In this Dukes Behaving Badly holiday novella, a young lady entertains a sudden proposal of marriage—to a man she’s only just met
What does a lady do when a man she’s never seen before offers his hand in marriage? Lady Sophronia Bettesford doesn’t scream and run away. Instead, she accepts the shocking proposition. After all, what’s her other choice? To live with her cousin, caring for six children and a barnyard full of chickens?
James Archer has roamed the world, determined never to settle down. He’s faced danger and disaster…he fears nothing and no one—except his mother and her matchmaking ways. So when ordered to attend a Christmastime house party filled with holiday cheer and simpering young misses, he produces—a fiancée!
Sophronia and James vow to pretend to be in love for one month. But when they promise to give each other a Christmas kiss, it becomes clear that this pact made out of necessity might just be turning into love.
Tis the Season to cram in Christmas theme novellas in between cooking, shopping, crafting, and watching copious amounts of cheesy and heartwarming holiday movies. At least in my house.
Novellas are perfect for the bursts of free time (or at least half a quarter of football game while DH is occupied) and Megan Frampton’s No Groom at the Inn fills said time beautifully.
Its written with a snappy comedic bent familiar to the cadence of modern tv, movies, and assorted mass market historicals that makes the characters familiar and likeable. With a devastatingly handsome, funny, and kind hero and a spinsterish, down on her luck, but brilliant and full of character (and often breathtaking but not traditionally beautiful) heroine, we have the two main ingredients for a fast paced and fun engagement of convenience story.
The bulk of the action takes place at a country house party where debutantes circle the very eligible Mr. Archer like hawks waiting to pounce. Its then a very good thing that he has brought along a human shield in the form of Lady Sophronia. Her quick wit and playful spirit help him do battle against at least one marriage minded mama.
With the limited word count, that’s about as deep as it gets. There is a little character development tension considering the hero has sworn off marriage and any kind of commitment, but generally the subject gets a deft, light hand. The set up is pretty far fetched and requires levity and suspension of disbelief, but I was so carried away by the engaging writing that I quickly assessed this as fun read not to be taken too seriously.
Considering that this is a mass market Avon release that contains sexual content, its also stuffed fill with anachronisms. The characters volley dialogue in rhythm and with a vocabulary familiar to modern readers. Its not totally egregious, as Frampton obviously is a lover of words, but having nicknames like Sophy-cakes made me roll my eyes a bit. Set in 1844, in the shift towards early Victorian era (which I think is probably relevant to other books in the series), I think some of the innuendo would have shocked mixed company.
However, if like me you can accept that this isn’t a traditional Regency/Victorian and focus on having fun, this is a great one to pick up for December!
5out of 6 Fast paced, sexy and fun, this seasonal novella is a gift
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Minimal mature content | |
| Intimacy | |
| Kissing and one intimate scene | |
| Violence | |
| Nope | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Vanilla with some sexual content, for readers looking for a sweet, sexy read | |
