A review by roselillian
One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny

3.0

 This is about Penn and Raff who have a run in one night in Hartswood forest and their instant chemistry. Though the next day Penn is on the run from his abusive father and a marriage to a woman he’s never met and Raff is sent to find the man who was supposed to marry his sister and is now on the run. They end up running into each other in Hartswood yet again, Raff not knowing that Penn is the one who was supposed to marry his sister and Penn not knowing Raff’s relation to his betrothed. 

This book was fine. I did find myself putting the book down and rarely picking it back up which made reading a slog but the main issue was the lying/false identities. Neither Raff nor Penn tell the other one who they really are. They are both outed (in that aspect) by other people which leads to a fight both times and they both happen over halfway through. That is a lot of a relationship and a book based on lies. I get Penn’s desire to be free from his father's abuse and fear of what Raff will do if he knows the truth but why did it have to take up three-quarters of the book? 

The writing was fine, and I liked the main characters enough (though I’m still on the fence about some of the side ones and I’m pretty sure I was supposed to like them). I just wish the false identity plotline took up less of the book and then maybe I’d have more of an incentive to pick up the book when I was supposed to instead rewatching old shows (again).


Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.