I haven’t read a Susan Johnson novel, other than an anthology contribution or two, since 1999’s To Please a Lady, the sequel to my favorite Johnson book – Outlaw (1993). I was surprised to find When Someone Loves You almost completely devoid of a plot for its two engaging leads, and with no hot love scenes to make up for it. Isn’t that Susan Johnson’s middle name? “Susan Hotlovescenes Johnson?” Or has she changed so much from when I last read her?

Belle Foster is a renowned actress and playwright whose sudden disappearance has all of London abuzz. She left to rescue her sister from the clutches of her cruel husband and take her home to the family’s country cottage. The sister died in childbirth, which caused Belle’s mother to become a bit unhinged, so Belle is taking care of her dotty mother and her sister’s baby. She left behind her latest protector, Walingame, in London with great relief. Walingame bought up her notes from a moneylender and forced her to be his mistress. The notes are now repaid and Belle has left him for good, but he is vowing retribution.

Murray D’Abernon, called “Duff” by all, is the heir to a dukedom. His years of service in the army led to a severe injury at Waterloo and a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He has spent the past year holed up in the family’s hunting lodge, severely depressed and rarely seeing anyone but his faithful batman.

He meets Belle when both are bidding on the same horse. Duff wins but tries to make a gift of it to Belle the next day. For the first time in ages, Duff has shown any signs of life or interest in another person, so his faithful batman and loving family are optimistic and wish to further the relationship. While Duff is quite miraculously cheered up and can’t wait to get to know Belle better, she is very leery of him, sure that he just wants to get her into bed, like every other man. And, yes, Duff would quite like to bed her, but he promises not to importune her; he just wants to be her friend and to be of use to her and her family. She makes a wager with him that he will crack and ask her for sex within two months. Sure enough, they mutually crack and have sex the very next day.

The whole book is like this. There is an obstacle set up – the sex bet, threats from Walingame, and then from her sister’s husband’s family – but the threat is almost always removed within a chapter or two. Problems are swept aside or made null and void very quickly, so there is no real conflict in this book, no real storyline or arc. And all the while these incidents are occurring (or not) Duff’s family is so thrilled that Belle has brought Duff back to life that they encourage a match between him and Belle. This is a ducal family, Belle is a notorious actress, yet here are the duke and duchess inviting her to dinner, hoping she will marry their son and be the next duchess. I can’t see it; it didn’t feel at all realistic or even probable.

But I did like Duff and Belle well enough. While I would have liked to have seen more of what Duff’s life was like before he met Belle, rather than simply being told about it – we meet him when he meets Belle – he was a nice guy and pretty darned Beta for a Susan Johnson hero. I sympathized with Belle’s worries about her family and her wish to maintain her independence, and would have been just as suspicious of Duff as she was.

One other irritation for me was the very short chapters. Most were only three pages long and read more like scenes than chapters, which gave the book a choppy feeling. The lack of conflict combined with a lack of heat between the leads – there are only two, perfunctory, bland love scenes in the whole book, which barely earned a “Warm” rating – made for a fairly dull read.

When Someone Loves You is the sequel to When You Love Someone, which told the story of Duff’s parents – the duke and duchess – who play a significant role in this book. If you enjoyed the previous book, you may want to pick up this one to revisit those characters, now middle-aged parents, but otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.