In the author's Q+A in the back of the book, he was posed the question: what are readers to take away from this book? And he answered along the lines of "nothing, it's a love story that has to climb over trials and tribulations in a difficult time period". He's so correct! It is what it is: a charming love story that has the usual trials and tribulations and the characters have to overcome them, convince people of their love and affections for one another, and so on. As simple as it sounds, it doesn't take away from the wonderful imagery in the book, the enviable places and events they attend, and the lovely blossoming buds of romance. Sometimes all we want a good fairy tale to lust after, and this is the perfect book to do that in. In some ways, it reminded me of my own love story, and how we had to go through similar struggles to "appease" people and get to the goal of what we wanted.