I loved this story, love this author. The characters are great, they aren't the obvious heroine or hero really because the hero is man enough to go with his heart, rather than society's imposed ideal and the heroine is the opposite of what she appears to be. Really quite refreshing. The author also gives her characters interesting complex personalities and explores how these affect their perception of societal norms and values and their relationship to those norms. Loved reading this book. A very good buy.