Love in the Afternoon

Title: Love in the Afternoon
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Series: Hathaway Series (Book 5)
Genre: Romance



Beatrix is the youngest of the Hathaway family. She is not your typical lady of the times. She loves nature, animals and wearing breeches.

Christopher is away at war and then comes home with emotional as well as physical scars left from the battles.

Prudence, a friend of Beatrix's, was sent a letter from Christopher while he was still away at war. He wishes for Prudence to write back to help him get through the horror that is war. She is unimpressed by the things he talks about, and Beatrix offers to write back for her. Beatrix feels that someone should write back to him and starts to routinely write back and forth with Christopher.

But she signs all of her letters Prudence, thinking Christopher would not want any letters back from her. He once had said that Beatrix should be left in the barn with the horses. She was hurt and remembered that, but was able to put it behind her to help him in his time of need.

The two fall in love and Beatrix sends Christopher a letter telling him she can no longer write to him. Since she has been masquerading as Prudence, she is hurt too much by loving him and he not knowing who she is.

Christopher comes back from the war and seeks out Prudence. He expects the woman who he has been conversing with through the letters and wants to marry her. Eventually, since Beatrix and Prudence are nothing alike, he figures out that he was not actually exchanging letters with Prudence. He also figures out it was Beatrix and the two have somewhat of a whirlwind romance.

I adored the letters that the two wrote back and forth. There were so many beautiful passages and words of love. The two seem well suited for each other and I enjoyed seeing Beatrix finally get her chance at love.

The only issue that I had with the storyline was Christopher and his post-war issues. They were a legitimate concern and I thought very well written until he seemed to just take a stance and get past one concern he had. I felt like after all of the development of his problems, that they deserved a more thorough chance to be resolved.