can break your heart with how much people forget about her, but there was a fire in waiting for a chance to ignite. I loved her right away because I knew she was going to rebel against her mother. Her sister and father were great at supporting her when needed even if they didn’t know everything.
Caleb lost his heart the moment he met her and just didn’t know it. I loved that he saw the real her that was hidden. He will pull at your heart with how much he has tortured himself over his brother.
Copy provided for an honest and voluntary review.
Grrrr, my review was deleted by an upgrading of the app.
This book was a good read, I do liked the main characters, seing them change and grow.
I loved to see Imogen moving from the shy wallflower having reached the spinsterhood shelves to a woman who stands for herself. Just her stubbornness got me by the end of the book.
I do understand she was always walked on, that she has some hope but always rejecting Lord Willbridge’s proposal because her sister has a loveless marriage, her circumstances and those of her sister were so different. Plus it is her very unusual encounter with Caleb Masters that changed the path of her boring life. Without it, she would never have found the courage to grew up a spine. It is their uncommon friendship that slowly gave her the envy to bolt and face her mother.
Caleb never raised an eye on the innocent women, always preferring to them the willing widows. If not for his surprising collision with Imogen, never he would have seen there was more beyond the facade of the prim and proper invisible Miss Duncan. She makes him long for their discussions, she quiets him, making him feel more alive since many years.
There is a kind of mystery that kept Caleb at bay of his family, this secret eats him but his sister too. Imogen put all her determination to find what was Caleb’s secret while in the same time she told him she will refuse his marriage’s proposal.
Be stubborn to the point of facing a life of loneliness instead of trying to make feelings already existing evolve, it is very too much for me.
All is well in the best world but I would have slapped her on the head, why not express her feelings with words, if men were mind readers, it would be known!
So the author did a good job with her characters, I liked them but they also irritated me, like I would with real persons.
I’m sure to read the following book in this series.
I give a 4.5 stars rate to this read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fantastic debut historical romance from Christina Britton! Imogen was a smart, dutiful heroine who’s committed to her sisters. She was also resigned to a life of spinsterhood, especially after witnessing her sister’s unhappy marriage. She’s certain a entering into a marriage where there exists no chance for love is the worse fate. In enters Caleb, the Marquess of Willbridge. He’s charming, handsome, witty, and haunted by a traumatic event from his past that leaves him jaded and uncertain he’s deserving of love. When he meet Imogen, and gets a glimpse of the clever-tongued woman that exists under her overlooked person, he’s completely smitten. I so enjoyed reading their path to their HEA, and eagerly await book two!
With Love in Sight by Christina Britton is book One in the Twice Shy series. This is the story of Imogen Duncan and Caleb Masters, Marquess of Willbridge.
Caleb is living with the guilt of his brothers death and has taken to being a rake and entertaining widowed women.
Imogen is a very shy women who is now on the shelf and her parents have turn their attention to giving her younger sister her season. Where Imogen fail because of her shyness her sister has thrived and has many suitors. Imogen has resigned to be in her over bearing mother life for forever.
By accident Caleb and Imogen meet and start to form a friendship. Both find something in the other that adds to their enjoyment in life where before they didn’t seem to have any. But their attraction is strong making it hard to deny.
Really enjoyed their story!!
This is a love story about a couple who are better together than they are apart — and that is the best sort of love. Imogen is a 26-year-old spinster who is undervalued by her family while Caleb is a Marquess who is a bit too self-pitying but understandably so. They meet in a darkened garden (he mistakes her for a willing widow) and become friends first, a somewhat unlikely but still believable occurrence. From there, they both have to overcome their self-doubts. She can’t believe he would love her; he can’t believe anyone would love him because of an incident from his past. Their path to HEA is tough but sweet and when Imogen feels confident enough to wear her glasses, we all cheer with her — because love truly is in sight then. (I received an ARC at NetGalley. Opinions are mine.)
As I have turned the last page, my heart is full. This was such a romantic story of possibilities when least expected that changed two lives just by a chance meeting. A shy wallflower on the shelf at 26, Imogene Duncan is only participating in the season in London to support her beautiful younger sister Mariah’s debut. Her mother only dotes on her sister and really just disparages Imogene every chance she can get. At a ball, Imogene escapes to the garden after hearing ugly gossip and runs pell mell into a gentlemen who grabs her and kisses her passionately. Caleb, Marquess of Willbridge, realizes his mistake, that the young lady was not who was meeting him, but kindly takes time to talk to the girl who is so very upset. Thus this wonderful story begins when an unlikely friendship develops as fate brings them together. Imogene has no self confidence from being brow beaten by her mother for so many years and Caleb holds a secret and sorrow that eats at his heart. The characters were so well developed and the author makes you feel invested in the story. I truly loved both Imogene and Caleb and the cast of supporting characters who I hope to revisit in stories to come. This was an excellent debut by Christina Britton and I cannot wait to read more from this series!
