#Review: THOROUGHLY CAPTIVATED by Chantry Dawes

 

3 of 5 stars

I loved the premise of this story.  Captain Warwick (War), the Baron of Graestone, came back from the war trying to save as many men and horses as he could. He invites them to Castle Graestone to live and heal from their emotional and physical scars. He's racked with guilt over all those he could not save. He lives his life to help others, but all that is upended with Miss Lulu Darley comes to the castle to take care of his injured horses. To have a woman at the castle full of men is not acceptable and War vows to send her home the next day until she saves one of his severely injured stallions. Now he can't stop thinking about her and her quirky ways. Lulu is skittish and doesn't like to be touched ever since she was attacked in Hyde Park. She faints when she meets War for he's a beast of a man and his size intimidates her. But, the more time she spends at the castle, the more she sees his gentle side. Can she ever love such a man?

I really enjoyed the way War is always trying to help his men and boys at the castle, but I couldn't get past all the ridiculous names of the characters. I couldn't pronounce half of them and just skipped over them. That really distracted me out of the story where more simple names would have sufficed. I understand the author was trying to bring out a quirky side to the story, but I thought it took away the flow of the story. Lulu was a likable and complicated character. Her innate goodness eventually overcomes her terror of being around men as she tends to the wounded horses. As she becomes more comfortable, she begins to see the men as individuals and offers them salves and poultices to help with their wounds. The slow-burn romance between War and Lulu was well done. While the story was heartwarming and uplifting, the author's writing style is not one I enjoyed. It took me too many days to read the story and I doubt if I'll be reading any more of her books.

I received an advanced reader copy and all opinions are my own.