A Gentleman Never Tells by Juliana Gray

Six years ago, Elizabeth Harewood and Lord Roland Penhallow meet and fell in love and were sure to marry each other....until Roland left and never sent any work to Lilibet.  Thinking he deserted her, she marries an Earl and has a son but as time goes by, her husbands infidelity and indifference leave a mark on her.  She escapes to the Italian countryside with her son and sister and friend to have a year to think, to see if she can gather to courage to ask for a divorce.  However, fate deals her a major obstacle in the form of Roland and the past passion is quickly ignited again!  How can she survive at this castle with him around, peppering her with compliments and lovely touches?  Just when things seem to be finally fitting together, her husband arrives.  With Roland determined to protect Lilibet and her son and Lilibet determined to protect Roland, who will come out ahead?

I so enjoyed Juliana Gray's debut and A Gentleman Never Tells is filled with the same wonderful writing and I just devoured it!  This book takes place at the same times as A Lady Never Lies but beyond a few scenes, it is an entirely new story, which was a fact I was very happy about because sometimes when stories run parallel to each other the overlap is too similar.  Not the case at all here!  I was not sure how I would like this story since I do not usually approve of adultery in the story but the love between Roland and Lilibet just vibrates off the pages and I can forgive it in this storyline.  I felt it was a nice change of pace to not have a horribly violent husband on the hunt for the missing wife, I enjoyed the little twists that Ms Gray put into this story regarding their relationship and how it ends up being resolved.  Lilibet is a strong, vibrant, passionate woman who loves her son to the end of the earth and will do whatever is necessary to raise him into a dashing young man, far different from his father.  I enjoyed watching Roland bungle his attempts to talk to the young boy, Henry, at first and they slowly developed a good relationship.  Roland has a past he is keeping hidden from Lilibet that explains his sudden absence and his seemingly rakish lifestyle.  He was such a treat to read!  Silly yet serious.  The first half kind of moved a little slow action wise but the pace picked up later  and the story unwinds in ways I did not expect!  I again loved all the attention to detail from the scenery to the manner of speaking, Ms Gray has a expert way about her writing that I just love and she is on my auto buy list.  4 stars for a clever story with characters you can't wait to read more about and see how a single choice can change everything.

ARC won from the author, thank you so much!

Affairs by Moonlight

                                  Feb 5th, 2013 (really excited for this one!)