Irritated and impressed, Jonah turned to express the former, but a rueful apology already curled Reid’s lips. “Habit,” he said. “Sorry.” Vexation fading, Jonah couldn’t seem to pull away from the embarrassed light in the hazel eyes. “A useful habit.” Amber glints in the green brightened to gold, and the smile bloomed, cocksure. “Was that a word of approval?”

– Tamara Allen, The Only Gold

I think I mentioned this book a while back and well, I never did get round to reading it. In fact, I put it off to the point I completely forgot about it. Finally today I was in the laundry room waiting for my load to finish and hunting on my kindle for something to read, and this book was the only unread thing on it. So I began reading this afternoon and finished it this evening. I think perhaps I am a little disappointed after finishing? One one hand, i finished it in one day. On the other, I am feeling very bored and very lazy.

I thought the book started strongly but seemed to get a little waylaid toward the end- melodramatic, and even sappy in parts. I loved the way the author described the setting- even if I don’t know how accurate it is, I never felt these characters were modern ones placed in a vague historical setting. Jonah was a wonderful main character too. I always love seeing shy, difficult personalities given a chance to be a hero of their own story and I admire the author for the careful way she handled him, always staying true to his personality, letting him grow and change naturally as he came to terms with his loss and fell in love. The romance really was very sweet and well developed but although  Reid was also likeable, I could never quite get a grip on his personality for some reason, probably due to the ending.The ending really did make me go “what? am I reading the same book?” I was not  expecting it to suddenly become a mystery, and the action felt even more misplaced. The ending just left me feeling a little confused and kind of ruined the book for me.