Gifford’s Lady began well, but just as I was beginning to fall in love with the characters, they took a trip to Stupid Land. They eventually came to their senses and the book ended with a love scene that was so sweet and so tender I almost melted. It had a couple of other flaws that detracted from it overall, but the love scenes are some of the best I have read this year.

Abigail Summers lives in Bath as a companion to the elderly Miss Wyndham. One hot night as she is standing in front of the window trying to catch a breeze, she notices the man next door is naked and having a nightmare. He is Captain Sir Gifford Raven who has come to Bath to recover after having been held captive by the Americans.

England has been at war for almost all eighteen years Gif served in the Navy. Battle cost him an eye and stress has left his hair streaked white. Gif is in Bath as the guest of Admiral Pullen to rest for a while. He and Abigail meet and they strike up a friendship.

Abigail is a pretty young woman. She has a comfortable life with Miss Wyndham, who is a kind lady and Abigail adores her. But she does not like Miss Wyndham’s only relative, a great nephew named Charles Johnson. Charles is a smarmy young man and Abigail feels sure he only visits to secure a place in the will. When Miss Wyndham dies, she leaves legacies to her servants, her bed to Charles, and the rest of her possessions to Abigail. Charles is bitter and angry – he thought that his aunt had jewels. One evening, he comes by his aunt’s home and kidnaps Abigail, intending to sell her at a tavern. But Gif tracks him down.

The first part of the book is very nice indeed. Abigail is pleasant and charming, and Gif is tortured but not obnoxious. It begins to falter when Charles kidnaps Abigail. The actual kidnap is scary, but Abigail’s actions after Gif rescues her are odd to say the least. She acts like she’s been injected with TSTL serum. When she was at Bath, she acted sensible and intelligent, but now she acts silly. Rather than acting shocked, which I could understand, she prattles about how she didn’t bring much when Charles auctioned her off, and she quarrels with Gif for no apparent reason. Silly girl.

However, toward the end of the book, Abigail quits acting silly and she and Gif share a wonderfully tender and intimate love scene that’s one of the best I have read this year. Gif is vulnerable under his scarred and scary exterior, and he shows it in this scene. It’s a standout.

The secondary characters are very well done too, especially Gif’s cousin and best friend, who is the son of his uncle and a black woman. I don’t know if Claire Thornton has a story for him, but I’d sure like to read it.

One problem I had with the book was that Abigail stutters. She mentions it to Gif early on, and then practically every sentence has her stuttering. It’s ver-very dis-distracting to read pa-page after pa-page of sen-sentences li-like this. Why not just say she stutters and let the reader fill in the rest?

Gifford’s Lady was pleasant enough, but not really outstanding except for the love scene. That was wonderful. If the rest of the book had been as good, this would be a keeper. Instead, it’s just an average read.