Miss Adeline Hays was attacked by a lord, and when she tells her father about it expecting his protection, her father agrees for her to marry her attacker. In desperation, Adeline seeks to compromise a male friend who had previously offered for her, knowing that even if they didn't love each other, they would be happy, and she would be safe.

Adeline's friend has been asked to marry the Mad Duke, a situation she finds intolerable because the man she loves is his best friend. She arranges it so that Adeline is found with the duke rather than Adeline's friend.

The Duke of Wolverton doesn't much mind which bride he ends up with, as he's only looking for a mother for his two young daughters. But both Edmond and Adeline find that marriage is not always as simple and emotion-free as they pictured.

This book is well written, and we find ourselves cheering Edmond and Adeline on. It is easy to understand the reasoning for their actions and how they come to the decisions they do. The author never has them acting out of character (other than the bedroom scenes which are more out of character for the era rather than the characters themselves), and the book is easy and smooth to read.

There is nothing new or novel about this story, and it is highly predictable. There are no surprises.

The story requires Edmond to get over the fears left behind after his first wife died in childbirth, but it doesn't require anything of Adeline. As a character, I didn't feel that Adeline grew or evolved. All the changing was done on Edmond's side.

The sex scenes were far beyond what is traditional for a Regency era romance, and not appropriate to the behaviour of upper class women at the time. The author does try to have Adeline express some shock at the acts they engage in, but it's not believable, and frankly the things they do (and the places they do them in) are not believable for the style of book or the era in which the story is set.

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Created Jun 29, 2016 at 9:10pm • Submit your own review...