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When Melody's mother passes, she learns that she'll inherit her family's considerable estate only after she turns thirty. She is currently twenty-eight. Until that point, according to her father's will, she is the guardian of her English cousin, Arthur Farr. Their family has been English nobility for generations, but her great-great-grandfather left England and settled in the Houston area in the 1870s, where he made his own wealth. Melody is invited to live with Arthur and help work on the Farr family history. Arthur is a private, reserved bachelor about a decade older than Melody. In England, Melody is befriended by Lord Alfred, a wealthy, outgoing man about her age. Arthur and Alfred know each other and don't particularly like each other. Through some secret past, they too are related. Melody eventually settles into a routine in England but misses her home and established life in Houston. Shortly before she travels back to America for the holidays, both men realize they are interested in marrying her.
Boseman does an excellent job writing about the daily lives and activities of those with old money and traditional ideas on etiquette and class. The section covering Melody's great-great-grandfather establishing himself as a gentleman in Houston is consistent with these same themes and helps show how class and privilege have been passed through the family to both Melody and Arthur. The book feels influenced by authors such as Jane Austen. However, there is very little tension in the book, and it concludes at the point of the first major revelation and before the reader really gets into the depths of the story. Still, romance readers who enjoy books where money, prestige, and manners are highlighted may find this the start of their next favorite series.