Author: Chevon Gael
Publication: Carina Press (January 3, 2011)
Description: Sold to the highest-ranked aristocrat!
That's what Winnifred Percy, New York City heiress, considered her engagement to Sir David Knightsbridge, Earl of Wolshingham. It's 1902 and she wants to be a modern woman, free to travel the world. To do that she needs to show the Earl she is a completely unsuitable bride.
Smoking and cursing doesn't have much effect on David so Winn reads him a very naughty French book. That leads to unexpectedly passionate kisses, and David's declaration that he wants to marry her. Drat! Even when she takes him to Coney Island to mingle with ordinary people and eat exotic hot dogs he's intrigued...and intriguing.
When desire leads them into scandal, Winn realizes she's ruined his hopes for restoring his family's honor. Can she let him go to find a more suitable bride?
My Thoughts: What a fun historical romance! Winn is a society miss from New York who is being married off to an impoverished British aristocrat. David needs the money to restore the home his gambler father almost lost. He thinks she is insipid. She thinks he is "a pale-looking fellow with the crow black hair and prissy manners." They are both wrong.
Winn in determined to convince him not to marry her by being brazen, bold and quite a hussy. In fact, she intends to be a "rag tag Bowery floozy." Instead David is intrigued. He is especially intrigued when she reads something to him from a French courtesans journal. (Her mother insisted that she show off her French for him.) David is more than willing to teach her all about what she unknowingly read.
The romantic scenes between them are very hot. And things are going well until some unscrupulous newspaper reporter prints that Winn has been seen leaving his David's hotel room in the wee hours of the morning. The scandal causes her father to try to break off the wedding and send Winn to an Aunt's far out of town. There is lots of excitement as the course of true love weathers these hurdles.
I recommend this one to lovers of historical romances. It was a quick read at only 44,800 words but very entertaining.
Favorite Quote:
"Father's offered my dowry to this Lord Wolshingham and me along with it." Suddenly the reality of her future sank in. Her father had sold her! Winn's dowry in exchange for a title. Perhaps she shouldn't have rejected so many suitors after all.
Great review! I am adding this one to my pile.
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