A Convenient Bride

by Cheryl Ann Smith

Overview

A headstrong beauty propositions an unlikely highwayman in this delightful regency historical romance.

On the hunt for his runaway sister, Lord Richard Ellerby stops a suspicious carriage at gunpoint and is shocked to be mistaken for a thieving highwayman. When the attractive woman inside makes him an offer to court her for pay, Richard refuses and sends her on her way. But the determined lady soon finds him again and proposes an even more outrageous offer: wedding her in a marriage of convenience.

Desperate to find love with a man of her own choosing, Lady Brenna Harrington will do anything to hold on to her freedom, even if it means propositioning a dangerous highwayman. If she can distract her father with a prospective husband who only wants to marry her for her fortune, Brenna will have time to do things her way. While her plan may be just crazy enough to work, her unsuitable suitor has other more pleasurable strategies in mind...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425260654
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/31/2012
Series:	A School For Brides Romance , #4
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cheryl Ann Smith became hooked on historical romance at age fourteen when she first discovered the appeal of handsome hero's in waistcoats and breeches. Once she decided to write her own novel, she quickly discovered a new passion and now writes sexy Regency romances full-time.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Delightful...And I loved the twists." --The Romance Dish

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the School for Brides romances:
“Chockablock with plot twists…plenty of passion and intrigue.” —Publishers Weekly

“Smith makes a dazzling entrance to the romance community with a charming, sexy, innovative tale that sparks the imagination. There’s a bright future ahead of Smith.” —Romantic Times

“An unusual premise and an interesting story…Readers are in for a treat. It has… everything readers want in a romance.” —Romance Reviews Today

"Delightful...And I loved the twists." —The Romance Dish

From the Publisher

Through a series of misunderstandings and miscalculations, headstrong Lady Brenna Harrington propositions, seduces and weds Lord Richard Ellerby; can they overcome emotional and physical pitfalls to find happiness? When Brenna mistakes Ellerby for a highwayman, she proposes to pay him to court her in order to appease her father, who's determined to marry her off to an unpalatable choice. Ellerby, shocked but intrigued, sends her away then writes to her father to tell him of Brenna's dangerous overture. Meanwhile, Richard is hunting for his beloved sister, convinced she's eloped with a known womanizer. Brenna follows him on his trek to Scotland, determined to convince Richard to enter into a marriage of convenience. When she finds him in an inn, they are both overcome by an electric attraction and wind up sleeping together. This sets in motion a series of actions and reactions that see the couple ambivalently married, with an obstacle course of people, events and misperceptions designed to keep them apart physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, the plot zips from conflict to conflict without the emotionally satisfying exposition or textured dialogue that would allow the story to unfold. Also, the choices the two main characters make are occasionally so ridiculous that by the end of the book, we're not convinced we care what happens to them. (For instance, there is a female houseguest who continually disrespects Brenna and constantly throws herself at Richard, and neither of them ever demands that the irritating woman leave. When Brenna expresses her anger and distress over the distasteful behavior, Richard is shocked, simply shocked, that his wife could ever feel threatened by the other woman.) Smith is a smooth writer, and the book has an engaging beginning with an appealing series concept. But there are too many plot elements, and the complicated story is further bogged down by poor pacing and characterization, awkward construction and a jerky narrative that drops details that should be emotionally processed throughout the book, but which only gracelessly resurface when it's apparently time to revisit them for the sake of the next strained plot twist. Disappointing execution of an intriguing Regency hook.

Kirkus Reviews