Series: N/A
Traits & Tropes: marriage of convenience; spinster; reformed rake
Publication Date: 12.27.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; London, England
Heat Level: 2.5
Rating: 4/5
Julia Beaumont has one chance to find a husband and escape a life as her stepmother’s unpaid servant. She’s the only option to chaperone her stepsister at a ball and Julia intends to take full advantage. At this point, any husband will do as long as she can escape. Unfortunately, her hopes of meeting a marital prospect are dashed because of a rakish and vexing duke.
Gregory Carter, the Duke of Ashworth, has no intention of ever giving up his bachelor status and that means steering clear of fresh-faced debutantes. But when he sees Julia, he can’t resist stealing a kiss, only to have the lady run away just as things are heating up.
When Gregory calls on Julia the next day to return the slipper she left behind, she shocks him by proposing a marriage of convenience. She’ll be able to escape her stepmother and he’ll finally get some relief from the bored ton wives who constantly pursue him. Julia just has to make the offer seem sufficiently enticing.
This was a cute Cinderella retelling with quite a bit of emotional growth and depth demonstrated by the MCs. I liked these two together by the end, but they certainly had quite a bit of rocky road to cover before we got there. There was a lot of other woman drama going on here thanks to the hero’s rakish past that I wasn’t crazy about. There was literally a club of women who had previously been with him, and they all met to discuss things over tea, even inviting his new wife. These women had all had epiphanies and improvements of some sort to their lives or marriages thanks to being with the hero and that was just super cringy to me. This also made Gregory seem like quite the hypocrite since he was angry to learn that Julia had once been engaged to another man who jilted her. Seriously? He had zero room to talk.
I did love the emotion here, but Gregory was too quick to paint Julia with the same brush as other women and his wanting to hurt her before she could hurt him did grow tiresome. After how many husbands he cuckolded before his marriage, it was pretty crazy to think he was so jealous of his wife merely talking to another man.
This plot was a bit up and down and the intimate scenes could use some more development, but I loved the writing style and flawed, multi-faceted characters we got here. This was a new to me author, but I’ll be eager to read her work again.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5131820645
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2168896528
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