The Master’s Mistress is far from the craziest Harlequin Presents I’ve ever read, but sadly, it’s also far from being the most memorable.

The story centers on the remote Sullivan House in Cornwall. Hired to catalog the library, history professor Elizabeth Brown has remained on at the house even after the owner’s sudden death. One night she is startled by the unexpected arrival of the home’s newest owner, Rogan Sullivan, the estranged son of Elizabeth’s employer. Things get off to a rollicking start as Elizabeth attacks Rogan, thinking him to be an intruder. After much smoldering sexual tension and a great many exclamation points, the truth comes out.

Elizabeth stays on to continue her work. Despite her intentions to the contrary, she cannot help being fascinated by Rogan. He has obviously made his fortune during his time in America, though he remains secretive about the nature of his job. Elizabeth is wealthy in her own right, but has her reasons for keeping this to herself.

With regard to the relationship between these two, they definitely have chemistry and as one would expect from Presents, exchanges are often heated and dramatic between these two. Sometimes it works to show the pent-up attraction between them. However, sometimes they just look ridiculous as they bicker over little things such as stopping for lunch on their way back from town.

The characters in this novel are a tad different from the usual Presents, and I appreciated that. Elizabeth sports short,spiky hair instead of the usual flowing locks. She also seems more independent than many of the heroines I’ve encountered in this line, and I liked that she had a fondness for vampire romances. Rogan doesn’t fit the usual billionaire mold either. He spent time in the military and used his military benefits to obtain university degrees before starting his own business.

On the whole, I found myself flying through this book and there’s certainly an addictive quality about the writing, overuse of exclamation points aside. However, even though I enjoyed the book in the moment, it also has a forgettable quality to it. I had to reread large chunks of the book to write this column because even a few days after finishing the book, I had trouble recalling bits of the story. Overall, I’d give it a C+