Review: Too Tempting to Resist (Gothic Love Stories, #3) by Erica Ridley

        

Print Length: 162 pages

Publisher: Erica Ridley (March 21, 2017)

From Goodreads.com:  When a new heir inherits the castle, poor relation Miss Rebecca Bond must wed immediately or be out on her ear. The only man she ever loved is summoned to hear the will—but their past ended so badly that they haven’t spoken in years. Yet who better than a heartless rake to teach her how to snare a gentleman who appreciates her charms?

Daniel Godwin, Lord Stonebury, regrets nothing more than losing the one woman who treated him like a man, not a title. Fate has given him the perfect pretext to win her trust—even if it means watching her wed someone else. But now that she's back in his life, he’ll do anything to convince her to choose him instead...

  

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My Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

There were parts about this story that I liked, and parts that I didn't. To begin with, I didn't feel as though this one really classified as a gothic romance. Sure, there was a spooky castle with a "foreboding" air to it that was supposedly haunted, but we never actually saw any proof of supernatural happenings taking place. I'm also confused as to how Rebecca was able to live there for years, "forgotten". I mean, maybe if the former Earl had dementia or Alzheimer's  

or something I could see him forgetting that she was living under his roof (especially since he apparently forgot he was supposed to sponsor her second London season after her year of mourning for her parents was over), but the servants? And if that was the case and she really hadn't spoken to any of them in so long she considered herself another "ghost" of the castle, then why when she spotted a maid in the hall and asked her to accompany her to the village, did the maid immediately agree? Shouldn't she have been frightened thinking she was seeing an actual ghost? I was also more than a little confused about what happened between Daniel and Rebecca in the past. Originally she had said that he had given her the cut direct and that had affected her reputation on the marriage mart. But then as more details came out, it was revealed that he did not in fact give her the cut, but refused to dance with her (within earshot of his Grandmother and a few others) OUTSIDE of a ballroom due in part to the fact that she was not "out" yet. In my eyes, it would have been more scandalous for the both of them had he danced with her than by doing what he did. 

Now before I get into what was without a doubt my biggest gripe with this story, let me talk a bit about what I liked for a moment. 

I LOVED Daniel and Rebecca together. I loved their easy back and forth (even when she was mad at him), and the way she wasn't afraid to be herself with him. One instance that immediately springs to mind is when they are in the hedge maze and Daniel asks her to show him the way if only so he doesn't get lost, to which she immediately responds with "You're assuming I want you to come back." Or when she later tells him if he causes her to miss nuncheon she will either feel faint or furious. To which Daniel teases her about his "fond remembrances" of her "homicidal tendencies when deprived of a timely meal." To me, this just proved how strong their childhood friendship was, although I would have also liked to have seen them learn more about the people they were now as well. 

Which brings me to my biggest issue with this story. The entire reason Daniel says he did what he did in the past was to try and please his grandmother. Apparently his grandmother doesn't think that Rebecca (who is related to an Earl) is "good enough" to be a Viscountess. And now, even though he is an adult in need of a wife and heir, he knows he can't marry Rebecca because his grandmother will make both of their lives a misery. He just knows she will go so far as to whisper the right words in other people's ears as to make sure Rebecca is never invited to do anything by anyone in society. 

But of course, he loves Rebecca. And he soon realizes that he needs her as his wife. So he proceeds to surprise her with two gestures that he hopes will show her how much he values her and always has. It works, and she agrees to marry him. 

And then..... we get an epilogue. A few years in the future. After Daniel and Rebecca are settled into their new married life with their adorable son. Which is all well and good, but WHERE IS THE DRAMA with grandma? Where is her reaction to the news that he was planning to marry Rebecca? Did she attempt to make things difficult for them or did she accept his choice? Did they meet and Rebecca was the first female to stand up to the old bat and impress her? These were things I desperately wanted to see/have the answers to, and due to the fact that his grandmother played such a huge role in why he felt they couldn't be together, I felt like she should have at least warranted a paragraph even if it was in the form of an anecdote during the epilogue. 

However, due to the fact that this is an author that I have enjoyed in the past (including other books in this series), I will read more from them in the future. In fact, I do plan on reading the final two books in the Gothic Love Stories series just to see how they stack up against the others I have read.