The Earl Claims a Bride by Amelia Grey Series: The Heirs' Club of Scoundrels Trilogy, #2
Published by St. Martin's Paperbacks Publication Date: August 4th 2015
Pages: 352
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Harrison Thornwick thought he was safe. The fourth son to the Earl of Thornwick, there was no reason he couldn’t lounge his life away, drinking and carousing in the notorious Heirs’ Club. But when the sudden deaths of his father and brothers leave Harrison holding the bag, he needs a wife in haste, unless he’s to defy the rule of the prince. Unluckily for Harrison, the prince has an entirely different rule for him—his wife-to-be, Miss Angelina Rule. But when he sees the lady in the flesh, Harrison finds her too beautiful and fascinating to resist…Princely command or not, Angelina has no desire to marry Thornwick. Waiting for her sweetheart to return from the army, she’s not about to be paired up with an Earl—especially with an infamous scoundrel like Harrison. But with Thornwick determined to make her his wife in more ways than one, Angelina will have to put up all her defenses if she is to resist being seduced…
This book was such a surprise and in the best way! I went into The Earl Claims a Bride expecting to enjoy it, but I also had a definite preconceived notion of the story line. This is a book that I’ve had sitting waiting to be read for a while and honestly didn’t remember the blurb, so I dived in expecting the typical “two strangers forced into a society marriage then fall in love” story and this was so much more.
We meet Harrison and Angelina several months apart, but in each of our introductions the character has their life literally turned upside down. For Harrison, it is the death of his last surviving brother and family, forcing him into a title he wasn’t prepared for or expecting. For Angelina, it’s the discovery that her father is in an overwhelming amount of debt and she will be forced to marry a particular gentleman to have the debts eliminated.
One of the things I enjoyed about this story was the fact that both Harrison and Angelina went into the Season resistant to the idea that they “had” to marry this person they didn’t know. The fact that Harrison noticed and was attracted to Angelina before knowing who she was added an element that made me hopeful for them. I also liked the fact that this was a story of courtship leading to marriage versus a courtship within a marriage.
The fact that Harrison’s courtship of Angelina was slightly unconventional for books set in this time period made the story refreshing and I enjoyed the fact that she was a strong female character who went after what she wanted while trying to respect the rules society forced on her.
Overall, this was a very fun book and I would love to go back and read the first book in the The Heir’s Club of Scoundrels set.
Elizabeth
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