Review: R is for Rebel by Megan Mulry

Tomorrow I'll be featuring a Q&A with author, Megan Mulry, along with a book giveaway for her newest in her series.  Read more about her book below and then stop by tomorrow to hear from Mulry, herself!

Synopsis:  From Goodreads, "Abigail Heyworth is a rebel heiress, bucking the restrictions of her royal family every chance she gets. After ending a long-term relationship, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the sophisticated American, Eliot Cranbrook. Despite all their differences-he's a self-made businessman; she's a royal hippy-they fall hard for each other. When the intensity of their affair escalates and Abigail is forced to look at the nature of her rebellion, she has to decide if she has an entirely different kind of courage."

Review:  We enter the 4th in the series with the decided relationships of Abigail's three older siblings firmly in place and Abigail simply trying to figure out what direction she wishes to go in her life.  The book starts off with a solid friendship with her brother's business partner Eliot Cranbrook, but their romance seems to frighten Abigail and make a relationship that seems simple from the outside more complex and filled with problems than either of them could have expected.

When I started reading this fourth installment, I was a little startled at how quickly this couple jumped all-in to their romantic relationship.  I wondered where the conflict was at, and I feared what I couldn't see ahead.  Surely they liked one another too much, too soon?  Sure enough, there was so much more coming, and that really was what kept me reading.  

Abigail is a difficult character to wrap my mind around, and I'm sure she must have driven Eliot batty.  Although she has all of this strength of character and experience with philanthropy, she reserves her own heart and fails to express what she is really feeling and shuts people out.  It was infuriating at times.  Honestly though, I wonder if Eliot would like Abigail in the long-term if she wasn't a bit more of a fight, as odd as that sounds.

By the last third of the book, there is a crazy, dramatic twist that you just can't see coming. In some ways, it would have felt like a romantic comedy with its twists and turns if the heightened emotions weren't so gut-wrenching.  I ended up enjoying the way Mulry handled it, but do wonder if she had a few other endings that she played with a bit.  While Abigail was once a bit of a rebel, I think she just refused to ever do anything in her life half-hearted, include love.  Thankfully, I don't think that will be her problem!

*FTC Disclosure:  This review was based on an advanced review copy of the book.