Lady Philippa Nielson no guarda memoria de lo que sucedió en su dormitorio en plena noche ni conoce el peligroso enredo que amenaza su vida. Pero un leve roce de la mano de un misterioso desconocido y una simple mirada de sus inteligentes ojos grises bastan para que Pippa se sienta unida a quien debería ser su más acerbo enemigo. ¿Quién es ese hombre que parece saber sobre su vida más que ella misma? Lionel Ashton ha sido designado como guardián de Pippa y del secreto que ella, sin saberlo, guarda. Pero lo que Lionel sabe sobre Pippa pondrá la vida de ambos en grave peligro, mientras caen bajo el hechizo de una atrevida seducción que los convertirá en apasionados forajidos y en legendarios amantes.

The title of this book is a bit of a misnomer. I read the summary and was genuinely expecting a kidnapping-and-forced-marriage trope. This was not that.

This book is, in my opinion, more in league with Philippa Gregory novels than with Harlequins. There’s a great amount of plot and the love story is almost secondary to the plot. Almost. The prologue of the books sets up the three heroines of this trilogy (Portia, Phoebe, and Olivia) as young girls who are outcasts, and determined to never marry. Portia, the heroine of this first installment, is the bastard daughter of the Marquis of Granville’s half-brother. Her father is an alcoholic and her mother died before her second birthday. She’s rough around the edges, shaped much like a scarecrow and has little to no social graces.

The hero of the story, Rufus (RUFUS!) the dispossessed Earl of Rothbury watched his father commit suicide instead of being taken to prison for treason at the hands of the former Marquis of Granville. Naturally, Rufus and the Marquis are not best friends.

Portia’s father finally succumbs to his alcoholism and begs his half-brother to take in Portia as she has no one else in the world, nor anything to her name. She acquiesces but on the way is briefly taken hostage by Rufus. They connect in that way of romance novels where they like each other for no reason whatsoever, but it’s in a much less love-at-first-sight way. And much more on a personality level, since neither are exactly a catch.

Somewhere along the way, the plot leads Rufus to the conclusion that the best way to win back his father’s lands and title would be to ransom the Marquis’ daughter (the aforementioned Olivia). But, due to a shared wardrobe, he ends up kidnapping none other than Portia. However, Portia’s not exactly a catch (so to speak), there’s no way Granville will pay that much (if anything) for her, and he probably won’t really miss her either. But for some reason, attraction etc, Rufus decides to keep Portia around for the time being to see if she’ll be useful at all.

Attraction builds, sex happens, and suddenly Portia finds herself confronted with just how much Rufus hates the Granvilles, and by extension she mistakenly believes he must hate her. So she leaves and goes back to the Marquis. Blah blah blah, plots plots plots plots.

This book is chockful of story, which is honestly not something I get to say about the majority of romance novels I read. But to go too into detail would be to spoil the entire story if anyone else wants to read it. I will say, the chunk of the story where Portia decides to train as a soldier was like a 17th century Mulan style joyride for me.

Portia is capable and smart and cunning and strong and a wonderful heroine that I grew to love very deeply.

Obviously, there’s a happy ending to be had, but at a great and grave cost that is not glossed over entirely. There is a war on, after all, this novel being set during the Stuart era and the families in the novel being on opposing sides of the King vs Parliament war.

This is an awful review. I’m much better at the books I either LOOOOVED or the books I HAAAAAAAAATED or the books that were just plain stupid. But this book was a lovely surprise, and as such, all I can say is, “It was better than I expected.” ( )

This review is my personal opinion, this is not a paid review. To form your own opinion please support the author and invest in your own copy to read.

This is the first in a 3 book series. The series is Bride Trilogy by Ms. Feather. This book is set in the mid-17th century.

This book start out with a wedding and 3 misfit young females. The 3 females form a bond of sorts. They each make a small cut on the palm of there hand to mix there blood and cut 3 locks of there hair to braid in to a circle. They tell each other that if one is in need to mail the lock to one of the others and they will come to help assist.

This book is about Portia. She is the bastard daughter to the brother of Marquis of Granville. When Portia's father dies she sends her father .'s letter to his brother not knowing what is inside. Shortly her uncle sends some of his men to meet up with her and bring her back to his castle.

Portia is the type of female that is beautiful but does not care. She has live her life in taverns, brothels, rat holes and anywhere else her father can find for them to live after he squandered his inheritance.

Portia is kidnapped by Granville's enemy not once but twice. Granville does not trust Portia, he thinks she is there to acquire information for his enemy.

Portia and Rufus Decanter (Granville's enemy) fall in love.

Will they be able to overcome the obstacles and form a family or will family honor step in and block them from true happiness?



I enjoyed this book but found it hard to connect with the characters. The plot was interesting but it just did not seem to flow right for me.

The bunnies and I give this book 3 Carrots. ( )

Della stessa serie: 2. Malizia e sentimento (protagonista Phoebe) 3. Il cuore non sbaglia (protagonista Olivia) ( )