Because of the cover on this one, I thought it was a bodice ripper... and it's not, or at least it needs a lot more bodice ripping to suit my tastes.
It's a nice little romance, overall well written. It felt very Jane Eyre meets Rebecca, set in old (post gold-rush) San Francisco.
A "plain" governess finds herself situated in a family with secrets, falls in love with the master of the house, meets with resistance from certain members of the family (all of whom have secrets or believe themselves to be living under a curse). There's a feminist undertone to it (of course, the feminist is evil, but sympathetic... or maybe my political leanings make me think her so).
And a happy ending (with even a pregnancy /barf).
I read the kind edition, and I will say it needs to be fixed. There is a character who is supposed to be named Katherine (or at least that's how she's first introduced), but the text kept switching back and forth between Katherine and Catherine. It was rather annoying.