The Conquest is one of those books that has some good ideas and interesting characters, but somehow falls short when it comes to engaging the reader’s interest. Although I had nothing against any of the characters, I found it difficult to warm up to them or get interested in their lives. It made for a slow read.

Alexandria Gascoyne is minding her own business one day when her adoptive brothers come in, wanting to take a door off its hinges. Apparently there is a man not far away who is lying unconscious and covered with blood. Alexandria and her brothers rescue him, discovering in the process that most of the blood belongs to his horse. Still, the man has a nasty head wound and his leg is broken in two places. Alexandria sends for a doctor to set the leg, but the man is more or less out of it for two days. When he is conscious they ask him his name, and all he will say is, “Drum.”

When he finally comes to, they find out that Drum is short for the Earl of Drummond. He hates to disturb Alexandria’s small cottage home, but he can’t be moved. She doesn’t really mind; Drum entertains the boys and teaches them, and he provides more excitement than they have ever seen. An entourage of his friends arrives in short order, and they are followed by his father, who worries that Alexandria may be out to trap Drum into marriage. He rigs a carriage to take Drum slowly home to London – and out of danger.

When Drum arrives back in London, he decides to heed his father’s advice and look for a wife from among his own kind. None of the ton women are particularly impressive, and Drum misses Alexandria. He decides that the thing to do is to invite her for a once in a lifetime visit to London. He has no intention of marrying her himself; such a misalliance would devastate his father. But he likes her and wants to see her again. Alexandria comes to London, and stays with Drum’s friends. She thinks of it as kind of a last hurrah, something she can do to get Drum out of her system. But will either of them ever be able to let go? Can they overcome the class differences that come between them?

If you have read the other books in this series, you have already met Drum. You have also met the many other characters that come in and out of this book (and descend upon Drum all at once while he is still at Alexandria’s cottage). I haven’t read any of the other books, and I felt that I was at a considerable disadvantage. It wasn’t only that I didn’t know these people (although that didn’t help matters, certainly); it really felt like Drum’s was not the most important story in this series. He came across as just one box on a checklist, between whoever was last and the more interesting Eric, whom I believed was set to star in the next book in this series (although a visit to the author’s web site indicates this is the final book). Considerable time is spent discussing past stories and setting up Eric’s story. Drum and Alexandria are in there too, but their love story seems more like an afterthought.

Drum truly seems like a product of his class, which is both a good and bad thing. On one hand, he seems realistic – much more so than heroes who forget their upbringing at the drop of a hat. It is also refreshing that Alexandria really is from the lower classes, and doesn’t suddenly become the long-lost daughter of a duke. There are some nice moments when Alexandria actually wishes for that to happen, even though she knows it won’t. On the other hand, this realism makes for pretty poor romance. Drum remains steadfast in his determination to avoid any kind of relationship with Alexandria – for virtually the entire book. Their romance is a slow boat to nowhere until about the last thirty pages. They each have time alone where they think about each other, but hardly any time together of any significance. It was pretty hard to believe they had fallen in love.

The fact that Drum is an invalid for the bulk of the book doesn’t really help either. He doesn’t really do anything other than just sit there. We’re privy to a couple of good conversations between Drum and Alexandria, but there just aren’t enough to convince the reader that the two are in love. He seems to spend equal amounts of time talking to his father and his friends. The story does pick up somewhat towards the end when Drum finds out who caused his fall and the resulting injuries. Since this late action is also the catalyst that kicks the romance up a notch, I couldn’t help wishing it had occurred earlier.

In the end this is a mixed bag. Layton has some interesting ideas, and some aspects of characterization are also intriguing. But this really seems more like a bridge between books than anything else. Even the title seems like a throwaway, chosen because it starts with “C” like the others. It has no relevance to the story. I would recommend this book more for fans who have read the earlier books in the series. For anyone else, it’s probably a waste of time.