[Note: This is my review for Book 3 of the “Westmoreland Saga”. I also wrote reviews for Book 1 and Book 2.]
This book made me feel the pain, the loss, and the turbulent emotions inside each character as they learned to trust each other again and celebrated their beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime love. Judith McNaught did it again. She waved her magic wand and once again I was utterly and wholeheartedly bewitched.
Stephen Westmoreland, the Earl of Langford – the brother of Clayton Westmoreland, the Duke of Claymore in Whitney, My Love – was riding his carriage after spending another night with his mistress, when the Baron of Burleton, drunk and disoriented, jumped in front of the carriage, and was killed. More importantly, Burleton was engaged to Miss Charise Lancaster, an American heiress. His fiancee was on the ship to England along with Ms. Sheridan Bromleigh, a lady-in-waiting, when Charise Lancaster eloped with a man on the ship, leaving Sheridan alone with the fear that she had lost the future bride of a nobleman.
When the ship arrived in England, Stephen came to greet the unfortunate fiancee of the man whose death he felt responsible for. But before knowing that Sheridan WAS NOT Charise Lancaster, a cargo bumped into her head, wounding her and making her lose all the memories she had had of her name and her identity. Struck with remorse, Stephen carried the woman he thought was Charise Lancaster to his house, let his personal doctor treat her, and from that, a love story like no others started.
I must admit, I didn’t really fall in love with the first one-third of the book. I know amnesia and mistaken identity should be interesting to read. But since we all know who was who and who was not who, it was kind of repetitive to see Sheridan, now called Ms. Lancaster, grapple with her amnesia, believing she was Charise Lancaster and engaged to Stephen (because Stephen didn’t want to scare her when she was in this fragile state, he didn’t tell her that “she” was engaged to Burleton, but let her believe she was engaged to him). Things started a little bit slowly at first, I must say that. But when everything began to come into a magnificent circle of love, desire, and true identities revealed, the book got so AMAZING that I spent the whole night wrapped up in my blanket, reading it till the very end.
Stephen did have a desire for Sheridan at first, right on the day when she arrived into his arms with no memories left. And that desire along with the sexual chemistry between these two characters built up so deliciously through hungry kisses and embraces. At first, Stephen, though felt strongly attracted to her, knew that he was not actually his fiance, and wanted to give “her” (whom he thought was Charise Lancaster) the chance to find another fiance now that “her” first one was dead. It was an act of gallantry, I think, but then as Sheridan continued to show the same desire and attraction to him, everything started to come into place with a planned wedding, especially now that Charise’s father died, and Stephen thought it would be best to marry “Charise” now before her memory came back.
But then the real Charise realized her identity was “stolen” by the girl accompanying her on the ship to England. And God knows how much I hated her, when she thought Sheridan forced her into this marriage with a man who turned out to be nothing like what he promised her before. When the real identities were revealed, and Sheridan got her memories back, it was also the moment the story got marvelously MAGNIFICENT.
I always to read about the angst between the two main characters, and in this case, Ms. McNaught really pushed this angst to the maximum level. There were misunderstandings after Sheridan’s true identity was revealed, and a lot of heartbreaking decisions as well as events happened. My heart ached so much for Sheridan, because just imagine you thought you were this lady of finery and richness, then you remembered everything about your life before, and knew that now you were just a commoner, unworthy of all the beautiful things you once had. And on top of that, the man who once loved you, worshiped you, now detested you to his core, because he thought you were lying to him the whole time and pretending to be in love with him just to go after his money. I can’t imagine how painful and heartbroken Sheridan must have felt in her situation, especially after knowing that Stephen decided to marry her not out of pity or remorse, but because he loved her truly, and wanted to be with her. Now everything seemed to not be able to be back like before, and that Sheridan may have lost him forever.
I really appreciated all the side characters, all the women and the men surrounding this angsty love story (it’s great to meet characters from the “Sequels” trilogy again), planning to help Sheridan win back Stephen’s trust. They were so kind, so good, and Ms. Charity Thornton was so smart. But seeing all the efforts Sheridan made at Claymore country estate to win back Stephen go up in flames; seeing how Sheridan giving her body, her virginity, proving her love and devotion to Stephen, and then feeling like being slapped in the face with a proposal to become his mistress, was so painful and so heart-wrenching. And Stephen really deserved this real slap on the face by Sheridan, despite the fact that he had his own reason to once again lose faith in the female of the species, considering all the women approaching him before just for his titles and money.
However, this angst between Sheridan and Stephen, the misunderstandings between them, made the reconciliation much sweeter, when Stephen realized that Sheridan was telling the truth all along, and that she loved him truly. What Stephen said right before letting Sheridan decide if she wanted to marry him, considering all the horrendous insults he threw at her while he still misunderstood her intention and doubted her dignity, was so great to read. He begged her to marry him and would like her to be the mother of his red-headed, fiery children, because Sheridan was red-headed. And sexually speaking, what they did at Claymore could never compare to the lovemaking act they did as husband and wife.
At the end of the day, this book was such an emotional and breathless read that I just wanted it to go on forever. I want to know how many children Stephen and Sheridan had, and if they looked like mommy or daddy. I guess for right now, I can only imagine the scene in my head.
By the way, after reading this book, it has been even clearer to me that Ms. McNaught really didn’t do justice to Nicki DuVille. He was such an important character in both Whitney, My Love and Until You, and he seriously deserved a full-length novel for his love story. But instead, he only got a short novella Miracles where I didn’t see much romance development between him and Juliana Skeffington. Seriously, what a waste of potential…
Final verdict: 10/10, because I had to tell my heart to “be still” the whole time reading it.
Little Corner of My Mind 
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