The basic plot and theme were interesting enough, but this is another romance novel that I really feel was just rushed through, with somewhat sloppy results.
The heroine had this "fear of men" which was told to the reader often enough - but not really demonstrated. The motivations of all the characters was stated in an overly straightforward manner - again and again and again. And both the dialogue and narration, as an another reviewer mentioned, were filled with "'twas" and "zounds", which would have been fine if it did not read in such a stilted manner.
The plot was actually quite good, and the characters themselves were interesting and fairly believable (although the heroine's attempted rape seems to have left her curiously unscathed.) All in all this is an acceptable romance novel, at least compared to most in print, but I do think that better editing would have made this a much more enjoyable story.
I wouldn't recommend this one unless you really have nothing better to do on a rainy day, but I haven't given up on the author. I think she could do better, and I will read her books again, hoping for better results.