Summary Æ PDF, DOC, TXT or eBook ↠ Martha Keyes
A gentleman's impulsive wager to marry a stranger. A young woman’s determination not to marry the man she wants.
When Isabel Cosgrove is informed by her father that he lost her hand in marriage while playing cards with Charles Galbraith—the gentleman she’s been admiring from a distance for years—she is filled with dismay. How can she agree to wed a man whose reason for marriage is part-revenge, part-indifference? Intent on avoiding a painful union where her regard cannot be returned, she concocts a plan.
Charles Galbraith didn’t intend to become engaged as a result of a drunken wager at cards, but after the woman he loves spurns him, what does it matter whom he marries? But even Miss Cosgrove, the fiancée he won by wager, seems intent not to marry him—a fact that both relieves and piques him. She instead suggests a plan that has the potential to temporarily appease her father’s demand of marriage while also winning back the love of the woman Charles truly wants.
But when Charles and Isabel are thrown into the midst of a brewing scandal and another man’s potential disinheritance, their plan begins to unravel thread by thread, challenging what Galbraith thinks he wants—and just how much more time with him Isabel’s heart can stand.
I really enjoyed this story! I found it to be thoroughly engaging & it kept me eagerly turning the pages to see how things would all turn out. Although I knew how I wanted things to go, there is never the guarantee that it will & there were times I wondered how the author was going to bring everything about.
I was thoroughly pleased with how it all turned out & am happy to recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Regency Era novels with happy endings.
This can be read as a stand-alone novel. However, there is a brief mention of characters from the first book in the series. So if you are like me & you prefer to read books in the order that they’re written/released (and if you enjoy getting glimpses of how characters are doing afterwards), then I recommend reading Wyndcross first ;) as I said though, this is easily read as a stand-alone novel - there was nothing to detract from the story in knowing that it wasn’t the first book in the series.
My thanks to the author for supplying me with an ARC of this book. This is an honest review which I am voluntarily giving. This is a clean & engaging read which I can happily recommend. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) I enjoyed this sweet, proper romance. Isabel was a good character. This does have a bit of a Christian element to it. I love how she became stronger knowing who she was and she gave grace to others because she knew herself so well. She was able to figure out why others did what they did. This is a great gift I have been striving for in my life. It was nice to see a character in a book working out how to do it instead of going around hating everyone or letting everyone hurt her. I love how complicated everything got and how it all worked itself out. This was a good story with a good foundation that was followed well. I took off a star because it got a bit wordy and the end drug out for me a bit too long. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) Having enjoyed Martha Keyes’ Eleanor, I was really excited for this book, especially since the premise was so intriguing—a woman finds herself betrothed after her father loses her hand in a wager. But her intended isn’t just anyone, but the man she’s secretly been in love with for years. Unfortunately, he’s in love with someone else. Because Isabel doesn’t want to be married to a man who doesn’t love her and he doesn’t want to marry anyone but the woman he thinks he loves, the two enter a fake engagement.
I liked both Isabel and Charles and thought they were cute together. In addition, the plot’s premise was fun and I enjoyed watching it unfold, so much so that I could have happily seen many more pages and development of it. There were many lovely scenes between our hero and heroine, as well as many frustrating obstacles for them to overcome for them to achieve their happily ever after, particularly Charles stubbornness in clinging to his old flame, Julia, but all turned out right in the end.
Martha Keyes truly took us quite the journey, both for Isabel and Charles and the subplot with Hetty and the villainous Mr. Farrow. But despite the turmoil our villain caused, the plot’s premise was fun, our characters’ growth satisfying, and the moments where there were romantic scenes between our hero and heroine were very sweet. I’m looking forward to reading more from Martha Keyes. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) I liked that this book wasn’t about the darling of the season but more of an ordinary girl just wanting to be a good person. Isabel went to great lengths to protect her heart. She was a sensible sort of person but she struggled with really being honest about her own feelings for Charles to the point that while not outright lying told some half truths. In that I was a bit disappointed in her as she was such a very strong character otherwise.
Charles was fun and a down to earth person. The complete opposite of a rake. Their is a rake in this story to showcase the differences in character Charles had to the less preferred character. Charles starts out the beginning of the book being disappointed in love and allows himself to become engaged to Isabel. It wasn’t what he wanted but a situation he allowed due to his hurting heart. Isabel was not about to become a wife out of pity.
The book was about helping others, being kind, and getting ones heart desire, sometimes through sacrifice. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) Edenbrooke meets Some Kind of Wonderful in this fun regency novel. Isabel is informed that her father gambled away her hand in marriage to a man she has liked for a long time. But when she discovers that he has had a longstanding understanding with another, she knows she can’t go through with it and concocts a plan to help him win back his lady love at great personal sacrifice.
Isabel is a big part of the reason I like this novel so much. I think she is a great character. Some may think her too perfect, but I thought she was just the right amount of perfect. She is mature, intelligent, and has a good sense of humor. There are some Christian elements as that is her way to deal with a difficult family situation. Charles is an honorable gentleman but also really clueless until the end.
I thought this novel flowed well and had a great cast of characters. There is a lot of lip biting, so be forewarned if that’s a pet peeve. Our heroine did contemplate the hero “playing his chivalry card.” LOL. And, while there is some more modern language, the author also likes to throw in the more regency-appropriate term now and again. I kind of wish she would have picked one or the other, but whatever. Kudos to the author for creating a character that would help me overlook annoyances of that nature. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2)
I received an ARC of this book and was not required to post a review but I so thoroughly enjoyed this book that I feel I must. I liked Isabel, Charles, Mary and Hetty very much. This is a sweet romance book that ends happily. It was well written and the characters were frustrating, funny, sweet and written in such a way that I wish I could see further into Isabel and Charles’ future. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) Isabel is unusual in that her family doesn't force the younger to wait until the elder sister is married. Instead, the sisters share an introduction into society and the disparity between how they are treated, especially by family, is significant. Isabel feels so relatable. Her character and actions make so much sense in light of how she lives in the shadow of her younger, prettier sister.
