Sophia Cranston yearns for a life as a working artist. But when her father dies in scandalous circumstances and her family faces ruin, she agrees to marry Freddy Beaumont, heir to the fifth Earl of Enderby. Sophia’s world is sent spinning, however, when the American Bruno Cavanaugh, arrives in their midst and claims he is the firstborn son and legitimate heir to the earldom.Born on an island and … island and raised in the Americas, Bruno Cavanaugh is astounded to discover the mother he never knew was the first wife of the Earl of Enderby. When he meets Sophia Cranston, his passions are immediately aroused, but his delight is short-lived when he finds she is betrothed to his half-brother.
Can Sophia and Bruno follow their hearts and find love together? Or will their loyalty to family keep them apart?
The Beaumont Betrothal is a sexy Regency Romance by Leigh D’Ansey, author of the best-selling The Duke’s Blackmailed Bride.
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This was such an exciting read! Due to her circumstances, Sophia is duty-bound to marry Freddy Beaumont, heir to the fifth Earl of Enderby, in order to save her family. She does not like it one bit. She always dreamed she would marry for love, not duty. When Freddy’s half-brother, Bruno Cavanaugh, who it turns out is the Earl’s firstborn and the legitimate heir, comes to town Sophia becomes conflicted. She is drawn to Bruno, but her promise is to Freddy. The attraction between Bruno and Sophia is strong, but Bruno does not want to want to come between his brother and his bride-to-be. This is a book that is so captivating you cannot put it down until you find out how it ends. Great character, great plot – it is a very well written Regency story with a great storyline. This is the first book by this author that I have read, and I now want to go back and read the first book in this series!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The drama at the end was priceless!
This one has a different heroine she is an artist who ends up engaged to a man she does not love. Then what does fate do but blows in the man of her dreams. Now the question is what is she going to do? If you are looking for romance this is the one to pick up. This tale has excellent characters, is well-written and a pure pleasure to read. The author stays in this time setting with details that made the scenes jump of the page it was so real and authentic. This is a book I highly recommend and I am so glad I got the chance to read it. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
An exciting story that grabbed me from the first page. Sophie knows she has to marry due to the dire circumstances her father left her, her mother and her sister in after his death. But she really did not want to marry Freddy, the future Earl of Beaumont! She wanted to marry for love! She was an artist and really wanted to make her living that way, if only she could.
When she unexpectedly met Bruno Cavanaugh when she had taken a walk and was standing at the bridge, she had no idea how he would come into her world and change her life!
Bruno was in England, only due to a promise he had made his mother. To go and meet his father, who had no idea he had a son. But Bruno did not want to disrupt his half brother Freddy’s inheritance. He and his father’s meeting was very touching. His mother had disappeared only after three months when she and the Earl were married.
This is such a good story and I could not wait to see how it would turn out. The attraction is there between Bruno and Sophie but would he did not want to step between his newly found half brother and his betrothed. Can true love be denied?
Prepare to read from start to finish and sigh as you turn the last page!
This has an intriguing storyline, and is entertaining and romantic. Sophia isn’t interested in getting married, she wants to earn money by painting portraits, but her mother is insisting that she marry her neighbor, Freddy. Freddy isn’t interested in being married at all, he’s happy spending his time with his dogs and horses, but his father told him to marry. Bruno is an American who just found out who his family really is. Sophia was out at a favorite thinking spot when Bruno walks up to her. They flirt a little, both of them feeling a spark between them, until she introduces herself, and he recoils. Sophia kept thinking about Bruno, which makes her more determined to not marry Freddy. Bruno can’t get her off his mind, and the fact that she’s completely off limits. Bruno is determined to see Freddy and Sophia married, so that he can keep an emotional distance from her, Sophia is determined to not marry Freddy and Freddy really couldn’t care less about the whole situation. The deeper you get into the story, learning more about each character, the more you want to know, and want things to work out for everyone.
Featherbrained Lackwit Heroine and Melodramatic Hero’s Past
This book started off with such potential. I like that Americans are starting to slip into some of these Regency romances, and this one was a long-lost first-born son of an earl. He has a younger brother who is now to be cast aside because the current earl is a firm believer in the laws of primogeniture, even though the hero doesn’t want to upset the family apple cart. The hero does not want his younger brother to suffer needlessly and has a generous solution for him; the hero is merely happy to have found his family.
