B-

The Bride Takes a Groom

In terms of books that I sneak off to the bathroom to read, this one was “a normal amount of hydrating” and not “over hydrating” book.

This story has a marriage of convenience between a heroine whose family has a ridiculous amount of money that’s so new it still has that new-money smell, and a hero from an ancient and respected family with no money. Kate wants to get away from her social climbing parents, and Hugo needs finds to help support his family. They knew each other as children, and when Hugo comes back from his time in the Navy…Kate’s like hey, dude. I got a solution to both our problems.

So the interesting thing about this book is the pacing. It’s got kind of a rolling pace to it, where things happen and resolve, and then more things happen and then resolve, all while the central conflict simmers slowly in the background. Hugo as a hero is kind of there. He’s fine, I guess. There isn’t much of a journey for him. He’s a nice dude who just wants to help his family.

But what really got me was Kate. Her parents are terrible and only saw her as a means to gain status, and all she really wanted was to be loved and figure out how to love. I spent the whole book wanting to just give Kate a hug, because no one did when she was a kid. And I gotta give props for pulling that kind of emotional response.

In all, I wasn’t surprised by the plot because not much about it was surprising, but I was surprised by my response to Kate, though I wish she had a hero worthy of her extensive emotional journey.

– Redheadedgirl

Lisa Berne’s Penhallow Dynasty continues with a pair of star-crossed childhood friends who meet again years later—and find love where they least expect it . . .

Katherine Brooke may be a fabulously wealthy heiress, but she’s trapped, a pawn in her parents’ ruthless game to marry her into the nobility. Then Captain Hugo Penhallow—so charming, as handsome as a Greek god—comes into her life once more, and suddenly she sees a chance to be free.

As a Penhallow, his is one of the highest names in the land, but still his family is facing ruin. So Katherine boldly proposes an exchange: his name for her money. But only if Hugo understands it’s merely a practical arrangement, and that she’s not surrendering herself entirely.

Back from eight years in America and determined to give his younger siblings a better life, Hugo agrees. He’s never fallen in love, so why not? Yet neither of them guesses that this marriage will become far, far more than they ever dreamed of . . .