2020 Victorian romance. Chloe Fong lives her life by checklists,
and is determined to make her father's sauce a success. Jeremy Yu, an
occasional visitor to the village, is trying very hard not to let
anyone know that he's really the Duke who owns the whole place…
And while the Chinese diaspora in Britain makes for the most
visible difference between this and standard Victorian romance, there
are many others too. Much of the first half of the book consists of
Jeremy trying to work up his nerve to reveal his secret to Chloe (the
absentee Duke is something of a figure of fun in the village, but at
any moment he could appear and demand all the rent he hasn't been
collecting for years); but this is completely defanged in a way that
doesn't make Jeremy look stupid, but rather reinforces the sense of
community.
And the cliché of "only one room at the hotel" may be used here… but
actually the hotel has plenty of rooms, and Chloe has to insist that
they only have one in order to allow herself to be Ruined (she wants
to find out what it's all about before Jeremy goes away forever and
she retires to a life of business).
Meanwhile Jeremy (son of a man who wasn't expected to inherit the
title and the Chinese wife he married while in that country on
business) has to deal with his family trying to manage his inevitable
betrothal (to an English girl, of course, and maybe his grandchildren
could hope to be accepted), and Chloe has to deal with her father
refusing to admit that he's subject to the limitations of an aging
body, and… yes, the flirting and romance is primary here, but as in
many romances that I like there's a great deal of other stuff going on
which can't be put on hold to resolve the questions of emotion.
Most importantly, I think, each of these people has a life beyond the
other. They don't want exactly the same thing, they will continue with
the other things that they care about even once they're married, and
if that may perhaps stretch the historical setting I think it's worth
it to have people who have a bit more to them than a lifetime of
preparation for winning a suitable partner.
(The series is apparently anchored by the village, which has a
traditional game inspired by Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football
Match as well as a community of people from various countries.)