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Tag Team Review: Two for Trust by Elle Brownlee

A fairy-tale vacation—if he can get the ending right.

American nurse Finch Mason steps beyond the comfort of his orderly life and takes a dream trip to England, complete with a National Trust Pass so he can visit numerous historical sites. At the first one on his list, he’s warmly welcomed—and told he bought a pass good for two.

Finch doesn’t hesitate to offer the pass to Benedict, a handsome Brit also there on an outing. They spend a magical week touring the countryside, and while it’s too soon to get attached, Finch wishes their time together would never end.

Then Finch finds himself stuck abroad with no money, and he has no one to turn to but Benedict. Benedict is happy to help, but he also owes Finch some answers—such as who he really is and why he was at the estate where they first met.

Double Broken Heart Rating
Sara - Broken Heart

No one and I mean no one is more disappointed than me to be writing this review right now. It’s not a secret that I am head over feet in love with the Dreamspun Desire series but this month, which is sadly my birthday month, has left me cold with each book. I had hopes for this one because the blurb had everything I should have loved and tossing it into the fluff pile of the series should have made it a no brainer for me to enjoy and yet, I didn’t. In fact I was bored.

I will make this short and say this did not work for me. I spent the entirety of the book waiting for the magic to happen. Waiting to feel some sort of connection to either my fellow ginger Finch or his supposedly dashing trust attendee and companion Benedict and it never came. I don’t know what it was about this story but truly, I was bored and skimmed the majority of it waiting for the feels to happen. For me, they never did.

I never got either man and found it odd that 95% of the story was told from Finch’s POV and then we would get sporadic paragraphs of Benedict's POV which lent absolutely nothing to the story. I figured out right away who Benedict would be and don’t know why it took so long for the reveal.

This did not read like a romance at all. It read more like a tell all of the trust and sites Finch and Benedict would visit. Speaking of telling, we were told a whole heck of a lot in this book and really not allowed to feel anything. Not that there was much to feel between Finch and Benedict anyway.

I usually like alpha men in romance but Benedict came off kinda creepy for me. The two men never flirted or gave any indication that they were interested romantically so all Benedict’s bossing Finch around came off as controlling and semi abusive to me. It really rubbed me the wrong way and had no sense of romance or intimacy nor caring for Finch, just Benedict being a jerk to a nice guy who is accident prone and alone in a foreign country.

The deal with Gran was a head scratcher and good lord, Benedict’s goodbye came out of nowhere and had me tossing my Nook on my bed and almost giving up on the story.

That end made absolutely no sense at all. How did they get there when the whole book was pedestrian and static without a hint of romance? The end was unbelievable and frustrated me to no end.

So yeah. This wasn’t the book for me and I am bummed.

SheReadsALot - Broken Heart

How to sum up Two for Trust?


I've been wanting to read something from this author for a while. And once I read the blurb and saw the cover... I rushed to read it.

After reading, it was not a great first impression of this author's work.

The elements are there for a winning story:

Finch - down and out dorky ginger ex-nurse who struck out on life in the work and love department
Benedict - a very stiff upper lip Brit with a mysterious air
A British countryside vacation filled with historical talking points

The air for romance while on vacation was there.

The thing is, neither main characters were interesting or charismatic enough to have a believable romance. I hesitate to call this a romance. There is a HEA and the right words showed up at times. But the delivery is so wooden, so stiff, so dry, so crusty.

My favorite part is stolen instant oatmeal. I think it was the highlight.

The book spends so much time on the English historical artifacts and research that the non existent romance and chemistry suffers from the boring and dry characters. Finch was pathetic and too similar in disposition to make any impact. Benedict... he was too "reserved". He just manipulated Finch and didn't share anything until it was too late.

And that ending? Please. *side eyes*

If you're new to the Dreamspun line, do not try this. I can't recommend. I do enjoy a quiet romance but this was too staid, too reserved and too boring.

So in closing, if you're having difficulties going to sleep or need something to start a nap, I'd give this book a try.


It worked wonders for me.




https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34744739-two-for-trust

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