Luke, Viscount Enstone’s, resolve to avoid a love match is tested to its limit when he accepts responsibility for the Davenport family.
Luke has found it hard to sort out his late father’s affairs. A dishonest secretary and ailing land agent have left the family estates in disorder. With new people in place, he sets off to one of his smaller properties to discover the extent of an obligation that seems out of keeping with the cold-hearted father he remembers. Who is the young woman living at Shepley Hall and what was her connection to his father?
Miss Kitty Davenport has waited for a long time to find out if the new Viscount Enstone will continue the support his father gave to her family and her patience is wearing thin. Will he carry on paying for her young brother’s education and even assist him in finding a career? For herself, all she needs is help to find a suitable position as a companion and to escape from the unwanted attentions of a persistent suitor.
Purchase Links: UK ~ US
Author Bio:
Josie lives in the English midlands, surrounded by towns full of history such as Evesham, Stratford-Upon- Avon, Warwick and Worcester. Which is perhaps why her favourite reads are historical. Out of all the periods to choose from the Regency Era stirs her imagination the most. The true Regency lasted from 1811 until 1820 but dates as wide as 1789 to 1837 have been included in the extended Regency period. For Josie the true flavour of this period emerges after the iniquitous hair powder tax of 1795, unsurprisingly, scuppered the fashion for hair powder almost overnight.
Josie has always dabbled in stories but it took the combined efforts of her sister and eldest niece to set her on the path to writing novels. Her Regency romances, with a dash of adventure and intrigue, are the result.
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Tracy’s Review:
The Viscount’s Convenient Bride by Josie Bonham
Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars
Series: Reluctant Brides, #2
Months after the death of her aunt, Kitty Davenport is getting desperate. Her mother died long ago, leaving her and her younger brother alone with their grieving father, Sir Henry Davenport. But when Sir Henry gambled away their home and fortune, they were taken in by her aunt, but her father died not long after. Upon the death of her aunt’s husband, her aunt contacted Sir Henry’s good friend Viscount Enstone and asked for help. The viscount set them up at his hunting lodge, agreed to pay for her brother’s education and even gave them a small allowance. But all that seemed to end when her aunt died and she has written to Viscount Enstone but hasn’t gotten any reply and now with no money, her reputation in tatters and a very unwelcome suitor, she is at her wits end with no one to turn to.
Luke Bamford, the new Viscount Enstone, has inherited a mess, he and his father hadn’t spoke in years as Luke served in the Army. When he got word of his father’s illness, he tried to get back to England in time, but sadly didn’t make it. Now he is trying to sort out the details of the estate. Which has brought him to the hunting lodge and a very angry Miss Davenport. He wants to make things right and decides to take her to London to stay with his Aunt Theo. And much to her relief, he assures her he will honor his father’s commitments and will pay for her brother’s schooling. He is sure his aunt will find her a suitable husband and wonders why that bothers him – since he has no plans to marry.
They get to know each other and Kitty realizes what an honorable man he is and tries to stop herself from developing tender feelings for him, but when they get to London and her nasty suitor follows, Luke protects her by saying they are betrothed. Hope blossoms as Kitty believes they have a love match, a misassumption Luke needs to correct – but before he can, he will have to save her again!
I am not really sure how I feel about this story; the beginning was confusing with so many deaths and frankly a frustrating introduction to the characters. The writing itself wasn’t bad, but I felt like I was sure what the main focus was supposed to be and at the end I still didn’t know. There was a lot going on, which might have been part of the problem for me – there was misunderstandings, A LOT of characters, a marriage of convenience, a missing fortune, a hero who despite several positive examples – refuses to fall in love because of his father’s reaction to losing his wife, kidnapping, warm love scenes and finally a HEA. Overall, I didn’t love this book, I was left with too many questions and am still trying to sort out the timeline of events, but I would consider reading more by this author in the future. This is the second book in the series, but I believe they are loosely connected and can be read as standalone titles.
I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me for a blog tour review.
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