Too Wilde to Wed
Series: The Wildes of Lindow Castle #2
Author: Eloisa James
Published May 29th 2018 by Piatkus Books

Goodreads Synopsis
No one is more surprised than Lord North when he returns from war to find his ex-fiancee in his ancestral home...working as a governess...

The handsome, rakish heir to a dukedom, Lord Roland Northbridge Wilde—known to his friends as North—left England two years ago, after being jilted by Miss Diana Belgrave. He returns from war to find that he’s notorious: polite society has ruled him “too wild to wed.”

Diana never meant to tarnish North’s reputation, or his heart, but in her rush to save a helpless child, there was no time to consider the consequences of working as a governess in Lindow Castle. Now everyone has drawn the worst conclusions about the child’s father, and Diana is left with bittersweet regret.

When North makes it clear that he still wants her for his own, scandal or no, Diana has to fight to keep from losing her heart to the man whom she still has no intention of marrying.

Yet North is returning a hardened warrior—and this is one battle he’s determined to win.

He wants Diana, and he’ll risk everything to call her his own.
Goodreads

Review
Too Wilde to Wed follows the trials and tribulations faced by Diana Belgrave after she ran away from her own engagement celebrations, and jilted the heir to the Lindow dukedom. When it's discovered she's back at Lindow Castle, working as a governess of the Duchess, with a young boy in tow, it's immediately assumed that North, the wild heir, left her pregnant before heading off to war, and that he's 'Too Wilde to Wed'. When he returns home from war, North is struggling to come to terms with what he saw in America, and seeing Diana, but not as the glamorous and fashionable lady she was, but as a dowdy governess, was a shock to say the least. He is still in love with her, and the more time he spends with her, and discovers the truth about Godfrey, and the real Diana, he falls just that little bit harder. But, there is the rest of society to contend with, and Diana's own conflicting feelings. Can the Wilde brood recovered Diana's lost reputation, and will North be able to convince her he loves her, and not the creature her mother created?

I loved meeting both North and Diana in Wilde in Love, and knew that they did reconnect following Diana's flit in the night, but actually reading their story was more than I could've asked for. Diana was a little frivolous and aloof in book one, but being in her head, and seeing her struggle through her grief over her sister's death, her mother's mistreatment of herself, and Godfrey's appearance was heartbreaking. She was not a perfect governess, but she fit in so well with the Wilde household, and was beloved by all, not least by little Artie who loved her like a second mother. North's reappearance puts into jeopardy everything she has worked towards, and she's like a deer caught in the headlights. But, North has changed, just like she, and their growth - both individually, and together - cemented their romance and relationship even more so. Neither wanted to give the other up, but felt they had had to, but no more. As always, the extending Wilde brood were what truly made this story, and the interactions, and fights, between Parth and Lavinia are making me more excited for Born to be Wilde!

Dates Read:
October 12-14, 2020

Rating
4 Stars