Books › An Arrow of Love
An Arrow of Love
First published 1975 · 287 pages
A breathless, vintage Regency romp where pure-hearted innocence melts the icy cynicism of a formidable duke.
What it feels like
Reading this vintage romance feels like indulging in a perfectly preserved slice of 1970s historical escapism. The pace is brisk and breathless, sweeping the reader through a melodramatic landscape of wicked stepmothers, grand estates, and brooding, cynical aristocrats. The prose is famously flowery and earnest, leaning heavily into the swooning intensity of pure, unadulterated romance. It wraps you in a cozy yet dramatic atmosphere where innocence is the ultimate weapon against a jaded world. Fans of traditional, closed-door Regency tales will devour the comforting predictability of the emotional arc, which moves swiftly from desperate entrapment to triumphant, happily-ever-after devotion. It is a delightful, unironic celebration of old-school romantic fantasy.
- Mood
- swoony
- dramatic
- vintage
- cozy
- Tone
- earnest
- melodramatic
- breathless
- romantic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- innocence redeeming cynicism · escape from tyranny · the power of pure love · hidden identities
- The writing
- Flowery, breathless, and heavily reliant on dramatic dialogue and earnest declarations.
- The arc
- Moves swiftly from desperate entrapment and fearful anticipation to overwhelming, swooning romantic triumph.
- Who it's for
- Fans of vintage, closed-door historical romance who love a pure-hearted heroine and a brooding, reformed rake.
Content notes
- mild misogyny
- emotional abuse
- alcohol abuse
About the book
As far as Melissa Wade was concerned, the future could have hardly looked blacker.
Her father's second marriage had been a disaster. His new wife was as crude as she was rich, interested only in the unbridled pleasures of strong drink and the hunt. There would be no place in her debauched household for a pretty, unmarried stepdaughter. Melissa would have to wed immediately a man of her stepmother's choosing.
Violently dissatisfied with, these arrangements, Melissa took the only means of escape available: a job as companion to her friend Cheryl, the wealthy young ward of the Duke of Aldwick. But as Melissa stood before her new employer--a man whose cynical, commanding presence terrified her, whose hatred of women was common knowledge throughout England--she began to wonder if she hadn't escaped into an even more dangerous trap.
Description from Open Library.
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