Literally the day that he arrives in town, the heroine received a marriage proposal from the younger brother, whom she and her family thought was the heir. Her mother and sister are strenuously pushing her towards the match, even though the heroine doesn’t want to do it. She has been friends with Freddy for a long time, but he is, as they say, a dullard (and he certainly speaks in an odd dialect for a man who would have supposedly been educated at the best schools), and she has no romantic feelings towards him whatsoever. Theirs has been more of a sibling-type relationship. Freddy is not so bright, so he assumes that she accepted his lackluster proposal (where he said he always wished he would have a brother) when she doesn’t decline him. The heroine keeps trying to talk her mother out of forcing the match, but her mother is very manipulative, and her sister doesn’t help. Frankly, these two other women in the heroine’s life drove me a bit crazy. The sister clearly wasn’t his frail as she would have others believe—all because it worked at to her benefit to be so. Both women are just incredibly selfish, the sister even being able to recently go to Switzerland for her health even though they are on the verge of losing their home. It just made little sense.
But what didn’t make even more sense was how the heroine reacted when she fully understood what having this brother return meant. I had been reading along before this, watching the machinations of the mother and sister and wondering how the heroine would get out of this betrothal that seemed all too inevitable. So I was totally disgusted that the heroine turned completely the other way when all the facts were known. She was a complete contrarian just to be contrary; she (or rather the author) gave no good explanation. When I got to that point, my dinner was nearly ready, and I got up from my chair and literally said, “What a featherbrained lackwit!” Perhaps she and Freddy did deserve each other! (And, yes, I do love playing around with Elizabethan and Regency insults—and that’s a pretty tame one.!)
I won’t belabor this particular point anymore. I did like the way the author portrayed the heroine as a painter. The author is either a painter herself or has studied it because the amount of detail about the painting aspect was quite deep. I enjoyed that part of it. But then another point further annoyed me. This book promises to be a steamy romance–and I love me some steamy romance on occasion. But the first “steamy” scene didn’t happen until after the 85% point! Prior to that, it had mostly been brief mentions of masturbation and lusty thoughts. And even that scene at the 85% point didn’t go all the way. (And, frankly, it seemed to come out of nowhere) That wasn’t steam; that’s fizzle! Oh, and when we heard the hero’s final full story, it was so full of melodrama—although I admit it was painfully detailed—that it was not believable in the least. It was laughable. OMG!
Anyway, I suppose you could tell that I was not too pleased with this book… and you would be right!
I received a free copy of this book, and that did not affect my review.
This book has a lot of potential, but as it is now it was more annoying than entertaining. Why on earth would someone who knows they can’t even pay her sister’s bill from Switzerland then turn around and agree to an all new wardrobe for said sister? And then immediately another whole wardrobe for her coming out? And how many times must we read about Sophia’s guilty feelings and sense of obligation? The same with Bruno’s issues. Also it hardly felt like his brother would have even had time to marry the woman before he was killed. It felt more like page-fillers and unnecessarily extended angst. And mostly Freddy was portrayed as a good, though bumbling, guy, which seemed like a refreshing change from typical grooms in forced marriages, but every every now and then he was described as being completely icky, which was a shame and also seemed strange since he was actually Sophia’s friend. And why wasn’t Annabelle able to marry Freddy? The whole storyline felt strained. Also, if Sophia spent the whole time underwater breathing air into the baby’s nose/mouth, then she would hardly have been vomiting up water herself once they were pulled out of the lake.
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.
The Beaumont Betrothal is the second book in the Northbridge Bride Series.
I really enjoyed this Regency romance and found the characters to be well developed, likable, and intelligent. The storyline is well written and has great details of the era. Will Sophia choose Freddy, Bruno, or her portrait work?
This is the first book I have read by this author and I look forward to reading more.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The second book in the Northbridge Bride Series a well written Regency story with a great storyline. This is the first book by this Author that I have read, I now want to read the first book in this series. I enjoyed reading Sophia Cranston and Bruno Cavanaugh’s story. I will say do not start this book at bedtime. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Great Read
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The main characters were both very well done, andthe mother and Freddy were good supporting characters. i had no trouble getting into the world Leigh created with vivid descriptions and an authentic.regency style.
Highly recommend this book to other historical romance fans.
Wonderful characterization and evocation of the period. Looking for the next Leigh D’Ansey!