The Governess Affair (The Brothers Sinister) Paperback – September 10, 2013

Review originally posted on Reader's Edyn (Blogspot) ~ Please visit for full review!Just as wonderful as the first book in the series, The Duchess War! The Governess Affair is the story of Hugo and Serena. For those of you who don’t know, Serena is Oliver Marshall’s mother, who is Robert’s (Duke of Clermont) half-brother. Robert’s father, the 8th Duke of Clermont had forced himself on Serena and Oliver had resulted from the attack. We knew all of this from the first book, but we did not know what happened to Oliver’s mother after the violence, or why Hugo Marshall had claimed him as his own. All we were told was that they had told Oliver the truth of his parentage prior to him leaving for school, where he encountered Robert, and eventually befriended him. This novella fills in all of the blanks for us. If you read it first, then I would recommend doing so, however, I wouldn’t say it is absolutely necessary. I read it after The Duchess War and didn’t enjoy it any less. Nor did I feel that I missed overmuch without this information already assimilated prior to reading The Duchess War. The only difference it might have made would have been how much I already cared for Hugo and Serena upon their introduction in the book.Hugo is on a mission. A coal miner’s son and former pugilist, he has a talent for numbers and has secured his position orchestrating order out of the mucked up mess of the 8th Duke of Clermont’s finances by way of wager. If he can turn a profit within a specified amount of time, he will walk away with 500 pounds for himself, allowing the next step toward building the empire he has craved for as long as he can remember. Hugo has garnered a nickname for himself because of his vicious business dealings – The Wolf of Clermont. He doesn’t particularly care for the Duke, but he is currently a means to secure what Hugo otherwise couldn’t on his own. When the Duke charges him with cleaning up yet another mess and leaves out several of the sordid details surrounding the governess’s appearance, Hugo sets out to plan a way to make her disappear. Her presence could be a huge setback in his plan for wealth and he cannot have that. Not even for a woman who is quickly making him second guess his goals in life, slowly switching his craving for an empire to a craving for her.Serena is in a dreadful situation. Raped by the Duke and now in the family way, she has to find a way to secure not only her own future, but the future of her unborn child. Her job was lost following the attack and she does not yet have enough saved to support herself and the child for more than a brief amount of time. She is currently staying with her sister, but that too is temporary. Blackmailing funds from the Duke seems her only option, but this blasted Wolf refuses to acquiesce to her demands. Despite his fearsome reputation, she can’t help but think of him as safe. How odd, that. But try as she might, she cannot extinguish the electric attraction they share. Hugo does not want to destroy her, but neither does he want to give up what he worked so hard to attain. And while Serena at times wishes she could relinquish her fight she has no choice but to provide for her child as best she can. She didn’t ask for what happened to her, but she had to fight for this. Had to fight back somehow. The question is whether or not Hugo will help her or destroy her.I enjoyed my time with Hugo and Serena just as much as I enjoyed my time immersed in the first book in this series. Ms. Milan did not waver a bit in the telling of this additional story. Sometimes I find that authors start out strong, but that as a series progresses, the components become almost cookie-cutter and dull. I was thrilled to discover that this story, even though shorter than the last I read, was just as enthralling and entertaining. I, very willingly, jumped right back into this world head first and never looked back. I will most definitely be securing the rest of the series in its entirety. Historical romance at its best, Ms. Milan is definitely a top choice for me with any future HR reads. If you have yet to experience her world, start with this one. It is quick and wonderful. You will definitely know whether you are matched to her writing style by the end of this novella. My guess is that most of you will be.Kindle version purchased for personal library

Reader, beware: backstory of physical abuse by a parent, backstory of rape, difficult sibling relationships, general trauma, and a most lovely scene of consent, seduction, and sex.There’s nothing better in genre romance than a well-written battle of wit, except perhaps when one character is an immovable object and the other an unstoppable force.Here we have two people who are broken in different ways; one through relentless physical and emotional parental abuse, the other…well, basically, life under the patriarchy, in the form of a specific man.I say often that Ms Milan consistently writes excellent novellas, because she manages to convey an ungodly amount of characterization, backstory and motivation, and build believable relationships between the characters, within the constraints of genre and short word count. This story is another example of this.There’s something so very sad about Hugo’s ruthlessness, his way of dealing with trauma, and how it’s no match to his vulnerability in the face of Serena’s own vulnerability and intractable will.Serena’s determination not to be silenced, not let herself be victimized further, breaks my heart every time I re-read this novella.“Things won’t happen to me, I will happen to things.”“I will not fail my child.”“I did not say no”.Then there’s her complex relationship with her sister Freddie (“perhaps God gave one sisters to teach one to love the inexplicable.”–that one hits me where I live).There is so much yearning, almost too much for the page count, and the ending is perfect for the characters.The postscript ties the novella to the Brothers Sinister series with yet another example of deft yet economical characterization, and has the same tone of somewhat melancholy sweetness.“The Governess Affair” gets 8.75 out of 10, and my wholehearted recommendation as an entry point to Ms Milan’s writing.

