Author: Ally Broadfield
Publisher:Entangled
Publication date: Dec 8th 2014
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: NetGalley
The spirited Catherine Malboeuf has just arrived in England to reclaim her ancestral home, Walsley Manor, and a valuable missing heirloom. Nicholas Adair, the attractive and frustratingly inflexible Duke of Boulstridge, however, is quite unwilling to sell the estate back to Catherine. Unless, of course, she accepts a small wager...
Nick will sell Walsley Manor if—and only if—Catherine secures an offer of marriage from an eligible member of the ton before the end of the London season.
Of course, Nick is certain he'll win. After all, no proper gentleman would ever marry a woman who conceals a cutlass in her skirts. Yet something about Catherine's unconventional disposition seems to ignite a need deep inside him. A need that won't just cost him the wager, but the very heart he swore to never give away...
My Review:
What does a feisty, breeches wearing, American heiress have in common with a stuffy, hermit of an English Duke?! He's living in her ancestral home! And she wants it back, including a mysterious tiara rumored to have belonged to Empress Elizabeth of Russia.
Nicholas "Nick" Adair, Duke of Bolstridge, has holed up in a an estate, Walsley Hall, that he has spent the past year refurbishing. He is essentially in hiding after spending most of his life involved in a scandal not of his making. He is shocked when a "thief" slips into his library window! It's a female, bearing a cutlass, and wearing breeches under her skirt!
Miss Catherine Malboeut is an American heiress, of mixed decent, her father rumored to be a French pirate who captured her mother at sea! She's determined to buy back her ancestral home for her mother at whatever cost!
Nick refuses to sell the Hall and dismisses Catherine and sends her off with a flea in her ear! He later rethinks it and goes to the Inn the next day and proceeds to make a wager that if Catherine can obtain a proposal by the end of the season he will sell it to her.
They team up to find the "missing tiara", not knowing that someone else is after it as well and Catherine is in danger! As the search progresses so the the antics between Catherine and Nick! They fight their instant attraction but the more time they spend together they determine to get along. And boy do they!!
Laugh out loud funny, adventure, mystery and steamy romance all rolled into one! Watch how the rigid Duke falls in love with the spirited heroine and comes out of his shell! The book does start of slow but give it a chance and it will become a favorite!
Ally has worked as a horse trainer, director of marketing and development, freelance proofreader, and a children's librarian, among other things. None of them were as awesome as writing romance novels (though the librarian gig came closest). She lives in Texas and is convinced her house is shrinking, possibly because she shares it with three kids, five dogs, a cat, a rabbit, and assorted reptiles. Oh, and her husband.
Ally likes to curse in Russian because very few people know what she's saying, and spends most of what would be her spare time letting dogs in and out of the house and shuttling kids around. She has many stories in her head looking for an opportunity to escape onto paper. She writes historical romance set in Regency England and Imperial Russia.
