A Duchess in Name
The Grantham Girls #1
By: Amanda Weaver
Releasing January 18, 2016
Carina Press
Blurb
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.
Weaver has set a high bar for this new series she has so lovingly put together. There is no doubt in my mind that she has a winner on her hands. I will give this first rendering a 5star rating with much applauds.
The Earl of Dunnly, Andrew Hargrave, has me wanting to beat him down with several sticks and maybe even a very large MMA fighter. He is under the impression that a young miss desires are considered when she is in need of a husband. Or in this case pushed into a husband and a title. I know that he is living in the time where the young women of society are told to do not asked what she wants. He has failed his young wife in many ways. This being the most grievous of all.
I found Miss. Victoria Carson to be sweet, gentle, accepting, and all around generous. There was a quiet strength in her that was seen by her husband, but others seem to not notice it. She takes her lot in life and makes it something that she could love. Along the way she finds more to love than just her freedom.
This romance builds over time and with much thrown in their way. I found Victoria and Andrew to be a historical romance couple of the year.
Victoria's mother, Hyacinth, boasting reminded me of the annoying boasting of Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.
Grab your warmest blanket, hot drink, BOX OF TISSUE, a baseball bat for Hyacinth, the duke and duchess and even Mr. Carson, and a cozy corner and read the first of The Grantham Girls series 'A Duchess in Name'. I recommend it highly. I expect this to be an excellent series. It gives the reader real women in a real time of change in the way women began to view their futures.
The Grantham Girls series
A Duchess in Name (The Grantham Girls, #1)
A Common Scandal (The Grantham Girls, #2) Expected May 2016
She cleared her throat and leaned forward to set her untouched sherry on the table, but his hand shot out to close around her wrist. Her breath stalled as he slid his fingers down to cover hers, gently plucking the glass from her hand. He set it down for her, and his own as well, but he didn’t lean back. The scent of his bay rum tickled her nose, and she was close enough to see the faint dark stubble beginning to form on his jaw. Surely, this close to her, he could hear her heart pounding.
His hand found her wrist again and he traced his way up to her elbow, curling his fingers around her upper arm. She burned everywhere he touched. She should get up and leave. His intentions were clear and the longer she sat here, the more awkward it would become. The moment for decision was past as he slid his hand back into her hair, holding her head gently between his palms. She wanted to push him away and flee, but she couldn’t seem to make herself move, not when he was so close, staring into her eyes this way.
“Victoria, we’ve had a bad start, you and I.” His thumb caressed her cheekbone and slowly, inexorably, he drew her face closer to his. “I’m not returning to Italy this summer. I’m staying here. And I’d like us to start again. As a real husband and wife.”
She was stunned into silence, absorbing his words. Staying. Invading. This was her place and he was forcing his way into it, asking her for the impossible.
The implications of it were still reverberating in her heart when he caught her off guard and kissed her. The shock of it all made her slow to respond, and she didn’t push him away when she should have. She held still long enough to notice how different this was from the other kisses they shared. He wasn’t drunk, there was no anger. This wasn’t a kiss to punish, this was a kiss to seduce—
And that was when she finally found the wherewithal to move.
“No, please don’t.”
Amanda has loved romance since she read that very first Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel at fifteen. After a long detour into a career as a costume designer in theatre, she’s found her way back to romance, this time as a writer.
A native Floridian, Amanda transplanted to New York City many years ago and now considers Brooklyn home, along with her husband, daughter, two cats, and nowhere near enough space.
Author Links:
Website
GoodReads
Rafflecopter Giveaway ($30 Amazon Gift Card)
No comments:
Post a Comment