The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

First the author should be congratulated for bringing in a such a simple and serene love story out of an innocent woman’s life.

Storyline: Hugo Marshall, a cut throat businessman and also the legal and financial assistant of the Duke of Clermont was given an assignment by his boss to solve the problem of a woman named Serena Barton, who was made pregnant forcibly, by the Duke himself, after she was hired as a governess to his forthcoming child. Serena wages a silent battle against the Duke in front of his office, claiming recognition to her unborn child. Hugo confronts her many times to withdraw her claim by offering her a meager compensation for which she rejects. Meanwhile, Hugo slowly gets attracted to Serena’s will power and beauty, resulting in he slipping into love with her. Not being able to withstand his hidden love towards her, he offers her a proposal to marry her and hence clear her child from carrying a tainted image after he was born, without bending his ego of a self-centered advocate. Serena accepts the proposal and also later lives to realize her dream of owning a small farm for herself along with her son to acquire the best education, through Hugo’s tactical method of extracting benefit from the Duke. The story ends after many years, with Serena’s son and the Duke’s son confronting each other in a tussle in their high school, and get to know the fact that they were actually siblings of the same father but different mothers.

Pros: A serene love story which once again emphasizes on the ability of a woman to get what she wants only with strong will power….a great qualifier for Mills & Boon series of love stories. The game of hair pins mentioned in the story when Hugo had his first sexual encounter with Serena is worth trying by all males without being exposed by their thirst to dominate a woman.

Cons: I felt like Serena was taking advantage of the Duke’s weakness rather than fighting over the real cause of distress. Similarly Hugo seemed to have taken advantage of both Serena’s and the Duke’s weak positions. The entire story felt like business deals which rather might have transformed into emotional attachments.

My rating is 2 out of 5


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