A Figure of Love

I'm a big fan of <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/17199532.Minerva_Spencer" title="Minerva Spencer" rel="noopener">Minerva Spencer</a>, and I was very excited to read <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/49259787.A_Figure_of_Love__The_Academy_of_Love___2_" title="A Figure of Love (The Academy of Love, #2) by Minerva Spencer" rel="noopener">A Figure of Love</a> after I loved the first in the series. And Minerva did it again with another interesting, exciting historical romance story. <br /><br />Though it doesn't explicitly say so, I loved how we got a male MC on the <b>autistic spectrum</b>. Autistic MCs are fairly rare in romance, though I've read a few, and it was exhilarating to find one in this story, even if he was on the very high functioning end of the spectrum. I sincerely hope that this author keeps coming up with interesting, less mainstream characters because I'm absolutely <i>here</i> for it. <br /><br />Minerva Spencer writes characters with tortured, angsty pasts, and I liked how she balanced the true hardships they've been through without weighing down the story and making it feel overly depressing. She is an expert at that, and I really enjoyed it here. <br /><br />The plot was a bit confusing and muddled at times, but I didn't want to put it down. It's fairly fast-paced, and you will want to keep reading straight through in one sitting. The great chemistry and pacing makes up for the overly complicated plot. <br /><br />*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13070326-heather-k-dentist-in-my-spare-time" rel="nofollow noopener">goodreads</a>|<a href="https://www.instagram.com/heatherk_dentistinmysparetime/" rel="nofollow noopener">instagram</a>|<a href="https://twitter.com/DentistHeatherK" rel="nofollow noopener">twitter</a>|<a href="http://www.myfictionnook.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">blog</a>

Just as the previous book in the series.<br />A lovely romance and a lovely hero! I liked very much that he a geek and his being befuddled with a normal human interactions. He just don't understand them! It was almost funny, but also very sad. He just doesn't understand why people don't speak plainly!<br />Also the heroine has lived some very difficult times, but retained her humor and joy.<br />A lovely book!<br />I'm looking forward to the next one!

Not bad!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ <br />Plot/Storyline: ??? <br />Feels: ?? <br />Emotional Depth: ?? <br />Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡ <br />Romance: ?? <br />Sensuality: ?? <br />Sex Scene Length: ??? <br />Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): ???? <br />Humor: I don’t recall much.<br /><br />(These are all personal preference on a scale of 1-5 (yours ratings may vary depending what gives you feels and how you prefer you sex scenes written, etc) except the Steam Scale which follows our chart from The Ton and the Tartans facebook group.)<br /><br /><b>Should I read in order? </b><br />This one is fine to pick up as a stand alone novel. The heroine from this book is friends with the heroine from the first book, but any reference to or page time of is minimal. (Also the character development for this heroine in book 1 is quite minimal. She’s barely mentioned)<br /><br /><b>Basic plot</b><br />Gareth has made himself one of the richest men in England, pulling himself up from nothing. He is working through creating a proper country estate and is in need of a gardener to finish the beauty of his home outside. This leads him to Serena. She is working to create a name for herself as a gardener and scultpor to support herself and her son. <br /><br /><b>Give this a try if you want:</b><br />- Mid to high steam – this book has 4 on page scenes that are quite explicit<br />- Artist heroine, autistic and mathematics loving hero<br />- Children in the story (heroine has a son – he’s 9 or 10)<br />- Sexually experienced heroine<br />- Regency time period<br />- You are okay with content warnings (see spoilers at end)<br /><br /><b>My thoughts:</b><br />Sadly, this one was also not for me. I’m not sure what’s happening. It could totally just be me. I usually adore Minerva Spencer. I love her character depth and the sexual tension that forms and the detailed sex scenes that I found in The Outcasts. I am not finding that in this series. I’m finding hot sex, yes, but I’m not really sure how or why we get there. So I end up not caring about the sex. <br /><br />This book had a bit of a slow start. I just wanted them to be on page together doing anything! And when they are together, I found myself enjoying it more. But the book is sprinkled with frequent separations. Also lots of drama. <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="db62d710-879b-43b4-8a5b-c5f6214192bb" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="db62d710-879b-43b4-8a5b-c5f6214192bb"> What was up with everyone being kidnapped? Heroine kidnapped, recovered. Child thought kidnapped. Recovered. I was waiting for the hero to go next. It was just too much. </label> So the ending kind of spun out of control with lots of danger and drama and intrigue and the relationship wasnt developed enough at that point for me to get enjoyment out of it. <br /><br />I do plan on trying another SM LaViolette, but I think I may give it a bit of a break. Also, reading books 1 and 2 right after each other, I found so many similarities with the heroines. As their problems weren’t things I love in a romance (blackmail, past coming to haunt you) it didn’t endear the book to me :( <br /><br />Content Warnings:<br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="8a523e91-6570-4a5b-8e45-f51d36970716" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="8a523e91-6570-4a5b-8e45-f51d36970716"><br />physical violence on page (hero punches someone in the face)<br />physical assault of heroine (villain pushes her so she hits her head against a wall)<br />sexual harassment of the heroine (by villain, forceful kissing on page)<br />blackmail<br />alcohol abuse<br />imprisonment (of heroine)<br />remembrance of rape<br />heroine is forced to have oral sex with a man and bites him on the penis<br />missing child<br /><br /></label><br />Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:<br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="a4841080-4789-4549-955e-576f382c56cd" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="a4841080-4789-4549-955e-576f382c56cd"><br />Pg 100 – kisses and a dry hump against the wall that she stops<br />Pg 154 – he encourages her to go for a swim and when she comes out of the water, her clothing molded to her body, leading to kisses, orgasm for her on top before penetration, then completion for him once inside.<br />Pg 160 – previous scene followed directly by another of them on their side, slowly<br />Pg 194 – oral for her and sex in a doorway? Him holding her up, her legs around his waist<br />Pg 237 – some kisses and touches<br />Pg 240 – fingering orgasm for her with a little breast play, followed by her on the bed, him standing sex, fairly rough<br />Pg 276 – oral for her followed by missionary sex<br />Total pages – 288 (I had the larger size novel)<br /></label>

