Anne Gracie - Marry in Scandal

A shy heiress and a well-known rake face a scandal-forced marriage that might be true love in the latest irresistible romance from the national bestselling author of Marry in Haste.

Shy young heiress, Lady Lily Rutherford, is in no hurry to marry. She dreams of true love and a real courtship. But when disaster strikes, she finds herself facing a scandal-forced marriage to her rescuer, Edward Galbraith, a well known rake. Despite his reputation Lily is drawn to the handsome Galbraith. In the gamble of her life, she agrees to marry him, hoping to turn a convenient marriage into a love match. As heir to a title, Galbraith knows he must wed, so a convenient marriage suits him perfectly. But there is a darkness in his past, and secrets he refuses to share with his tender-hearted young bride. All Lily's efforts to get close to him fall on stony ground, and in desperation she retreats to his childhood home--the place he's avoided for nearly a decade. Must Lily reconcile herself to a marriage without love? Or will Galbraith realize that this warm-hearted, loving girl is the key to healing the wounds of his past--and his heart?

Comment: Practically one year later, I'm finally keeping up with the Marriage of Convenience series by Anne Gracie. I enjoyed the first book and I'm quite hopeful for the next ones.

In this second story we follow the story of Lily, one of Cal's sisters we've met in the first book. Lily is a dreamer, she wants to marry for love, especially now that she can see her brother is so happy with his wife, whom he married for convenience but the match evolved into love. The problem is that she feels she might not find a special enough man, for she is heiress and that attracts a certain type, and also because years of listening to her aunt saying she should diet makes her feel self conscientious.

Things change when a former school mate introduces her to her cousin and somehow this man kidnaps Lily, hoping to marry her to take over her inheritance, She is finally rescued by mr Edward Galbraith, a friend of her brother, and despite his fame of being a rake, he is considerate and helps her. However, the wrong witness on their way home starts the gossip and they decide to marry. But will this man prove to be as special and hero worthy for a marriage as Lily found when he rescues her?

Again, this was a fluid, sweet story, mostly light in tone even bearing in mind certain themes (Edward feels guilty over some war situations), and I had a great time reading. I would say some things are a bit too simplistic and I'd have preferred another direction for how the author dealt with that, but overall this was captivating and easy to read.

Lily is a shy young woman who is likely dyslexic because she hasn't learned how to read. The story starts with a prologue where we see young Lily and young Rose (her sister) reporting to their father and the governess claims Lily can't be taught. This, and their father's words, left Lily feeling down and worried her future will always be marked by this "failure" of hers and her self esteem isn't healthy. She is also, as indicated by other characters, not that thin and even tried diets, which clearly paints a picture of how she is seen, but I found it so amazing she is still a sunny person.

However, those who know her "flaws" usually defend Lily and protect her, but when this story begins, she reconnects with a former school mate, whom we learn was not a friend at all, but Lily is too agreeable to refuse speaking with her, and this leads to Lily being abducted because she can't read a supposed message her sister had sent, and thus she is deceived. While all this happens, we can follow some of her thoughts and we see how amazing and sweet-natured she is and how much she deserves to find her happiness, which makes her a very likable heroine and someone one wants to root for.

The "rescue" is one of those coincidences of romance and the hero, supposedly a rake, or at least not the most suitable for a sweet young lady, is actually a wonderful man. He has had his past indiscretions, and has been at war, which is often linked with this weird secret vibe because he doesn't talk about it, whose explanation is actually not that surprising to any lifelong romance reader and I only wonder why the author felt like keeping it up for so long until the end.

It is also true the development of this story is predictable and a reveals to us a slightly too naive Lily but I think these elements are easily overlooked when I think the intention here was to present a sweet romance, more about their relationship than the solution of their "personal demons". In fact, I would say I found it a little disappointing that Edward's valid reasons to not want to talk about the war times or to go back to his grandfather's estate were so quickly solved at the end. Even more surprising was how Lily's illiteracy was not more obviously mentioned and I confess, I hoped for someone to help her somehow in trying again and in finding a way for that to make sense to her.

The romance is actually very sweet because Edward is very considerate and he thinks about Lily as someone he should respect and cherish. I did find it tremendously irritating, however, how he kept thinking he should keep her at an emotional distance, in the sense she should not expect him to fall in love with her as she have always said she would want to love a husband, thus, himself. I mean, it is more than obvious this is what would happen and I think for such a clever and resourceful man, despite his emotional fears, this should not be that hard, considering his personality. If had really been a terrible man or an actual rake... but since he isn't, I've found his behavior only a way to delay their HEA.

Still, despite the little things I'd change and some ridiculous choices when it came to catch the man who kidnapped Lily, this was a very predictable but enjoyable read and, to be honest, sometimes this is a better option than more incredible stores which perhaps are more complicated to read... well, perhaps depends on one's mood...

Grade: 7/10