Anne Gracie - Marry in Haste

Major Calborne Rutherford returns to England on the trail of an assassin, only to find he’s become Lord Ashendon, with the responsibility for vast estates and dependent relatives. Cal can command the toughest of men, but his wild half-sisters are quite another matter. They might just be his undoing.
When he discovers that Miss Emmaline Westwood, the girls’ former teacher, guides them with ease, Cal offers her a marriage of convenience. But strong-minded and independent Emm is neither as compliant nor as proper as he expected, and Cal finds himself most inconveniently seduced by his convenient wife.
Emm knows they didn’t marry for love, yet beneath her husband’s austere facade, she catches glimpses of a man who takes her breath away. As pride, duty and passion clash, will these two stubborn hearts find more than they ever dreamed of?

Comment: I had this book in the pile since 2017 when, I bet, I saw a positive review somewhere. I've finally got the chance to read it and I actually feel happy enough because I liked the book and I know there are three more in this series, so now I have those to look for as well. At last: a situation where the first book of a series proves to be enticing enough to want me to read more.

In this historical romance we meet major Calbourn Rutherford who recently inherited the earldom after the death of his brother. However, Cal wants to go back to his military life, namely the search for an enemy who caused the death of a friend, but this new duty turns out to be much more tiresome than what he imagined, especially because not only does he have his two younger sisters to take care of but also an unknown niece to worry about as well. Cal thinks the teacher he randomly meets at his sister's previous school would be able to help but upon refusing, Cal decides to be bolder and asks her to marry him.

Emmaline Westwood has a past and she believes living at the school where she was a student and now a teacher is the best she can have so a marriage proposal is everything she could dream, for it would give her stability. But the more the knows about her new husband tells her she might be brave to hope for more, or will her past be that much of an obstacle?

I did like this book. The writing style here reminded me a little of Mary Balogh, another author whose work I like. This wasn't the first book I've tried by Anne Gracie but her style probably changes from series to series (of from earlier to later work), because I didn't enjoy the other books by her I've tried as much. Of course, some things don't work out as well as others for many possible reasons, but nothing like trying!

The plot of this book is very simple, Cal wants his sisters taken care of, so that he can return to this usual life. He thinks he can let things organized and solicitors and other people might do their job while Cal returns to his work but that is obviously not as a simple as he thought.His sisters are a handful, his two aunts have opposite personalities but neither can be left in full control, and he even "discovers" his brother - with whom he didn't have a good relationship - even went as far as to marry in secret and have a daughter, although abandoning them very soon after, so now he has a niece added to the family. 

There are too many things he needs to worry about, besides his work, so he decides to see if the girls can go back to school for a bit longer, which the headmistresses immediately refuses. He happens to meet miss Westwood, a teacher who might become the new headmistress as the other one is getting old and tries to unsuccessfully get her help. After a while Cal decides the best course of action is to marry and leave his new countess to deal with everything related to the girls, including their coming out. He thinks a marriage of convenience is the perfect solution.

What I've written above is pretty much one third of the novel and I must say I felt it took a bit too long. I understand the need to set up things and, paradoxically, I liked it that we got to settle in to the events in development and get a notion of the story's tone, but it kind of delayed the main characters' budding relationship. While this didn't end up being too much of a problem, considering the type of trope and my overall enjoyment, I still think there was too much of a few details and now enough of others.

The romance is quite balanced and I did love this option. they start of as two people who need the other for something but since both are likable and mature, they get along well enough and even when some issues or things they struggle with get in their way, they talk and decide to overlook doubts, doing their best to accomplish what they intended, which is for their marriage to offer stability to those they will be taking care of. It also helps they they like each other and like being together, even intimately, which makes everything feel sweeter.

Both the romance and the plot have some obstacles to overcome before the HEA is established, but I feel the author planned the elements to use in a competent manner and the result was a very well paced novel from the second third on. I was interested in what happened, I liked it that the marriage got to have central stage and we got to see how they became better people by being married and by falling in love, and the secondary plot issues were done tastefully too.

I liked the overall effect of this story and I feel curious about the stories of Cal's sisters, which will come next. I hope the relationships in those future books prove to be as balanced as the one here was, for that made the book feel even better structured and appealing.

Grade: 8/10