Don’t let its colorful cover fool you. Atone, Adonis is a surprisingly dark and thoroughly compelling romance in which our hero must atone for a long-ago crime that he may have never committed. Solidly written with a very impressive plot, this one is a true winner – and one that kept me guessing.

Frederick “Fred” Sedgwick – known as “Adonis” in some circles, to his horror – was once childhood best friends with Julianna and Thomas Farrow. Everything goes horrifically wrong one day when the Farrow family is in a carriage accident that kills their parents. Julianna and Thomas presume Fred caused the accident due to his immediate proximity to the scene, especially when Fred and his stepmother run off to the continent in the wake of the disaster.

Ten years later, Tom and Julianna are living on a cramped and cash-poor farm in Dorset. Tom is dying of tuberculosis, a fact that Juliana refuses to believe. He contacts Fred, now the Ninth Earl of Chester, and demands he marry Julianna in atonement for leaving them at the accident scene alone, presumptively killing their parents, and leaving both Farrows to suffer. The only other relative who could take care of her after his death is a cousin with little sense, who will inherit the cottage and farm when Tom dies.

Tom’s other demand? That Fred never touch Julianna after the marriage.

The twosome go through with the marriage, but the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to hold on to the bitter dregs of the past.

This is a beautiful romance that also deals handily with grief. Julianna is never over the top or unjustified in her anger toward Fred, and he does not accept the yoke of martyrdom with a cowed sense of shame. Instead, the two of them stumble – tenderly, sadly, but always with determined purpose – toward reclaiming their friendship, love and mutual understanding. She is allowed to be sad, but also grows to accept that sadness as her love and lust for Fred grows.

Fred is also dealing with his own issues that color his actions: his angst over his stepmother’s passing, and the aftermath of the reason why he has become known as the ‘adonis’ of their world.

Fred and Julianna have a years-long buildup of presumptions and harms standing between them, and to reach their happy ending, they must metaphorically bloom toward each other like the flowers in Julianna’s garden. The struggle between them, the way they slowly unfold toward one another as toward the sun makes them really lovely to read about. Small gestures – a book given here, time in the garden there, a talk here – build up until their dams break and my heart broke a little, too. It’s a slow burn with purpose: a rare book where the tension feels incredibly well-earned.

Fred falls fast and hard for Julianna, which I understood given their childhood together, though their estrangement was long and emotional. Julianna has higher emotional and mental walls to scale – her anger and hostility toward Fred and her deep and true grief. But when she does make it over the top of that wall it’s breathtakingly beautiful and well-earned by both characters. Naturally, the truth behind the accident is revealed, and the revelations, reactions, and reasons all made perfect sense.

Atone, Adonis is a fantastic, deeply heartfelt romance that broke my heart and then sewed it back up again.

This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @‌thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next good freelance job.