A Sweeter Revenge
Joan M. FoxHistorical romance
Available from Wings ePress
ISBN: 1-59088-430-2
September 2005
| Five years ago, when she was seventeen, Marigold Calloway fell head over heels in love with her brother Bennett’s friend from Oxford, Jordan Brisbane, who was also their new step cousin. He was the son of their Aunt Henny’s new husband, Sir Walter. Mari, Bennett and Jordan spent the month he’d visited their family in easy friendship. The day before he left, Jordan and Mari kissed. It had happened accidentally, standing in a stream after drinking wine on a hot day. It was no chaste kiss. It surprised Jordan most of all. Mari was certain they’d be married straight away but he’d left without a word, gone to America and she’d not heard a word from him in five years. Her heart had been so broken she’d never let another man close, so she was still unmarried at the rusty old age of two and twenty.
Now her parents have forced her to go to Auntie Henny’s for a Christmas House Party. And he, Jordan Brisbane, would be there. The only thing to do was flirt with Jordan, make him fall in love with her, then reject him and break his heart the way he’d broken hers. Unfortunately when they arrived she learned that Jordan was bringing along one of his business partners and his daughter to meet the family. It seemed it was understood Jordan was expected to marry the lovely southern belle, Belinda. Luckily, the young rake Charles Bascom volunteered to teach Mari to flirt to further her plans. No one was certain quite what his connection to the family was, but he looked almost exactly like Jordan, except his coloring was fair. A young Lord Chessbrook and two young rakes in his party had been stranded in the storm and sought shelter at the Brisbane estate. There is intrigue at every turn. I thought the story of Cinthy, one of Mari’s twin sisters particularly cute. Cinthy is determined to switch places with her twin, Lily, in order to give comeuppance to the arrogant young man who snubbed her. Then she thinks she loves him while he thinks he kissed her twin. My heart couldn’t help but ache for Charles, who has discovered that he is the bastard son of Jordan’s mother and is determined to find out who his father is before the party is over. Belinda has decided that a viscount is a better catch than Jordan. Lord Chessbrook needs to marry money and quickly. Jordan realized the moment he saw her that he’s in love with Mari, but he believes she hates him now. Jordan had named his first ship the Lady Marigold without really thinking about the reason. The story of his winning back Mari’s love is particularly sweet. I believe this is the first book in a series. There are three more sisters to marry off after Mari. The Calloway sisters are high spirited young women and I look forward to reading the rest of the books to learn how they fare in their respective husband hunts. A Sweeter Revenge is a sweet Christmas-time regency romance set against a back drop of all the pageantry, pomp and circumstance of the times. It will put a smile on your face and in your heart.
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Reviewer: Karen H. |
