The Rake’s Convenient Bride by Madeline Martin

Tracy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Wedding a Wallflower, #2

Release Date: December 10, 2024

Years ago, Lady Elizabeth Ashbrook and her four dearest friends made a pact at school to never marry, but now that one of her friends has broken the pact, Elizabeth has been chosen as the next to break it. Elizabeth is sweet and lovely, but she is shy, bookish, and incredibly clumsy, and while she is not opposed to marriage, she is sure no man will want to tie himself to a klutz. When it becomes clear that her parents will not let her younger sister marry before her, she agrees to attend more events and make an effort to find a husband. At the first ball of the season, she is with her friends, trying to blend into the wall when she sees Lord Darlington, a man she accidently spilled lemonade on and tried to clean it up, but ended up touching inappropriately and humiliating herself. She tries to slip away unnoticed, but during her escape her stocking begins to fall, so she seeks out an empty room to repair it. She hikes up her skirts to fix her stocking and realizes she is not alone – Lord Darlington is in the room; she trips and lands in his arms. Before they can untangle themselves, the door opens, and they are caught alone together by some of the ton’s biggest gossips. Elizabeth blurts out that Lord Darlington proposed, and they are engaged, a claim he thankfully backs up. Elizabeth knows they could never marry, but if he is willing to play along so her sister can wed, she promises to break it off, even if that is the last thing she wants to do.

Jasper Fitzroy, the Earl of Darlington is contemplating his day when his Grandmother Bess arrives to announce that she is dying, and Jasper must marry and give her a great-grandchild as soon as possible. Jasper is horrified, he loves Bess more than any person in the world, she raised him when his mother died and during his misspent young, she loved him when it seemed no one else did. He agrees to find a bride and she is ecstatic and tells him she happens to have an invitation to a ball that evening. He arrives and once it is clear that he will be looking for a bride, he feels hunted and slips away for a moment of peace. When Elizabeth comes in, he recognizes her and teases her. He has always liked and admired her but believes that his past makes him unworthy of a woman like her. When they are caught alone together and she announces they are engaged, he is happy to go along, as she would make a wonderful bride and Bess will be overjoyed and maybe he will be able to prove to Elizabeth he can be worthy of her.

This installment of the Wedding a Wallflower series was definitely worth the wait! I loved Elizabeth and Jasper, they are both wonderfully flawed and incredibly likeable characters who you can’t help but root for. This book is filled with emotion, longing, insecurity, wonderful characters, great friends, a feisty grandmother, steamyish love scenes, a bit of misassumption, a little heartache and finally an extremely sweet ending complete with an epilogue! This is the second book in the series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title with no issues. I loved this story and would happily recommend it to my fellow historical romance readers, especially those who love a reformed rake story and those who love to see “girl power” at its finest.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *