Sweetest Regret by Meredith Duran

Missing Letters, Missing Hearts, and Christmas Tarts...

Georgiana the daughter of politician Sir Philip Trent and Lucas Godwin, a young aspiring politico under Trent’s wing, had sparks flying between them once upon a time when they met in Vienna, but when Lucas left town without a word taking Georgie's heart with him she places herself firmly on the shelf and eschews all other tugs on her heart strings for two years. When her father must leave town suddenly during the Christmas holiday for his political position and a letter of his containing some great importance goes missing during his holiday house party Sir Philip instructs his daughter to entertain his foreign guests and summons Lucas Godwin to come search for the missing correspondence.

Georgie had thought her heart closed, but with the arrival of the man who had dashed all of her hopes and dreams two years before she's suddenly realizing perhaps she was more numb than actually immune to matters of the heart. If only they can find the letter and Lucas Godwin can be on his way her heart can resume its frozen condition. Of course that happening quickly would be far too easy and pain free. It also would have helped the couple in numerous ways if Sir Philip hadn’t been pulling string in the background like some snobbish English Machiavelli.

The note in question may not be of the love letter variety but that doesn't stop the heart flames of the past from being rekindled as the two hunt for the correspondence in question. Toss in a hayloft, blind man’s bluff, Christmas treats, and some over five hundred letters in a satchel and you have a wonderfully spun romance that takes you to Christmas in Victorian England and makes you long to stay there.

I really enjoyed this book. It was short as novellas are wont to be, but all the sweet romance I've come to expect from a good historical romance was there. I felt there could have been a little more intrigue with the letter or some other antagonistic thriller type edge to the plot to really round out the story but overall it was a nice quick read.

** I received an ARC copy from Net Galley in exchanged for my honest review and opinion.**