Tuesday 4 April 2017

An Uncommon Courtship by Kristi Ann Hunter

Lord Trent Hawthorne couldn't be happier he is not the duke in the family. Free to manage his small estate and take his time discovering the life he wants to lead, he has grand plans of someday wooing and falling in love with the woman of his choice. When he finds himself honor bound to marry a woman he barely knows, his dream of a loving marriage like his parents' seems lost forever.

Life for Lady Adelaide Bell was easier when she hid in her older sister's shadow--which worked until her sister got married. But even with her socially ambitious mother's focus entirely on her, the last thing she expected was a marriage of convenience before she's been introduced to society.

With nothing going as expected, can Trent and Adelaide's marriage of obligation survive their own missteps and the pressures of London society to grow into a true meeting of hearts and minds?
Review: An Uncommon Courtship is part of the Hawthorne House series written by Kristi Ann Hunter. It is a delightful series with each book reading well on its own. That being said, I would recommend reading all of the books in order to avoid spoilers as many of the main characters in previous novels show up in the subsequent stories. 

An Uncommon Courtship is uncommon for an regency novel in that Lord Trent and Lady Adelaide are essentially forced into an arranged marriage. Many novels based on this era entertain couples breaking the 'arranged marriage trend' and instead marring for love. Realistically, many couples married for wealth and position and not for love during this time period - particularly those who were part of the London's elite ton.

Lord Trent and Lady Adelaide fall prey to her scheming mother and find themselves married to a stranger. Lord Trent has witnessed his siblings' love matches and desires the same for himself. However, what does loving your spouse really mean? What does love actually look like? He hardly knows his wife, but does that mean he can't love her? I really admired the way this novel looked to the scriptural definition of marital love and dug deep into what loving your spouse actually looks like - even when you don't feel the emotional part of it. 

I really enjoyed how this novel broke away from couples falling in love based on physical attraction, high emotions, and simply lust. Instead, you get a first hand look at what true love in action actually looks like. There are some surprisingly deep and insightful moments. 

As a word of caution, I would recommend An Uncommon Courtship for adults or older teens. While there are no specific bedroom descriptions, this books does go into more detail than is common for most Christian romances and I would hesitate to hand this to a young teen. 

Thank-you very much to Graf Martin Communications and Baker Publishing House for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. 

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