THIS HELD PROMISE, BUT WHILE MANY RAVED OVER IT....I FELT THAT IT LACKED A TYPE OF CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MCs TO MAKE IT ALL REAL.<br /><br />GARETH is the kind of character I like. Stiff, quiet and wants absolutely nothing to do with society though he lacked the tall, dark and brooding stereotype. He reminded me of a Duke, except he's a cit who earned his money while the ton just earned their rights by birth. Unfortunately, Gareth's character was shy of becoming a stone cold statue, if it wasn't for the sex. LOL, I'm probably not making sense but I guess all I'm trying to say is that while I liked what Gareth represented, there was a lack of emotion within him that felt genuine as a reader. Yes, he can be a silent guy but the potential of his character failed to come through AT ALL. Gareth is good with numbers, tinkering and well all that geeky stuff you can expect from a man in the 18th century. Social niceties isn't his forte, and with a past with his, who could blame him. Right now, his sole goal is to have what all the aristocrats have just to rub shoulders with them and look like he fit in. Whatever money can buy, he'll have it. Thus, he hired our heroine to decorate his garden and be his landscape designer. Unconventional as it seems, Gareth opened his country home to Serena and her son, while getting to know them both in a professional capacity.<br /><br />SERENA isn't my kind of heroine. She's been through all, from France back to England, bringing her son along with her. I don't usually read stories featuring widows or ruined women...but I decided to give this the benefit of the doubt. And...I still wasn't a fan. I just blame it on my personal preference. Serena, despite being the daughter-in-law to the Duchy, doesn't want people to know about it much since she's lowering herself to do common labor. After her husband's death, she returned to England and raised her son alone. This time, she's hired to do Gareth's garden and frankly now that I think about it, the plot itself was lame and it didn't take Serena long to find her employer handsome and boy would she like to fuck him. <br /><br />OVERALL meh....it could have been great, but it lacked a really strong chemistry between the characters and while the sex scenes were raunchy, the lack of emotional connection just made it a damper. But I do love the book cover. After this one, I don't think I will be revisiting this series any longer because it all features women who are rather...old if not widows or something other. Not my kind of interest.

For those of you that have Ian McKenzie as your book BF and frankly who doesn't??? I think you are going to love this book! Our hero reminds me a of Ian and some of his mannerisms and how he deal...or in this case doesn't deal with people. The writing was well done and I have nothing but good things to say about this book. I wish I had it in paperback so I could just flip to my favorite parts. The Dover Rd carriage scene was particularly spicy...I was disheveled and out of breath as well by the time we arrived at our destination. ;-) I can't wait for the next in the series.

