REVIEW: A WEDDING IN SPRINGTIME (MARRIAGE MART #1) by AMANDA FORESTER

Series: Marriage Mart #1
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: 5/7/13
Format: ARC
Pages: 391
Source: Received from publisher for review

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...

 




I don't read a lot of historical romance anymore, but books like A Wedding in Springtime make me question that. I'll admit, I fell in love with this cover, and that played a huge part in my decision to take it for review. I'm so happy I did read A Wedding in Springtime, because I truly enjoyed this story.

A Wedding in Springtime is essentially the story of "ruined" Genie Talbot and the man who made her laugh in front of the Queen, William Grant. The chemistry between them is apparent from the beginning, and I loved that they were continually drawn to each other, despite their best efforts. Genie needs a husband to save her from the scandal, and quickly. Grant is an avowed bachelor, and the most coveted single man in England. Of course, this means that the two are truly meant to be together, but the road them seeing this does not run smoothly, though it is humorous.

Though A Wedding in Springtime is about Genie and Grant, there are quite a few secondary characters that make up the story. There's Genie's family, including her distant uncle, bossy aunt, and meek cousin. We also have the Marchfords, made up of the Duchess, who may be the only woman powerful enough to find Genie a suitable husband, the Duke who is Grant's best friend and engaged to Genie's husband. And I can't forget Miss Penelope Rose, who may soon enter spinsterhood, but is an accomplished matchmaker. I think she just may have a story coming her way, as does Marchford.

I like a humorous historical romance, and A Wedding in Springtime delivered. The dialogue between the characters, particularly Genie, Grant, and Marchford. The easy and teasing comraderie between the friends made for a lot of fun moments, as did the teasing and flirting between Genie and Grant.

I was a little worried that too many characters and secondary plotlines were being brought into the story. There was a plotline about spies and the war between England and France, as well as a bit about Genie's gambling brother. I did find myself losing a bit of interest during the middle of the story. However, when these secondary stories began pulling together and incorporating into the main plot, everything began to fill in nicely and the overall story became much more exciting.

I truly enjoyed A Wedding in Springtime. I found the story to be sweet, engaging, romantic, and fun! I will definitely be reading book two in the Marriage Mart series, A Midsummer Bride.


Favorite Quote:

    Marchford studied him for a moment, as if noticing him for the first time. "I fear, dear chap, you are in love."
  "Do you really think so?"
  "I cannot find any other reasonable explanation. You have bought a special license, sworn off drinking, lost control of your emotions on a public street, and most disturbing of all -- done all this before noon. I would say the evidence leads me to no other conclusion."  ~ARC, pg.330

Purchase A Wedding in Springtime at:

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Book Depository

About the author:
Amanda Forester holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a Masters degree in theology. As a psychologist, she has worked as a clinical researcher and a university instructor (what they call you when they don’t want to give you tenure). None of which has anything to do with writing romance novels. After trying for many years to stop the internal storylines floating around her head, she finally gave up and wrote one down. Now when she is caught daydreaming and talking to herself she can just say, “I’m plotting a scene for my next novel,” which sounds so much better than, “I’m hallucinating and responding to internal stimuli.”

Amanda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her officer and a gentleman husband and their two remarkably active, naturally brilliant children. They share their home with two fiendishly destructive cats and one lazy dog.

Connect with Amanda at her website