Yours and Mine by A.E. Bennett - Book review

Published: 1 December 2021
Series: The Serrulata Saga
Pages: 136
Warnings: Language, anxiety, panic attacks

She told a lie. He confirmed it. Now they’re secretly betrothed against their families’ wishes…

Lady Octavia Dorchester is the most desired young lady in the Realm. Now that she has twenty years behind her, society has deemed her ready to marry. Although she’s not enthusiastic, she promises to act like a proper lady and look for a good husband—just like her powerful father Lord Roman Dorchester wants.

Lord Gerald Verte has been painfully shy his entire life. He’s never been comfortable in society and lives in the shadow of his older brother, the imposing Lord Tristian Verte. Despite his desires to remain indoors and away from people, he promises his older brother that he won’t shame the family name, no matter how much his anxiety threatens to overwhelm him.

After sharing a dance at a ball held in Octavia’s honor, both she and Gerald know what no one else believes—it’s love at first sight.

When their respective family members object to the match, Octavia lies about their betrothal and Gerald corroborates her story. Raising the ire of both Lords Dorchester and Verte, Octavia and Gerald are torn apart and kept from one another until tragedy strikes.

This high-heat romance with a guaranteed HEA is a prequel to Gathering of the Four: Book One of the Serrulata Saga but can be read as a standalone.

Book links: Amazon | Goodreads

Banner on green background with decorative stars, saying My Review

Welcome to my stop on the Romance me with Books book tour for Yours and Mine by A.E. Bennett!

Yours and Mine is a quick and enjoyable read. Short, and with a guaranteed happy ending, this novella is nice and easy to get through if you’re looking for a story to keep you company for an afternoon.

Or two lead characters have a serious case of Instalove. Bordering on a tad too insta, but their romance speed fit in well with the overall story.

Octavia is a woman who wants to be independent in a society that allows no such freedoms to women. Gerald is a man who thinks women deserve to be treated better and deserve more. They match well together.

There are some fairly strong themes of a society that I wouldn’t be too keen to live in, with the way women have no power or rights, and references such as to ‘lowly’ servants. It looks like these will be themes carried into future books in the series.

Was Yours and Mine set in an alternate world, or just a slightly different version of a historical time? I’m not really sure. Descriptions of the creation of the Realm seemed to be setting up for something, but whether the story will go down a paranormal path in later installments or not, I really can’t tell.

And then there’s the Xanthi. They might be healers and they might have powers, but again, I really couldn’t be sure. The references to them were so random and infrequent that I didn’t really understand why they were there.

I did find these questions rather frustrating at times, but fortunately they were few and far between. So much so that they really didn’t either interrupt the story or even matter to the story.

Something to be aware of with this story is that it has quite a strong theme of a character with anxiety, who suffers multiple panic attacks throughout the story. The references are frequent.

I did enjoy Yours and Mine, and for a short story, I thought A.E. Bennett did well with establishing the characters individual personalities.

With thanks to Romance me with Books and author A.E. Bennett for my copy of this book my opinions are my own