Review: Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas

In this story of the last Hathaway sibling, you'll find all the funny, leap-in-logic dialog you've come to expect from this nouveau riche family. But if you've been following the series, you also know that Beatrix, with her love of ferrets, hedgehogs, and other not-so-typical pets, won't have an easy time of it. And in typical Hathaway fashion, her beloved won't be a poetry-spouting, milquetoast peer.

The courtship of Beatrix is conducted mostly by correspondence between the homefront and a soldier, Christopher, fighting the Crimean War. But it's all a charade because Beatrix is writing on behalf of a flighty friend with whom Christopher is totally smitten. Of course, he returns home to find she's shallow and self-absorbed and completely unlike the letters he received on the battlefield.

Of course, there are those who know who wrote the letters, but no one will tell him. He's frustrated. He's angry. He's been deceived and he wants to wring someone's neck. All he needs is to find out who the victim should be.

And then there's his beloved's friend, Beatrix. She wants to befriend him and domesticate his dog. She's a hoyden who doesn't know how to behave in society. He sees her as a pest and the last thing he wants is to spend any time in her presence. But she sees him as a wounded animal, defensive and ready to attack a person who is trying to help him. And she's determined that she won't give up on him, no matter how cruelly he behaves.

If you've enjoyed Cam and Amelia, Merripen and Win, Harry and Poppy, Leo and Catherine, you'll find some continuation of their stories in Love in the Afternoon, but mostly, you'll treasure every moment with baby sister Beatrix and the man who loves her before he knows her. You'll be reminded of how much fun love can be and how it can heal even the most damaged of two- and four-legged souls.