Review/#Giveaway: A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester

A Wedding in Springtime
by Amanda Forester
Series: Marriage Mart #1
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication date: May 7, 2013
Genre: Historical Romance
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Five minutes into Miss Eugenia Talbot's presentation at court, notorious rogue Mr. William Grant made her laugh, ruining her debut. To hush up the scandal, Eugenia's aunt hires a matchmaker to quickly find a suitor— anyone except the infamous William Grant—to help restore Eugenia's reputation. But amiable Eugenia shows a disturbing tendency to follow her heart, and is again caught in the company of notorious Grant. When a traitor creeps closer, threatening to ruin more than just Eugenia's reputation, her kindheartedness may be her ultimate undoing..

Take a debutante being presented to the Queen, a notorious rake, a reluctant second son who inherits the dukedom and the marriage arrangement that came with it. Then you add in a meddlesome dowager, a misled brother and traitors to the crown and what do you get? Why tons of mischief and a tale that is sure to delight. A Wedding in Springtime is the first book in the Marriage Mart series by Amanda Forester and her wonderful characters and action packed plot kept me thoroughly entertained.

The tale begins when Miss Eugenia “Genie” Talbot is being presented in court. An untimely noise and a wink from the notorious rouge Mr. William Grant cause Genie to lose her composure and burst out laughing. She is ruined, simply ruined. In order to hush the impending scandal her Aunt hires a mysterious matchmaker to quickly marry the girl off. As Genie’s tale unfolds we meet several secondary characters with stories to capture our hearts, make us giggle and add to the suspense.

Forester delivered such bright, outspoken female characters that the men of the Ton should just secede now, for these woman are formidable. Genie is delightful, she really tries to please her aunt, but she is an original and it's hard to hide. She tends to say what she thinks and she is quite witty in an innocent sort of way. I adored her humorous side as she dealt with the whims of the ton.  Her Aunt Lady Bremerton is one of those women who lives and dies by her social standing and at times I wanted to shoot her. Her daughter is Lady Louisa and she is the Duke of Marchford’s intended. The marriage contracts were drawn up for the first Duke and are iron-clad. Lady Bremerton is determined to seeing them honored. Lady Louisa is quite quiet but her story is a good one. My mother always said, “Watch out for the quiet ones” and so you should. Penelope is the new companion to the dowager of Marchford and I simply adored her. She dresses down the Duke when he deserves it, is sharp, observant and aids without calling attention to herself. I am hoping we get her story, I know just the man for her. *fingers-crossed* Ooo let’s not forget her grace, the dowager duchess of Marchford. She is in battle with her grandson. He wishes for her to leave the manor and retire to the countryside and of course she simply refuses. This causes some delightful banter, and mischief. A young street urchin named Jem stole my heart and is sure to steal yours too. It seems like all I’ve talked about is women, but let me assure you the book is filled with some swoon-worthy, hopelessly flawed rogue’s who you will absolutely adore, feel sorry for, occasional want to smack on the head and ultimately love.

A Wedding in Springtime had many different threads all working together to create a fun, witty, sweet, romantic tale filled with a little intrigue.  The pacing is well done and I never felt the need to skim or set down the book. In all honestly I read this in two sittings stopping long enough to feed my family dinner. The heat level is very low in this tale, the banter, tension and overall romance made it successful without it. I giggled at the conversations between Grant and the Duke; Grant and Genie; Penelope and the dowager. The characters were fleshed out and their interactions felt genuine.  Grant and Genie had chemistry from the beginning and it was such fun watching their dance. Throughout the tale there is a threat against the crown as traitors try to steal codes and intercept messages. This aspect of the tale and how Forester weaved our young heroine into it was well done and kept me highly entertained.

A Wedding in Springtime is the perfect feel good read for fans of clean historical romances. I am looking forward to the second book; A Midsummer Bride set to release in November of 2013. 

Four cups of Crown coffee out of five 

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