New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James returns to the Accidental Brides series with a romance about a forced marriage between a feisty heroine and a Scottish laird… neither of whom have plans to marry, let alone fall in love.
Desperate after her Season comes to a spectacularly disastrous end, the Honorable Miss Clara Vetry jumps into a carriage hired to take a housekeeper to Scotland.
The laird of Castle CaerLaven has no interest in a wife, especially a love match—but when Caelan sees his new housekeeper, he changes his mind. Marriage to a delectable bookworm strikes him as a perfect arrangement.
To his surprise, Clara refuses his proposal once…and again…yet again.
When her true identity is revealed, and they’re forced to marry, Caelan realizes he has a far more crucial challenge.
He finally has Clara’s hand—but how will he ever win her heart?
Review:
Hardly a Gentleman was a bit ridiculous and more than a little silly at parts, but overall was such a fun read!
Clara and Caelan were wonderful characters, and it was easy to root for the two of them to be together. The pure chance that actually brought them together, though? A bit mindboggling–how did she really think she could pass for a housekeeper (especially when she arranged for herself to have a personal maid a day or two into the trip there, because that’s totally normal)? As if a few little cleaning tips and tricks gleaned in her 25 or so years above stairs will suffice for job knowledge and expertise IRL. Not gonna lie, though, I loved that she made sure her clothes arrived with the maid at a later time but kept her books with her. Priorities firmly in place!
Caelan’s love of naked fly fishing was more endearing than I could have expected, honestly. The two of them competing to build a more effective fishing lure was just so darn cute.
My only real complaint is that the miscommunication over Caelan’s first marriage could and should have been resolved so much earlier than it was–especially when we learn the truth of it, it’s not totally clear why he continued to let Clara believe what she did about it for so long.
This is second in the Accidental Brides series, but it would work just fine as a standalone. Clara’s BFF, the heroine of the first book, is mentioned a few times but doesn’t actually show up on the page–though you should absolutely read her book too, because it was an absolute delight.
Bring on the next “Accidental Bride”–I’m ready!
CW: Clara is straight up assaulted by the prince in public and clearly suffers some PTSD afterward; death of spouse (off the page)
Rating: 4 stars / A-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
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