A Figure of Love <br />The Academy of Love Series #2<br />Minerva Spencer as S.M. Laviolette<br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://m.facebook.com/MinervaSpencerSMLaVioletteAuthor/">https://m.facebook.com/MinervaSpencer...</a><br />Release date 03/03/2020<br />Publisher Crooked Sixpence press<br /><br />Blurb :<br /><br />Gareth Lockheart is one of the richest men in England, but it will take more than money for the reclusive eccentric to gain entrée into the corridors of power; it will also take a proper country estate and an aristocratic wife with impeccable connections. Gareth is determined to find the right woman the same way he does everything in his life: using logic and mathematics.<br /><br />Serena Lombard might be the widow of a duke’s son, but she’s always existed on the ton’s fringes. The unconventional French émigré has worked hard to create a secure home for her son and has struggled to establish herself as a respected sculptor and landscape gardener.<br /><br />Gareth should have known doing business with a woman would be a mistake, especially an unorthodox, opinionated, and far too appealing French widow who manages to destroy his iron-clad ability to concentrate without even trying.<br /><br />Serena loves the project the wealthy industrialist has hired her to do; it’s too bad the man himself is so remote and unreadable. Not to mention distracting, gorgeous, and utterly captivating.<br /><br />The only thing the two opposites can agree on is that they should avoid becoming entangled with one another—no matter how difficult that proves to be. But when Serena’s dangerous past catches up with her, it is Gareth she turns to for help and he doesn’t hesitate to give it. But can a man who needs order like other men need air give himself up to the most unpredictable emotion of all: Love?<br /><br />My review :<br /><br />When two damaged persons with a high chemistry must find a way to trust one another with their secrets ...<br /><br />I would normally had read this book faster as eager I was to go through the pages but alas a cold blurred part of my brain so I needed to slow down a bit my reading to not miss anything. And it would have been a shame as Mrs Spencer/LaViolette has a way with words and to bring to life larger than life characters.<br /><br />Mrs Minerva Spencer likes her heroes and heroines to have lived quite an horrendous life before getting the happy ever after they rightly deserve.<br />And this one book does not go out of this pattern.<br /><br />Gareth’s past is only revealed by some input this and there and until the very end when the ugliness of it is truly disclosed. Awkward among people, he appears as being a misunderstood genius, more like an autistic savant.<br />He does like to be touched, he does not understand jokes, retreats in his mind when things bore him or when he feels overwhelmed by the outside world.<br />Still he is a very moving character aware of his flaws but also talents, he is not afraid to speak his mind until his interactions with Serena unsettle his well organized and arranged world.<br /><br />Serena has fled France and thought she has left her painful past behind until it caught up with her and it seems she will never be free of it. Her history is bit by bit told and it is no less horrible. She is a survivor like Gareth, and still she is able to function and love with her whole heart what ever she endured.<br />Because of she still being bind to her dreadful past, she tries at her best to establish a new path for herself and her son, but each she is a step forward, something reduces it to ash.<br /><br />I am no writer so it is difficult to express how I loved this book, while they are both disabled, from their past and present, she running away and he avoiding others, by some happy luck, they cross path and each will help the other to reconstruct oneself, they will never be perfect and fully healed, but they will have a shoulder on which to lie on.<br /><br />5 stars as there is no higher rating for this wondrous tale of finding one’s home.<br /><br />I now do wonder if Declan will have his own story.<br /><br />I was granted an advance copy by the author and prior to it preordered my own. Here is my true and unbiased opinion.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.facebook.com/429830134272830/posts/579843312604844/?d=n">https://www.facebook.com/429830134272...</a><br />

