Tag: Callie Hutton

Guest Review: Marrying the Wrong Earl by Callie Hutton

Posted April 21, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Marrying the Wrong Earl by Callie HuttonReviewer: Tracy
Marrying the Wrong Earl by Callie Hutton
Series: Lords and Ladies in Love #2
Publisher: Entangled, Scandalous
Publication Date: April 17th 2017
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three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Lady Arabella Danvers is happy with her life just the way it is. She is free to be herself and take care of broken and abandoned animals. Her mother is desperate for her to marry, and has decided to take things into her own hands. There is just one little problem with her plan.

Nash, the Earl of Clarendon has determined it is time to take a wife. He has selected a woman to whom he intends to propose. However, the annoying Lady Arabella has stumbled into his life at the wrong time, and in the wrong place. But he of all people should know if Lady Arabella is involved, plans will go awry.

Arabella is the daughter of an Earl.  After her father died the new Earl had stated that Arabella and her mother could stay put but her mother is determined to be nowhere near the new Earl when he returns from his travels.  Arabella’s mother decides that the best way to do this is to marry Arabella off but the men that she’s putting in front of her daughter are all old and Arabella has no desire to marry any of them.  Arabella wants to be left alone to care for the sick animals that she rescues.  Unfortunately her mother has other plans and ends up planning for Arabella to be caught in a room with one of her mother’s husband choices.  That doesn’t exactly work out for the mom as she hadn’t realized that there was already someone in the room when she sent Arabella in there.

Because of the possible scandal Nash, the Earl of Clarendon, insists on marrying Arabella and to save her reputation.  He doesn’t particularly like Arabella but he thinks her beautiful and wants her in his bed.  He hates that she rescue’s animals and wants her to be a “regular” wife who does needlepoint and watercolors and hosts dinner parties and well, he wants her to be boring.  Arabella is having none of it.  She continues to rescue animals after she’s married but Nash insists she stops.  Arabella tries to be everything that Nash wants her to be, but she is who she is and that causes friction in the marriage.

The plot of this book and the writing were good, I must say, but the story itself drove me batshit crazy.  Arabella was a kind soul who just wanted to live her life, be a kind person, and help her animals.  When she’s forced to marry Nash she’s not happy about it but decides to do her best.  That said, she’s not giving up her animals.  I admired Arabella for her kindness and her willingness to help those animals in need.  She tried to best to be what Nash needed but he wanted her to act like someone she wasn’t and it was too much.

Nash wants the perfect society wife.  He was about to offer for an 18-year-old deb but that was put to pasture when he’s caught with Arabella in the same room at a party.  Total coincidence. He decides to make the best of it but she frustrates the hell out of him with doing surgery on animals and not acting as a proper wife should. How do I put this kindly…Nash was an ass.  And I don’t mean he was an ass for half of the book and then redeemed himself.  No, he was an ass for 95% of the book and I disliked him intensely.  He was constantly berating Arabella and telling her what to do.  When there were callers at the house he would pull her aside and tell her how to act as if she’d never received anyone before marrying him.  She tried to get out of marrying him but he insisted and then was frustrated that she didn’t act like he wanted.  He wanted a piece of clay he could mold and he certainly didn’t get that.  Yes, I’m happy he figured shit out before the end of the book but it was a close one and frankly a little too late.

Frankly I couldn’t understand how Arabella even fell in love with the man.  He only treated her well when they were about to go to bed together or were in bed.  I think she was more in lust than anything but that’s just my opinion of course.  I personally think the writing saved this book for me because otherwise it would have gotten a lower rating. As it is I can only recommend this book if you like men who act like complete jerks otherwise you may throw your ereader across the room and I can’t have ereader destruction on my conscience.

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars


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Guest Review: The Highlander’s Accidental Marriage by Callie Hutton

Posted December 2, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: The Highlander’s Accidental Marriage by Callie HuttonReviewer: Tracy
The Highlander's Accidental Marriage by Callie Hutton
Series: Marriage Mart Mayhem #6
Publisher: Entangled Scandalous
Publication Date: November 30, 2015
Format: eARC
Genres: Historical Romance
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

She never intended to take a husband...

Scotland, 1817

The Duke of Manchester's sister, Lady Sarah Lacey, always abides by the rules of etiquette. Fate, however, has no such confines. On a journey to the Scottish Highlands, Lady Sarah is set upon by misfortune-leaving her without carriage or chaperone, and left to the mercy of a kind and handsome gentleman. Whom (in order to secure a room at an inn) she announces is her husband.

When she proclaims they're married in public, Professor Braeden McKinnon can't bring himself to correct the lovely Lady Sarah. After all, her reputation would be ruined. Nor can he tell her that her proclamation is not only legally binding in Scotland, but sharing a room is considered to be an act of consummation...

Now they are bound together until death do they part-even if Sarah has no intention of becoming any man's wife.

Lady Sarah Lacey is on a trip to the Highlands to visit her sister who is about to give birth.  On the way she runs into a horrible storm and her carriage is run off a cliff, killing her driver and footman.  Luckily Sarah and her lady’s maid were thrown from the carriage and their lives were spared.

Professor Braeden McKinnon is also on his way from Edinburgh to the Highlands to wait for a letter letting him know if he has been accepted on an archaeological expedition.  That’s really the only thing he’s thinking about so as much as he wants to help the ladies on the side of the road he’s exasperated at having to delay his trip.  Braeden and his friend end up traveling with the ladies until a series of events makes it so that only Braeden and Sarah are traveling alone.  They manage until they come across one inn that’s very crowded and instead of two rooms there’s only one and Sarah doesn’t want to let it go.  Braeden had decided that they were to pose as brother and sister but when the innkeeper recognizes Braeden Sarah decides to claim they’re married so that they can have the room.  Unbeknownst to Sarah declaring you’re married in front of a witness is as a good as a wedding in Scotland.

Braeden doesn’t tell her their married in the eyes of the law until they reach her sisters house but that doesn’t stop them from consummating the marriage (whether Sarah knew that’s what they were doing or not).  Once she finds out she’s not happy at all. She never plans on getting married as she’s an author who is about to be published and she plans on that being her life.  She knows if she’s married her husband will either stop her from writing/publishing or in Braeden’s case make her go on his expedition with her to Rome rather than go back to London to do book signings and make appearances.  When Sarah finds herself in love with Braeden she’s still torn on what to do and it may tear their relationship apart.

This was a very cute though highly unlikely story.  I couldn’t seem to wrap my brain around Sarah, who at first seemed highly proper and unlikely to travel alone with a man, not only does but then sleeps with him as well (and takes the chance of getting pregnant which was strange when she said she didn’t want kids).  As much as that furthered the story it didn’t match up with my knowledge of how women acted back in the 19th century.  Of course this is a romance and fiction so I let that go after a bit. 🙂

Sarah and Braeden were very sweet together if a bit odd. He was so worried about his expedition and she was so worried about her publisher that though they fell in love they were both so stubborn that they couldn’t work out their issues.  I did think that Sarah was much more stubborn than Braeden but then Braeden’s expectations of what would happen now that they were married were a bit prosaic – but fitting with the times.

Overall the story was very cute and I was happy when the pair finally worked out their differences.  They each came to a compromise and I loved seeing that not just one of them, but both, had to give up something in order to find a middle ground. This was my first book by Callie Hutton but it was a good one and I’ll be reading more from her in the future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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