After the Storm by Kimberly Nee

After the Storm is a historical romance that reminds me of the ‘time-honored’ ones I read early on. A good amount of setting, clothing, people’s station, etc. to set the situation up and it reads well without bonging us down. After the Storm also has the great romantic tension between the main characters that historical romances are known for.

When her father’s death leaves her in need of the protection of marriage, Miranda MacDonough travels from her home in Scotland to live in England with an aunt she hardly knows. There, she will learn everything necessary to make her into an acceptable society lady. The only problem is, the one man who makes her heart beat faster and her breath difficult to catch belongs to someone else. Hugh Montgomery, the Duke of Thorpeton, has spent his life doing exactly what was expected of him, right down to the woman he is expected to marry, one chosen for him. What he hadn’t expected was to meet a woman such as Miranda, who will turn his world upside down and leave him torn between honoring his father’s dying wish or surrendering to his desire.

Miranda MacDonough grew up in a small home in Scotland. Raised by her father after her mother’s death when she was very young, she is a little too wild and blunt for English society. After her father’s death, he has arranger for her to stay with her Aunt Angus in England while she finds a husband. Her chaperon, Mrs. Anderson, makes is rudely obvious that this is going to be difficult to do. Aunt Angus arranges with her friend, the Duchess of Thorpeton and her daughter Lady Elyse, to help Miranda become something acceptable to English society and all its rules and requirements. As part of Miranda’s many “Lady Lessons,” Lady Elyse gets her brother, the Duke, to help with Miranda’s dance lessons.

Hugh Montgomery, as the eldest son of the Duke of Thorpeton, has been taught all the duty and obligations that go with be the Duke. When his father died a year ago, he became the current Duke and took on the role and responsibilities better than expected, even to the point of his sister and brother remarking on his loosing what humor he use to have. He doesn’t think he has time for fun and games, and thinks no one would want to play with a cripple any way. He was injured in the war with America and has a limp and almost constant pain from his leg wound, even if others don’t want to admit it’s that serious. His father had asked him to offer (marriage) for Lady Sally, the daughter of his father’s best friend, thus uniting the two families. They have grown up together and he was fond enough of her that he had seen no problem with this and had written his father from the war front saying he would do so. Everyone is expecting the Duke and Lady Sally to announce their betrothal any day now. No one would have expected the Duke to develop feeling for Miranda, especially Hugh himself.

Lady Sally is a spoiled, selfish brat that expects to become the Duchess. She is insanely jealous, manipulates the Duke, and excepts to get her way. She doesn’t care about or for the Duke, just the position he can give her, even to the point of thinking his limp is just for show, that he doesn’t really need the cane or have real pain. And anything that comes between her and what she wants had better look out. When she sees how Miranda and Hugh interact, she sets her sights on getting Miranda out of the picture. This includes introducing her to the worse men at Miranda’s first ball, starting verbal fights with her on several occasions, and bad mouthing her every chance. Lady Sally shows herself to be such a bad person it is any wonder that she is not made persona non grata.

The week of the house party happens when they have the ball and a hunt and other gatherings. The day of the hunt, Miranda gets lost in the forest and Hugh goes looking for her. They both get stranded in a cabin overnight. This is a ‘compromising’ situation, but instead of this forcing Hugh to marry her, Miranda is just ruined and sent away. Lady Sally throws a big jealous fit a Hugh; then confronts Miranda in another ugly scene. Even with both claiming nothing happened, she is still ‘ruined’ and runs back to Scotland. Hugh wants to be with her but is still duty bound and even his mother is forcing the Lady Sally issue. His sister is the one that points out his father would never have asked his to give up all his happiness to marry someone he didn’t love. Is his duty to his dead father more important the all his future happiness and the woman he loves?

After the Storm may be a historical romance, but is does differ from the “classical” pattern is several areas. There is not just the meet, attraction, resist, fall, HEA plot line. Yes, most of that happens, but these two really go above and beyond the call of duty to try not to end up together. Duke Hugh is so caught up in his duty obligations that he almost never lets himself have any enjoyment, anything for himself. Miranda is so determined that she doesn’t ‘deserve’ the duke that she almost misses him time and again. While certain parts were frustrating, it was nice to see someone actually having to work for their HEA, not just getting to the end and everyone say ‘I Love You” being the solution for everything to work out, as seems to happen a little too often in the ‘classic’ romance.

Now, I really liked that Hugh’s sister got in his face and all but smacked him into some sense, because I sure wanted to. How can he claim to be doing his duty and what is expected of him if he is marrying a girl who only wants to be a duchess but has the manners out of the gutter? Duty calls for at least keeping things as good as they are, if not improving them. Lady Sally treats people badly, and her and her mother treat the servants even worse. That is no way for a lady to act, and a duchess should act even better! She is a spoiled brat who manipulates the Duke without regard to his feelings at all. Does she even know what his name actually is? Because never once in After the Storm does Lady Sally call Hugh by anything other than Duke! And don’t even ask me about how she treats Miranda (even worse, of course)!

After the Storm is good. It may be a little heavy on the setting/social situation for a few, but historical readers will love it. I liked that the characters earn what they get, you get to watch the people grow and develop here. Hugh and Miranda together are believable, both having lost their fathers, having a love for the Scotland’s countryside, horse riding for itself (not to show off or attract others), i.e. they share more than just a physical attraction. After the Storm is a rich story, with well develop characters and setting that make you want to read more like it.