This book failed for me on a number of different levels. The characters never engaged my interest, the plot felt forced from page one, and the heroine engaged in actitivity completely at odds with the written description of her intelligence. The hero also had a serious guilt complex stemming from nothing that made sense to me, and by the time I waded through this one, I had a serious headache brewing.

Amy Conde has not seen her guardian, Trent Severn, since the death of her father many years ago. She is the owner of the Talltrees estate and is an excellent horse breeder, obtaining a reputation for fine horses. However, Trent has refused the numerous requests she has made over the years, which has put her in serious financial difficulty, and she now believes his agent, Fenwick, has been stealing money from the estate. She hopes she can get through the last remaining months before her 25th birthday and still support her breeding operation.

Trent is an attorney with a reputation for having affairs with his female clients, many of whom come to him to obtain divorces from their spouses. He is considered a rake, no doubt about it. He is drunk and traveling through Berkshire when he stops at Talltrees for the night. He believes his ward will already be in bed, so he won’t have to worry about dealing with a young person. A tad bit behind the times, hmmm? Of course Amy is not in bed. Amazingly during the course of their conversation that evening and the next day, Trent and Amy magically fall in love with each other. Amy discovers that Trent isn’t the ogre she believed him to be. On Trent’s part, he finds Amy fascinating, outspoken, intelligent and lovely. Oh yes, and she’s correct that Fenwick has been stealing money from the estate.

For the rest of the book, the author creates various situations that Amy and Trent must overcome. When Trent realizes that he is falling for Amy, he attempts to find someone else for her to marry, including his best friend. Trent’s evil mother, who has never loved him, creates problems – she is an excellent example of the caricature villain. She treats Amy wretchedly, and enjoys shoving her own hand-picked suitor toward Amy. Trent apparently believes himself most unworthy of Amy since he carries a deep and abiding guilt over almost everything that has happened in his life, such as allowing his best friend to fight Napoleon and get hurt. Yes, it is true that Trent did not join the army and leave for the front lines, but his work for his country was equally important (he helped supply the army with weapons). Yet his guilt means he cannot marry Amy. If this makes sense to you, I’m pleased, but it seemed a stretch to me.

Amy has been stuck at Talltrees for years and has a conveniently innocent attitude regarding society and behavioral expectations. She involves herself in scheme after scheme to obtain the horse she needs for her breeding program, forcing Trent to chase her over the countryside to protect her from the evils of Fenwick and his mother. Just as Trent’s internal conflict seemed manufactured, so did this part of the plot. Any interesting aspects of the characters, such as Amy’s knowledge of horses, Trent’s business in assisting women obtain divorces, Trent’s friend Draco’s problems with his father, etc., were buried under the constant stream of shenanigans Amy and Trent become involved in.

By the time I had finished The Guardian, any interest I had in its characters had long since evaporated and I was relieved not to have to spend any more time with them. This is a book that takes a number of plot devices and mixes them up like a jumble of stripes, plaids, and polka-dots. Had the author simply focused on a single aspect, no doubt this would have made for a less frustrating reading experience.