This is a tiny point, but I love how Martha describes her as plain but Charles never has this change her hair and she's suddenly beautiful moment. I greatly appreciate that.
The flow of the story is well paced and the subtle changes in Isabel and Charles' connection is sweet and natural. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) Full of insights and lovely characters!
I really enjoyed this book. The heroine could have been a terrible victim of the circumstances, but she had an inspiring sense of self-worth and wisdom beyond her years. The hero was so lovely and supportive. I read it on Kindle Unlimited, but I'm buying my own copy. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) I couldn’t put this book down and basically read it in one day. I was pulled into the storyline right from the beginning.
Isabel’s father is drunk and lost too much money and offers his prettiest daughter’s hand in marriage. But Charles doesn’t want to marry the prettiest, so he picks Isabel from a family portrait.
Isabel, obviously upset at the turn of events, tries to put it off as long as possible. She only wants to marry for love and clearly Charles is broken-hearted by Julia.
Great dynamics. Isabel was driving me crazy by sacrificing herself but she did try to talk to Charles. Charles was an idiot at times wanting to be with Julia still. I wish there was more at the end, maybe Isabel gets a letter from Hetty. And that inspires Isabel.
What about Charles’ father and his business dealings with Isabel’s father? That could’ve been another driving element. It was enough to keep Charles to honor his word (even if Isabel didn’t want it) but never seemed that important. And if Isabel’s father is in debt a lot, why would his opinion matter?
What about her family after the climax of events? Meeting Isabel’s brother Tobias seemed really out of place. I’m sure at some point he’ll get his own story. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2) I loved Wyndcross, the predecessor to this book, so I knew right from the start that I would love this, too, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a very different story, in many ways a more conventional Regency romance, complete with that time-honoured plot-device, the fake betrothal, and perhaps it doesn’t quite reach the sublime heights of Wyndcross, but that was a very high bar.
Isabel Cosgrove, our heroine, had a walk-on role in the previous book, but it’s not necessary to have read that one first. This book picks up Isabel’s story in London in the midst of the shared season for her and her sister, up from Dorset for the occasion, and Isabel is suffering in comparison with the beautiful Cecilia. Our hero, Charles Galbraith, is in thrall to one of the ton’s incomparables, Julia Darling, who is a flighty piece, seeming to have lost interest in him in favour of another eligible. So Charles does what any young man would do when spurned by the woman he loves - he goes off and gets blind drunk, so drunk that he ends up in a wager with Isabel’s father, and wins her hand in marriage.
Now, there’s a lot to take on board here. Superficially it makes both Charles and Mr Cosgrove look like idiots. Charles is not only throwing away any possibility of Julia changing her mind again and coming back to him, he’s also binding himself for life to a woman he barely knows. And as for Mr Cosgrove, he looks like the world’s worst father for agreeing to such a wager in the first place (although, to be fair, he does have a better reason for his actions than mere drunken caprice). But Charles doesn’t, and the author sets herself quite a challenge here - from such an unpromising beginning, to make Charles into a sympathetic and heroic character. It’s a testament to her skill that she achieves this splendidly.
Fortunately for the reader inclined to dislike drunken Charles (ie me), sober Charles turns out to be a charming and honourable man, who immediately makes Isabel an offer in form. Which she rejects, even though she’s had the hots for him for years, because she doesn’t want a resentful husband, constantly mooning over his lost love and trying not to show it. Which is terribly decent of her. I’m not sure I could ever be quite so noble and self-sacrificing as the typical Regency heroine.
But she has a cunning plan. If she and Charles pretend to be betrothed for a while, it will make Julia jealous enough to return to Charles, and by that time Isabel’s beautiful younger sister will have achieved the expected stellar match and their father will be too pleased to be angry with Isabel. Now, there are more holes in this scheme than a sieve. I don’t know why it is, but whenever Regency characters get into a pickle, one of them is sure to say: I know, let’s pretend to be engaged! That’ll totally work! Which makes me want to bang their heads together and say: Guys, this is a terrible idea, don’t do it, OK? But they never listen.
So off they go with their fake betrothal, and of course all sorts of complications ensue, as expected. There’s a fairly dodgy subplot with a cute ingenue, who’s both naive and worldly-wise all at the same time, and the usual dastardly villain, and everything builds to a grand climax, which is good, dramatic stuff. But it’s the romance that steals the show here, and it’s my favourite sort, the slow build of two sensible and intelligent people towards their inevitable destiny. The denouement is delicious.
Niggles? Not many. Apart from a few anachronisms (a Regency hero who feels the need to ‘get out of his own head’?) and a plot that occasionally felt as if it was held together with chewing gum and string, this book was a delight. There was humour, some fun side-characters (I particularly liked gossipy plotter Mary) and a swoon-worthy hero. Isabel was a great heroine, and if her plan went a little awry, her intentions were the best, and I liked her a lot. I had some reservations about the premise and how drunken Charles would redeem himself, but the author pulled it off magnificently, so I can’t give this less than five stars. Looking forward to the next book about Isabel’s beautiful younger sister. Isabel (Families of Dorset #2)