Golden Girl

Golden Girl - Joan Wolf 3.5 stars. This marriage of convenience story starts out wonderfully. Anthony, Duke of Cheviot, badly needs to wed an heiress, to pay the debts of his dissolute, now dead father. Sarah, the well-educated granddaughter of a wealthy merchant, has little interest in his title or position, but finds he’s the one person willing to offer her the only thing she really wants: the chance to further her education as a painter. They both find surprising rewards in their bargain, but as they grow closer to each other, an unexpected enemy threatens their newfound happiness.I really loved the subtle, quiet tone of this book. War hero Anthony is obviously suffering from PTSD and survivor’s guilt, but he doesn’t flail around all over the place being tortured; he’s an English Gentleman and a Duke and he suffers with deep reserve. Which of course makes it all the more powerful when he finds he can give up that reserve with his wife. Sarah isn’t quite as interesting, but is sympathetically drawn.Unfortunately, the second half of the book fails to live up to the excellent first half. The external conflict isn’t exactly bad, but it just doesn’t quite fit. There's a lot of telling and not showing about the secondary character's feelings and motivations. If the focus had stayed on the main couple, this could easily have been a 4-5 star read. It was still quite good.