The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson

Three other books have I read from this author so I'm familiar with the way she writes. The books are all romances, with large obstacles to wedded bliss such as social barriers, prior engagements or wars. I love these books because of the way she tells not only the story of the boy and girl but also nearly everyone around them. Also, it is a romance and even though it does have allusions to sex, the books are not in the least pornographic. I recommend these books to any young adult and up.
To be more focused on this book now, I enjoyed it greatly and stayed up until 1:30 to finish it. I found the two main characters likeable but the three I loved were the three women who had had guardianship of Guy and Tessa. The story had me a bit confused because I don't understand a slavish devotion to opera, so I could not understand some of their motives. To cut off your hair for free to make a wig for an actress to wear goes over my head.
As a love story, it had the all-important meeting and final coming together of the couple, but it seemed to me that the middle had some parts missing. Their attraction and love came a bit sudden. I enjoyed his anger and contained violence. When his violence was first mentioned, it scared me, but then it was pointed out that he only used it for protecting the weak. Or protecting his foster mother. A bit like a superhero would.
The story was fun with its twists and plots as well as quite a few misunderstandings and secret love. One has to laugh at the picture created by the fiancee shrieking because they were taking away her mirrors.