TEST
Ella Quinn, as always, has a good ear for comfort-food Regencies. The Most Eligible Bride in London isn’t my favorite of her books, but it does a good job of redeeming a previous rogue from her gallery of characters. It’s definitely a fun ride, if not a perfect one.
Nathanael, Viscount Fotherby (villain of When a Marquis Chooses a Bride) has been a social pariah since kidnapping Dorothea Stern from her wedding, mistakenly believing that country girl Dotty had tricked his friend Dominic, Marquis of Merton, into walking down the aisle. As Dominic later proved to him, Nate was quite wrong. Dotty is now Lady Merton, and Nate lives in the country with his family and Irish wolfhound. But he cannot avoid his responsibilities forever, and he knows he must marry in order to produce an heir. On a trip to London, he rescues a young lady trying to protect a baby from a gang and falls in love at first sight. Now, he has to track her down.
Unfortunately for Nate, that woman happens to be Dorothea’s little sister, Miss Henrietta Stern, who does charity work for a children’s orphanage. Henrietta is devoted to her family and her work, but that handsome stranger who helped her is so very intriguing. Unfortunately, when she finds out who Nate is the last thing she wants to do is be courted by him.
Naturally, he doesn’t give up that easily. Cue a slow-burn romance. But once Henrietta is won over, can Nate charm his prospective sister-in-law and family to let him in?
It’s the journey that makes this one fun. Nate is roguish and determined and everything a hero should be. Henrietta pushes back and is smart and knows how to handle herself. The romance is enacted with playful courtship, and each forward motion feels like quite the victory. The story has Quinn’s usual sense of humor, and there is definitely a sense of liveliness to it even though it’s a little wallpapery (ahh, yet more pre-marital sex without thought of social consequences!).
The book does perhaps suffer a bit from drawing out Nate and Henrietta’s courtship. It takes a long time for them to get together, and I mean a loooong time. But that mostly makes sense considering how many hurdles they have to cross to get there.
Either way, The Most Eligible Bride in London is a good read that falls just short of the keeper shelf.
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Grade: B
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 26/02/22
Publication Date: 02/2022
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.