By Kelly Bridgewater
Life for Lady Adelaide Bell was easier if she hid in her
older sister's shadow--which worked until her sister got married. Even with the
pressure of her socially ambitious mother, the last thing she expected was a
marriage of convenience to save her previously spotless reputation.
Lord Trent Hawthorne couldn't be happier that he is not the duke in the family. He's free to manage his small estate and take his time discovering the life he wants to lead, which includes grand plans of wooing and falling in love with the woman of his choice. When he finds himself honor bound to marry a woman he doesn't know, his dream of a marriage like his parents' seems lost forever.
Already starting their marriage on shaky ground, can Adelaide and Trent's relationship survive the pressures of London society?
Lord Trent Hawthorne couldn't be happier that he is not the duke in the family. He's free to manage his small estate and take his time discovering the life he wants to lead, which includes grand plans of wooing and falling in love with the woman of his choice. When he finds himself honor bound to marry a woman he doesn't know, his dream of a marriage like his parents' seems lost forever.
Already starting their marriage on shaky ground, can Adelaide and Trent's relationship survive the pressures of London society?
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| From Amazon |
My Thoughts:
This is my first introduction to Kristi Hunter's writing. I
do enjoy Sarah E. Ladd's Regency writing and a couple of Julie Klassen's books,
so I always give Regency writers a chance. With a Regency novel, I have come to
know that the novel will be character driven. The plot isn't as important as the
character's journey. With Hunter's last book in her Hawthorne House series, An Uncommon Courtship, I got exactly
that.
The writing was great. I could picture the struggles and
empathize with Adelaide and Trent and understood them as they worked on their
marriage in London society. The research into bringing the early nineteenth
century to life flowed well. I really enjoy novels where I don't feel like I'm
reading a textbook, and Hunter does a good job at creating a story that takes
me out of the present time and into the historical time period.
The characters and plot were completely predictable to the
genre and had a struggle with learning how to deal with being married without
learning how to court each other. The novel was slow paced and had many
repeatable scenes. Drink tea. Go to a ball. Drive through town. Drink tea
again. Go to a ball. Drive through town again. I read through the book, praying
that the novel would pick up pace, but it really never did. The plot idea was
pretty predictable for the genre. I was not surprised with anything that
happened in the story.
A word of caution . . . there is an after marriage night
scene that gets pretty in-depth that might not be suitable for younger readers.
I would have a hard time allowing my daughter to read those thoughts from
Adelaide and Trent. It would be something I would rather allow my sister to
confront her daughter with not reading it from a novel.
In conclusion, Kristi Hunter's An Uncommon Courtship lives up to the Regency genre expectations
and fans of Julie Klassen and Jane Austen will probably devour this novel and
the previous two, but I had a hard time getting through the novel.
I received a complimentary copy of Kristi Hunter's An Uncommon Courtship from Bethany House
Publishers and the opinions stated are all my own.
My Rating:
3.5 out of 5 stars
What genre have you found that you enjoy certain authors,
but then other authors in the same genre just didn't work for you? Dare to list
some. Why?
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