Confessions of an Improper Bride – Jennifer Haymore

Serena Donovan left London six years ago, her heart broken and her reputation ruined by devilishly handsome Jonathan Dane. Now, with her family’s future in peril, she reluctantly agrees to return to England and assume her late twin’s identity. The price? Marry a man she doesn’t love and spend the rest of her days living a lie.

Jonathan Dane, Earl of Stratford, has become an incorrigible rake, drinking, gambling-and trying to forget Serena Donovan. Yet the moment he’s introduced to the prim and proper “Meg”, he recognizes the sensual young woman who captured his heart. Haunted by his past mistakes, he refuses to lose Serena again.  But convincing her to trust him is no easy task. Claiming his lost love means exposing the truth and destroying the life Serena has sacrificed everything to rebuild. With the future of all the Donovans at stake, and their undying passion capable of triggering yet another scandal, how much will Jonathan and Serena risk for a chance at true love?

I’m not sure where to start with this review.  So much happened in the book it’s hard to find a good place to start.

Serena Donovan is shipped back to London, wit her younger sister, to marry the man who’s in love with her dead twin, Meg.  Seems after returning to Antigua a disgrace and mourning the loss of her beloved twin, Serena’s mother kept up correspondences with Captain William Langley pretending to be Meg.  So six years later, retired from the Royal Navy, Will has asked for “Meg’s” hand in marriage and now Serena is on a ship bound for London pretending to be Meg.  While Serena doesn’t want to let down her family, she’s torn between building a better life for her younger sister and portraying her dead sister and marrying a man she doesn’t love, all because of a lie her mother perpetuated.  One thing is for certain, she definitely does not want to run into Jonathan Dane, the orchestrator of her downfall the last time she was in London.

Jonathan Dane, now the Earl of Stratford, has not had an easy six years.  In love with Serena Donovan, but forced (at the hand of his father and brother) to desert her, he has lived with the guilt that Serena died because of him.  Because of this guilt, he has lived a less the reputable life trying to keep the vow he made to his father on his deathbed. 

So it is with much shock when Jonathan sees “Meg” and those old feelings he had for Serena surface, making him question exactly who Meg Donovan is.

Serena and Jonathan do spend a lot of time contemplating how they can move forward.  Serena with if she’ll be able to live the lie her mother has forced her into, especially when she realizes she still has very strong feelings for Jonathan, despite not trusting him at all.  Jonathan on the other hand acknowledges that he will never be able to let Serena go, lie be damned and wonders how this will effect his friendship with Will.

We have a great secondary story of Serena’s sister, Phoebe, and her romance with Sebastian Harper.  It gave great insight into Serena and Jonathan’s romance (minus the gambling debts and temper) but watching Phoebe sneaking out of the house for her midnight rendezvous with Sebastian would have been the exact same thing Serena did with Jonathan (something Serena realizes much later in the book).

This was a good read, even though at times reading Jonathan groveling over and over again got to be a bit much.  Looking forward to reading more of the Donovan sisters.

3.75 Cocktails