ROYAL'S BRIDE

Author: Kat Martin ISBN: 9780778326427 9/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: MIRA
Time Period: England, 1854 and 1855

Though he is a titled nobleman, Royal Dewar is singularly unlucky... forced to choose between his soul mate and his salvation After years abroad, Royal has returned to Bransford Castle to find his father dying and the family treasury nearly empty. Then the old duke wrests a final promise from his guilt-ridden son: that Royal will marry heiress Jocelyn Caulfield and restore the estate to its former glory. However, it is not his fiancee who quickens Royal's pulse, but rather her beautiful cousin, Lily Moran. Penniless Lily knows that nothing can come of their undeniable attraction—but there is a way she can help Royal. Enlisting some questionable characters from her past, Lily concocts an elaborate ruse to recover some of the Bransford fortune from a notorious confidence artist. As the dangerous scheme unfolds, Lily and Royal are thrown together in pursuit of the very thing—money—that keeps them apart...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ROYAL'S BRIDE opens Kat Martin's new The Brides trilogy on a very high note. If the two other brothers in this series are as hunky and heroic as Royal is, this is going to be an amazing trilogy.

Royal Dewar returns from Barbados to his ancestral home, Bransford Castle, when his father is dying. The place is woefully neglected, with furnishings missing and in a near-total state of disrepair. Royal's father has a solution to the mess, though: he's arranged a marriage for Royal that will bring much-needed money to the family, and he makes Royal promise to wed Jocelyn. A year later, Jo and Royal begin down the path to matrimony but there is a glitch in this well-laid plan. Royal is attracted to Lily, Jo's cousin. And Jocelyn? She finds herself falling for another man. Thankfully, Lily has connections that will help restore the Dewar family fortune. A tangled adventure into the shadier sides of society begins, and a web of deceit and theft emerges.

I heartily enjoyed this book. Every character seems real, with Royal being the most chivalrous hero. His magnetism hums when he carries Jo inside and orders she be tended after a carriage mishap. His grief at his father's passing is heartfelt. And the quick thinking that he employs with Loomis and McGrew, the bad guys, shows he's as smart as he is good looking.

REECE'S BRIDE is the next installment in this series, and I can't wait to read it. ROYAL'S BRIDE is so good, I have high hopes for the rest of this series!

Kay James