Published by Carina Press, January 2016, 234 pages, £2.25

Quick description: historical romance, titles and inheritances.

Steam?: Swoontastic

Plot: Victoria Carson never expected love. An American heiress and graduate of Lady Grantham’s finishing school, she’s been groomed since birth to marry an English title—the grander the better. So when the man chosen for her, the forbidding Earl of Dunnley, seems to hate her on sight, she understands that it can’t matter. Love can have no place in this arrangement. Andrew Hargrave has little use for his title and even less for his cold, disinterested parents. Determined to make his own way, he’s devoted to his life in Italy working as an archaeologist. Until the collapse of his family’s fortune drags him back to England to a marriage he never wanted and a woman he doesn’t care to know. Wild attraction is an unwanted complication for them both, though it forms the most fragile of bonds. Their marriage of convenience isn’t so intolerable after all—but it may not be enough when the deception that bound them is finally revealed.

This was pretty good! It was very enjoyable, light and will have you swooning heavily. I’m happy to be introduced to Weaver’s work and look forward to more in the Grantham Girls series.

Victoria has a calm dignity about her. She is kind and strong, despite growing up destined for a loveless marriage. When she meets the handsome and polite Andrew, things do not seem too bad. But learning that his family desperately need her money does put a downer on things. I like how the predicament is pretty air-tight. Andrew is blackmailed into marrying Victoria and has to leave his pleasant life in Italy. For Victoria, its either Andrew or a creepy old Lord. She has no choice thanks to her self-made and selfish American parents, who need an aristocratic title to survive in elite English society.

So they have an extremely awkward start to the relationship. More so, as they are immediately attracted to each other and can’t help but like one another. The fact that they are suspicious of each other’s true intentions means that neither of them can really be themselves. So they are kept curious and guessing each other, which is great fun for the reader. As always in a good romance, there is a streak of mystery and a big misunderstanding that keeps piling up. Whilst this is happening, Victoria grows admirably and becomes more independent and the love between her and Andrew becomes ever more complicated.

Great read! Thanks Carina for my review copy xx ❤