Romance novellas tend to feel very rushed to me, and this one was no exception. The beginning was very compelling. The leads were sympathetic. The supporting cast was memorable. This should be a knock-out success. Still, the pacing was off, and the ending sped through faster than the white rabbit late for its very important date.Honestly, my favorite part in the whole story was the foil setup between Serena and her sister Frederica. Serena is adventurous and always gets back on the horse, so to speak, while Frederica would rather stay in place to avoid unpleasant changes. It felt like something Dickens would write, and Frederica resembled the character Jenny from Our Mutual Friend. The foil was so striking and the relationship was so realistic that it never felt cliched or boring. Those scenes stole the show, in my opinion.Which then means the romance didn't, as much. There were plenty of sweet moments between Hugo and Serena, but it never developed into a romance for the ages. I think that's partially because the climax was pretty anticlimactic. Hugo just kind of goes "Nope, I don't need this anymore", and it's not super clear what set off that change. The thing he'd been wanting is suddenly not that important, but there wasn't really anything that set him off, so it kind of came out of the blue. Not only that, his punishment of the duke/his employer was extremely mild compared to how horribly the duke treated Serena. He got off so easy! If this was a Kleypas novel, that man would definitely be jailed or at the bottom of the Thames.Overall, this is a romance story with more grit than we're used to seeing. There's not a yard of silk to be seen in any of these pages, which would be perfectly fine if you're looking for something more grounded and not life-changing.

My first sample of Ms Milan’s writing certainly will not be my last. A refreshing change that the hero of the tale is not a devastatingly handsome titled gentlemen and the heroine is not the most beautiful woman to grace a ballroom. The whole story was cleverly written and kept me reading. The courtship was a true delight, different from the run of the mill, based on a mutual respect between two intelligent people with strong wills. A wonderful sense of humour shines through this tale, the whole thing is well written and compelled me to read the complete novella in one sitting. The correspondence between Hugo and Serena is a joy to read and the story has a warmth which surprises considering there is a fair bit of sadness in both Hugo’s and Serena’s past.I now look forward to reading the rest of this series, and hopefully many more from this author.

This was my first Courtney Milan story and I can certainly understand now why she's so popular - this was delightful, what an absolute joy to read!Standard alpha male love interests bore me (or worse) with their aggressive masculinity, but I am weak to devious, clever, unremarkable-looking protagonists who disguise their power and influence behind a veneer of banality, and thank god Hugo Marshall is exactly my type. He may not be a pinnacle of the trope like the Parasol Protectorate's Professor Lyall or my beloved David Cyprian from the Society of Gentlemen series, but he's still a helluvalot of fun. And he's certainly met his match in the ambitious and obstinate Serena Barton - their chemistry is fierce and the banter, ohhh the BANTER, is simply divine. I live for snark and couples flirting outrageously with cheeky wit, and these two did not disappoint. I would have liked even more of it, but this is only a novella after all.One thing I really liked was how respectful the 'ruination' of Serena was treated, especially the emotional aftermath of what was clearly assault, even if the opinion of the time (and sadly far too often our own) made her believe otherwise. Hugo was exactly what she needed, as well as being deliciously hot together. The story may have been light on actual plot, but it's such an engaging read it doesn't matter. And besides, there's nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of fluff for fluff's sake. :) This was such fun I've already bought the next in the series and cannot wait to read it!

This charming novella really is no more than a that - I read the whole thing in only a few hours - but it was a joy from start to finish. The book centres around Serena Barton, a young lady governess who has had an unpleasant encounter with the Duke of Clermont which has left her in dire straits. Clermont himself wants her out of his hair with as little fuss as possible, so as not to further upset his already plenty disgruntled duchess. To achieve this, he sets his associate, Hugo Marshall, on Serena. And Hugo Marshall is more commonly known as the Wolf of Clermont due to his ruthless nature.To say more of the plot would give away the entire novella, but I dare anyone to read this and not grin your way through the exchange between Hugo and Serena through written notes, or to not be touched by the sweet way Hugo puts her at ease later with the pin game. The writing is assured, accomplished and almost entirely devoid of errors, and the characterisation is completely believable. Also, for a novella this short it had a wealth of lines which were simply made for quoting at people, and it has a number of unexpected but very pleasant surprises.I cannot recommend this highly enough, it should be a wonderful read for anyone who likes romance.

I loved this novella and read it in a couple of hours, the whole story is actually very sweet and I really liked the two main characters. Hugo didn't lack substance like alot of historical romance heroes often do and he was kind enough to Serena without being completely sappy by the end. The reader hears about his childhood in snippets throughout the book, this makes us admire him without pity and you can then understand why he is as 'ruthless' as described. Serena has gotten herself into a right mess and so sits outside the Duke's front door for days, however, she isn't insipid or selfish and I thought she was a likeable character. The other characters such as Freddy, her sister, and the Duke himself are all portrayed well too.A lovely story that I wish I hadn't read so fast, for only 72p!! Definitely going to check out some of Milan's other books :)

I enjoyed this tale but found it lacking, like a good meal but too small portions.There were gaps in the tale that needed filling. For example, the development of their ‘relationship’ lacked detail; their exchange of letters brief and unsatisfying; the schoolboy epilogue ridiculously thin.Readable, enjoyable, worth giving it a go.