Lady Arabella Blydon has beauty and a brain, and she's tired of men who can see only one without the other.When a suitor tells Arabella he's willing to overlook her appalling bluestocking tendencies on account of her looks and fortune, she decides to take a break from the Marriage Mart. During an extended stay in the country, she never expects to meet Lord John Blackwood, a wounded war hero who intrigues her like no other man. Lord John has lived through the worst horrors of war, but nothing could have been as terrifying to his tormented heart as Lady Arabella. She is intoxicating, infuriating - and she makes him want to live again. Suddenly he's writing bad poetry and climbing trees in the pitch-dark nigh - just so he can dance with her. And even though he knows he can never be the sort of man she deserves, he can't help wanting her. But when the harsh light of day replaces the magic of midnight, can this tormented soul learn to love again?
I had to continue my interruption in the Bridgerton marathon since I couldn't get my hands on the next book in the series. Which left me reading this one and I'm glad I did. I loved that Arabella is a bluestocking. I remembered her and her alphabetical Shakespeare project from previous books and it was fun to read her own story. I also really liked her insistence that John write her a poem and all of his "attempts". So much better than The Lost Duke of Wyndham. This one was very entertaining. Julia Quinn is reliably fun to read.
