Oftentimes I like the prim and proper miss paired with the disillusioned rake, but when those characterizations cross over into annoying heroine and fake rake, I lose interest rather quickly. Faith has just such characters and, unfortunately, those aren’t the only problems.

Miss Faith Ackerly, known as the ice princess of the ton, is legendary for her beauty, aloof bearing, and correct behavior. Though determined to do the proper thing at all times, Faith is confounded by Gareth Lloyd, a well known society rake, who gets under her skin quite effectively and causes her rigid control to completely disappear in his presence. An impulsive moment on her part creates a delicate situation: One solved only through a marriage of convenience with which she isn’t exactly on board.

Gareth Lloyd can’t seem to do anything correct in Faith’s presence, though for her he is willing to try. One year he’s the younger son and the next he’s the Marquess of Roth and one of society’s most eligible bachelors, but he still can’t get it exactly right where she is concerned. Things continually get worse as friends interfere, huge misunderstandings develop, and nefarious characters keep popping up.

The easiest way to sum up my feelings with regard to the heroine is that I strongly wanted her to remove the stick that seemed to be lodged in her rear end. I lacked sympathy with her objections to the hero, especially when they were based on reputation and one interaction with him. On the other hand, I liked Gareth’s laid back character at first and enjoyed reading about his attempts to win Faith. However, his character begins a downward spiral midway through the novel and becomes distrusting and jealous, and he begins to jump to conclusions with little evidence in order to further the plot development. At the same time, the heroine’s personality also shifts to a much more levelheaded characterization.

Basically, I had a problem with the lack of plot overall and, while it was character driven, the characters were too weak to sustain momentum. The majority of the story was propelled by contrived misunderstandings. Drama (though not necessarily good drama) did work its way into the last third of the book and things begin to take off more so than at any other point. Finally, there was too much focus on secondary characters and their perfect lives within this small, stellar circle of society. Put simply, it annoyed me to no end.

For me, Faith is one of those many instances where a pretty cover does not a book make. Although, I wish it had.