The Academy of Love series by Minerva Spencer tells the stories of seven Regency Era teachers who while in pursuit of ork, find themselves immersed in lessons in love of the kind to last a lifetime. A Figure of Love is the second installment in the series, bringing to readers the tale of widower Serena Lombard and 35 year old Gareth Lockheart, a self-made aristocrat in England.<br /><br />Gareth is a man of few words and controlled emotions. Having grown up at an orphanage and having been at the receiving end of the worst that humanity has to offer, Gareth has the emotional scars to prove it. One of the richest men in England, Gareth knows that taking his businesses to the next level requires that something elusive which would need him to make his entrance into the genteel world of society’s accepted breed of aristocrats.<br /><br />Designing his country house to standards befitting that of the world he plans to inhabits is how Serena comes into his life. A French emigrant who is the widow of the youngest son of a Duke and Duchess, Serena is someone who defies the conventions and has been working towards making a name for herself as a respected sculptor and landscape gardener.<br /><br />Neither of them are what they expect each other to be, and for Serena, Gareth is the man who unlocks her passions and makes her want a significant other after years of living through excruciating loneliness. In her heart, Serena is the woman who thaws the heart of the enigmatic man that is Gareth, but in reality, she knows that the secrets that she hides would never let it be so.<br /><br />I loved this story on so many levels, Gareth being the first and foremost reason. He is the kind of hero that speaks to you in every single way that matters without him having to utter a single word. Ms. Spencer has done a remarkable job in bringing him to life, his sheer presence enough to make you feel as if he is your whole world. His fascination with numbers, his faithful nature even if it may seem unwarranted at that point, all that and more tells you the kind of man he is deep inside.<br /><br />His passions lie dormant, not because he does not feel them, but because he reserves them for those whom he feels it to be worthy of. In Serena, he finds the woman who shakes him up in a way no other woman has, and he knows that it is futile to deny his burgeoning feelings of desire and need for her, which is when Ms. Spencer with her remarkable flair ushers in the kind of love scenes that leaves the reader in a state of stunned anticipation for more.<br /><br />Serena was a swell heroine, just the right touch of everything that is needed for Gareth. With a young son in tow, it is the secrets that she carries which puts her and those she cares about in danger. And it is her need to protect Gareth from that ugly reality which lands her in an untenable situation which drives the story to its climax and beyond.<br /><br />In my opinion, Gareth was the star of this story – there is something about a strong and silent hero that just speaks to me on a level that is indescribable. I loved Serena too, she loves Gareth and all that he is just as fiercely as he does her, and is protective of him in a way that no one has ever been all through his life. I also loved the character of her son – his character meshes well with that of Gareth, which made for enjoyable reading.<br /><br />Recommended for fans of Ms. Spencer, fans of the series, and fans of Regency Era romances! Romance, suspense, and toe-curling sex – this one has got it all!<br /><br /><i>Final Verdict: Featuring exquisitely crafted scenes of scrumptious passion that is trademark Ms. Spencer, A Figure in Love is a notable addition to this beautifully crafted series!</i><br /><br /><b> Rating = 4.5/5 </b><br /><br />For more reviews and quotes, please visit <a href="www.maldivianbookreviewer.com" rel="nofollow noopener"> A Maldivian's Passion for Romance </a>

Ooh, another reclusive hero! They make the best heroes because they usually have such dark and riveting history. Gareth exhibits the classic signs of a functional autistic, and he also has his own demons to live with. But he falls hard for Serena who hides a few major secrets of her own. As in the first in the series, the skills of these Academy instructors are just the impetus to bring the main couple together and not an integral element to the plot, but that's okay since Gareth steals the show with his awkward manner, his laser focus, his growing affection toward Serena and her son, Oliver. I couldn't get enough of him. The sexy bits are hot and heavy, too, and oh so delicious. Spencer can definitely write her way around the most intimate details of a love affair. I want more! 4 stars.

Gareth Lockheart is one of the richest men in England, but it will take more than money for the reclusive eccentric to gain entrée into the corridors of power; it will also take a proper country estate and an aristocratic wife with impeccable connections. Serena Lombard might be the widow of a duke’s son, but she’s always existed on the ton’s fringes. The unconventional French émigré has worked hard to create a secure home for her son Oliver and has struggled to establish herself as a respected sculptor and landscape gardener.<br />Gareth has bought the country estate &amp; now needs the gardens landscaping &amp; hires Serena to carry out the work. Serena loves the project the wealthy industrialist has hired her to do.<br />When Serena’s dangerous past catches up with her, it is Gareth she turns to for help and he doesn’t hesitate to give it. <br />This is the second book in the series &amp; is easily read on its own. A very well written page turning read. The characters are well fleshed &amp; complex. The pace flows effortlessly &amp; for a book of over 350 pages it never lagged &amp; to be honest felt as though it shorter! It took me on a roller coaster of emotions from tears to sitting on the edge of my seat. I was drawn in from the start &amp; loved the enigmatic Gareth &amp; how his backstory was gradually revealed. Serena was a strong woman who also had her secrets, which were also gradually revealed. I loved the chemistry between the pair &amp; how their relationship developed. I also loved Oliver who whilst a typical boy was caring &amp; loving. Declan intrigued me &amp; I hope he has his story, he deserves a happy ever after. An engrossing captivating read that whilst I was happy at the end I also hungered for more &amp; look forward to the rest of the series.<br />My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read<br />