Title: Promised
Author: Leah Garriott
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Publication Date: 2/18/2020
Source: ARC from the publisher through Edelweiss
Margaret Brinton keeps her promises, and the one she is most determined to keep is the promise to protect her heart.
Warwickshire, England, 1812
Fooled by love once before, Margaret vows never to be played the fool again. To keep her vow, she attends a notorious matchmaking party intent on securing the perfect marital match: a union of convenience to someone who could never affect her heart. She discovers a man who exceeds all her hopes in the handsome and obliging rake Mr. Northam.
There’s only one problem. His meddling cousin, Lord Williams, won’t leave Margaret alone. Condescending and high-handed, Lord Williams lectures and insults her. When she refuses to give heed to his counsel, he single-handedly ruins Margaret’s chances for making a good match—to his cousin or anyone else. With no reason to remain at the party, Margaret returns home to discover her father has promised her hand in marriage—to Lord Williams.
Under no condition will Margaret consent to marrying such an odious man. Yet as Lord Williams inserts himself into her everyday life, interrupting her family games and following her on morning walks, winning the good opinion of her siblings and proving himself intelligent and even kind, Margaret is forced to realize that Lord Williams is exactly the type of man she’d hoped to marry before she’d learned how much love hurt. When paths diverge and her time with Lord Williams ends, Margaret is faced with her ultimate choice: keep the promises that protect her or break free of them for one more chance at love. Either way, she fears her heart will lose.
Warwickshire, England, 1812
Fooled by love once before, Margaret vows never to be played the fool again. To keep her vow, she attends a notorious matchmaking party intent on securing the perfect marital match: a union of convenience to someone who could never affect her heart. She discovers a man who exceeds all her hopes in the handsome and obliging rake Mr. Northam.
There’s only one problem. His meddling cousin, Lord Williams, won’t leave Margaret alone. Condescending and high-handed, Lord Williams lectures and insults her. When she refuses to give heed to his counsel, he single-handedly ruins Margaret’s chances for making a good match—to his cousin or anyone else. With no reason to remain at the party, Margaret returns home to discover her father has promised her hand in marriage—to Lord Williams.
Under no condition will Margaret consent to marrying such an odious man. Yet as Lord Williams inserts himself into her everyday life, interrupting her family games and following her on morning walks, winning the good opinion of her siblings and proving himself intelligent and even kind, Margaret is forced to realize that Lord Williams is exactly the type of man she’d hoped to marry before she’d learned how much love hurt. When paths diverge and her time with Lord Williams ends, Margaret is faced with her ultimate choice: keep the promises that protect her or break free of them for one more chance at love. Either way, she fears her heart will lose.
Though she earned degrees in math and statistics, Leah Garriott lives for a good love story. She's resided in Hawaii and Italy, walked the countryside of England, and owns every mainstream movie version of Pride and Prejudice. She's currently living her own happily ever after in Utah with her husband and three kids. Leah is represented by Sharon Pelletier at Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. You can visit Leah at www.leahgarriott.com.
"Neither of us seems to make the other perform to our best selves"
Promised was a very Austen-esque novel that fully entertained and spoke to my romantic side.
Margaret, who is in search of a husband, thinks she has finally found the perfect candidate, Mr. Northam, who can take on her family and her baggage but would never touch her heart. Before she can make a choice that would be irreversible, Northam's cousin, Lord Williams, steps in and warns her that Northam would never truly care for her and chases Northam away. When Margaret hangs her head and returns home, she finds she is already engaged... to Lord Williams.
Margaret quickly finds herself in what seems to be a game between Lord Williams and Mr. Northam. They both seem to view her as a prize to be won. It seems their attentions have more to do with out-doing the other rather than anything to do with Margaret herself
Lord Williams, or Gregory as he begs Margaret to call him, sets out to woo Margaret and it is rather glorious. There is a delicious tension between them, and animosity that sets off sparks whenever they are together. He wins over friends and family members and stirs Margaret's heart in ways she would rather not think about.
When Mr. Northam returns, pressing his attentions, Margaret has to decide if she could take the safe option or step out on a limb and offer everything to the one man who has the power to destroy her for good.
I really enjoyed the story and had a hard time setting it aside to do my everyday tasks like work and momming, but here I am, just a month later and I am struggling to remember the story. I feel like there were too many components that it shares with typical Historical Romance novels and therefore it is hard for this particular story to stand out. It was lovely and kept me coming back to read it, it just wasn't memorable.
My first reaction after reading Promised was to give it 5 stars so I am going to leave them here. It was a good debut and I'm looking forward to more from this author.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an early copy for me to read and review.
10CC - I'm Not In Love
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