Thursday, October 24, 2013

When the Marquess Met His Match by Laura Lee Guhrke


When the Marquess Met His Match (An American Heiress in London, #1)Historical Romance
What Goodreads says:
"What happens when a carefree, disreputable, stone-broke bachelor is forced to find a wife in a hurry? He hires a matchmaker, of course. What happens when the matchmaker doesn’t want to help him? Well, that’s when the fun begins…
Nicholas Stirling, Marquess of Trubridge, loves his life just as it is: dissolute, scandalous, and deuced good fun. His father, the Duke of Landsdowne is not amused, and when he cuts off Nicholas’ trust fund, the fun-loving marquess is forced to find an alternate source of income—in other words, he has to marry an heiress.

Every new-money American heiress knows Lady Belinda Featherstone is the key to social acceptance. Once a new-money nobody herself, Belinda discovered first-hand how heartbreaking the game of love and matrimony could be after a reprobate British earl married her for her money. Now a respectable widow, Belinda has become England’s most successful matchmaker, guiding young American heiresses through the hazards of the London season and helping them to find husbands worthy of them. To her mind, the Marquess of Trubridge is nothing but a fortune-hunting scoundrel and she has no intention of allowing him to charm his way into any American girl’s heart, including her own."
Usually the male in the book had to make a big change but in When the Marquess Met His Match the opposite is true.  Lady Belinda Featherstone had a very unhappy marriage and she is determined to keep that from happening to anyone else.  She has to change how she looks at men and Nicholas Stirling in particular.
Nicholas on the other hand is just what he seems.  His character does have to grow but he is not the reprobate Belinda thinks he is.  Bringing the two together is where the fun begins.  Belinda has a lot of fun matching Nicholas with first a chatterbox and then an empty headed heiress.  For most of the book Nicholas spends a lot of his time trying to outfox his father.  It takes Belinda giving him an honest assessment of his behavior to make Nicholas decide that a bride is not what he needs.  He needs to find a way to make money without depending on someone else.
I loved the way Nicholas changed and the way Belinda came to his defense with his Father. 
There were several funny scenes in the book and some great dialog between the characters.  There were some really interesting well-developed side characters that supported the story.
The writing was brisk and the plot well developed.  The meeting his match in the title has a double meaning and is a great fit to the story line.  This is book one in a new series and it is a winner.  I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Avon published When the Marquess Met His Match by Laura Lee Guhrke in 2013.
I received an ARC of When the Marquess Met His Match from Edelweiss.

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