A Lady Ready for Battle:Miss Harriet Manning once made the mistake of falling completely, totally, and irreversibly in love with a duke’s son. It’s a mistake she won’t repeat twice. Truly. Especially since he abandoned her just when they were about to elope to Gretna Green. Five years later, Harriet hasn’t forgotten the way Lord Garret’s smoldering gaze and wicked sense of humor touched her soul. … her soul. Still, there’s no way she’ll forgive the traitorous libertine, no matter how he stirs her passions. Now, Harriet is determined to show him she doesn’t care, and never did, by making merry right under his nose but a tragic turn of events at her cousin’s wedding has her wondering if just maybe, love deserves one last chance.
My dearest readers,
This book is a tribute to my favorite dueling lovers, Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare. I’d always wondered how they’d grown to hate each other and have such epic verbal battles! I hope you enjoy my homage to them.
A Lord Who Lost His Heart:
Lord Garret Hart, second son of a duke and now brother to the present Duke of Huntsdown, is never ever EVER getting married. Bachelorhood is for him. After all, women are the very devil. Especially one woman. Miss Harriet Manning is Garret’s own personal Medusa and she has turned his heart to stone. Indeed she has, but not before she absolutely ripped it to shreds, leaving him a complete wreck. Nothing will ever induce him to matrimony or nauseating protestations of boyish love again. But when he is forced into close proximity at his brother’s wedding with the woman who first taught him to dream and see the world as a wondrous place, sparks flash and passions explode. Still, Harriet is not to be trusted. She callously betrayed him once. So how can he ever allow himself another chance at love when love always seems to hurt so much?
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This was such an enjoyable read. Since there is always a lead in to the stories I won’t attempt to retell it. I will only say that the main characters Harriet (Harry) and Garret are very entertaining, even though they are so busy verbally abusing one another that they don’t see it for what it is. Like everyone else around them. They have a real problem of trust in each other that seems to spoil any chance they may have to call a truce. It’s too bad they have to contend with each others company when thrown together for a wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of this story and the comedy involved. I gave it five stars.
This is one of those books where the “happy” couple act as if they despise each other until late in the story. It had a happy ending that came together on the last few pages. It reminded me a bit of “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Just okay, not one of her best.
Great characters! Easy read.
Fun to read…with just enough teaser to make me want to read the next books in the series. Misunderstandings galore create wit, humor, and romantic tension.
Laughed out loud several times while reading
Some originality of plot, same old characters. You need to proofread and correct the syntax and punctuation.
fun characters…a little too contrived but good fun none-the-less
I enjoyed this historical romance as it was a relaxing read, not brain pablum.
It’s all about sex not romance
Good story will read again
To adult for my taste.
This was a very good book. I went out and bought the second book in the series and was not disappointed.
The witty, sharp banter between the two main characters was fantastic and my favorite part of this book. Some plot points felt a little anachronistic to me and drew me out of the world the author had created, but not enough to make me stop reading. The main argument between the two main characters, despite being a big freaking deal the entire book, felt resolved quickly and poorly, considering they had spent 5 years dwelling on each others’ actions. But maybe that’s because I’m not such a forgive and forget kind of gal myself.
Cute easy read. Probably look for more by this author.
Engaging romantic Recency story with good plot.
I enjoy this writer. I have read several of her books and have never been disappointed.
It’s okay, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite
Felt it was far beyond sparring- rather drastic ,uncalled for remarks toward the two main characters-boring
You gotta just love these crazy characters. I don’t know whose actions or inactions were funnier, the men or the women.
Thank goodness the women came to their senses and sorted out the mess made by some of the very gullible brothers and this all made for a great story.
I loved the humor written into this story, some of it very tongue in cheek too. Really enjoyed the whole book very much.
Eva Devon is a new author to me and I will be certainly be reading more from her.