Imogen Duncan is a plain, shy, spectacle wearing, twenty-six year old wallflower. She is participating in the season for her younger sister Mariah. While watching her (or trying to since her mother won’t let her wear her spectacles in public) beautiful sister dance, she happens to overhear some matrons talking about her sisters, but when the talk turns to her, she gets upset and needs to escape the ballroom. She runs out to the gardens and straight into the arms and lips of Caleb Masters, Marquess of Willbridge.
Caleb has a tragedy in his past that he can’t move on from, he drinks too much, wagers too much and wenches too much, all in a futile effort to escape the guilt and pain he feels. He is surprised by Imogen and tries to comfort her. But she refuses to tell him her name and returns to the ballroom.
By chance they meet again the next day at her home, he has joined his friends in calling on her sister Mariah. He is delighted to see her again and a bit dismayed to see how she is treated. He begins to seek her out and they strike up a friendship. With Imogen, Caleb finds peace, she grounds him. When his friends comment on the attention he pays her, he backs off, he doesn’t want to ruin her, but Imogen stands up for herself and demands to know why he is ignoring her. She tells him she wants his friendship and doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He apologizes and she asks for a favor, she wants adventure and hopes he can give it to her.
He agrees, but he is starting to desire Imogen and needs to be careful. When one of their adventures goes too far and they end up in bed – Caleb insists that they will marry, Imogen knows she loves him, but will not marry him. Caleb can’t understand why she is refusing to marry and sets out to woo her. He will marry her!
He invites her and her father to his country seat and she meets his family. Immediately she knows something is wrong and wants to fix it – even though she has no intention of marrying him. Caleb is terrified that one of his siblings is going to tell her his dark secret and she will never marry him, so he decides to tell her everything, but every time he tries, they are interrupted. He can feel her slipping away, but is helpless to stop it.
I personally loved this book UNTIL they went to his estate, then it just became a giant pity-party, I feel like the miscommunication dragged on way too long and Imogen’s reason was flimsy – everyone and I mean everyone, knew she loved him and was sure he cared for her, but she was adamant and this dragged out until the last few pages of the book AND then there was no epilogue! If ever a book NEEDED an epilogue – it was this one. I thought the writing was good and I won’t rule out reading this author’s work in the future, but this book didn’t do it for me.
An aging spinster at twenty-six, all Imogen Duncan sees ahead of her is a life of servitude to her overbearing mother. Her London Season has passed and her desperate shyness and reserved demeanour have destroyed any chance for a match. As her younger sister Mariah begins her own Season with a selection of suitors, Imogen believes her chances for excitement are well and truly lost. Until a case of mistaken identity and an accidental kiss brings her adventure. Burying his guilt from a decade-old tragedy beneath a life of debauchery, Caleb Masters, Marquis of Willbridge, is content enough to meet willing widows in dark gardens to numb the pain. But he is wholly unprepared when an innocent miss stumbles into him, turning his superficial world on its head.
Caleb & Imogen are drawn together, there is attraction but more than that they like each other & soon become the best of friends, however after a passionate encounter Caleb insists they marry but Imogen refuses as she’ll only settle for love. She knows Caleb likes her & wants her but doesn’t love her & no way will she have a marriage like her sisters. Caleb intensifies his pursuit of Imogen by inviting her father & her to his principal seat. There Imogen meets his mother & two sisters & it doesn’t take Imogen long to realise something is amiss & resolves to ‘put things right’.
A lovely debut novel, it’s utilises a well used trope but there is the twist of the Masters’ family pain. I really liked both Caleb & Imogen, however I wanted to bang their heads together at times as both were stubborn & couldn’t see what was plain to everyone else. It is rare for me to give 5 stars to a debut novel but this is a very accomplished novel & I so look forward to more from the author , after all there are siblings who deserve their HEAs especially Emily
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
With Love in Sight is debut author Christina Britton’s new historical romance. It is a combination of the tortured hero and friends-to-lovers romance tropes with a bit of the “Ugly Duckling” thrown in.
Imogen Duncan, a plain, spectacle-wearing older sister, was passed over by suitors during her London season eight years earlier. She believes her life is preordained to care for her parents as they age. Caleb Masters, the tortured hero, suffers substantial guilt believing he caused his little brother’s death. He grows alienated from his family and lives a life of debauchery to suppress his feelings. Caleb and Imogen form an unlikely friendship. He finds in her a calm he hasn’t felt for years. She finds a man who enjoys her company without the pressures of marriage.
At this point the plot thins. When they must attend a masked ball, Caleb finds an antique dress and has Imogen wear it. In this gown, she suddenly blossoms into a new woman—God forbid a hunky male should have a plain lover. From here, the push-pull of their relationship, full of misunderstandings and hurt feelings stretches the plot even more as Imogen suddenly develops a spine of steel while Caleb learns to love his family again.