Review: A Convenient Engagement by Kimberly Bell

Posted February 14, 2016 by Elizabeth in Elizabeth B, Reviews / 0 Comments

Review: A Convenient Engagement by Kimberly BellA Convenient Engagement by Kimberly Bell
Series: Countess Scandals #1
Published by Intermix Publication Date: February 16th 2016
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four-stars

A young lady makes an outrageous deal with a very handsome devil in this sexy debut romance set in Georgian Era London and Scotland.
An independent young woman of means, Miss Hannah Howard is as stubborn as she is beautiful. After she moves to London for her first season among the ton, she immediately finds herself in a heated dispute with her neighbor, the ill-mannered Gavan Dalreoch, Earl of Rhone. Giving the Earl a black eye is a lapse in judgmentβ€”even though the Scottish scoundrel deserved it. Now with her reputation in jeopardy, her only hope for saving face is the man whose face she bruised.
Gavan is content to live up to his rakish reputation, but with family pressuring him to marry, he and Hannah agree to get engaged just long enough to appear respectable. Yet as the charade continues with stolen kisses and a trip to Gavan’s Scottish castle, Gavan and Hannah discover that their false engagement may be more real than they imagined.

Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.

Normally, I’d expect a period/historical piece to be a little stiff just like the time period it takes place in. A Convenient Engagement is the exact opposite and is actually a lot of fun.

Hannah and Gavan have a very unusual meeting that leads to her already fragile hopes for entering society being destroyed. His proposal (pun intended) to solve her problem – along with addressing the fact that his family wants him married – is unconventional to say the least. Β The antics of these two start as pure fun to watch. Scandal follows them no matter how much they try to avoid it.

The adversarial relationship turns into mutual attraction and ultimately into affection as they spend more time together and Gavan whisks Hannah off to his Scottish home in order to protect her. Hannah is not a stereotypical heroine for the time period. She is strong, independent, and has unique concerns and fears regarding relationships.

Gavan is a hero that I ended up loving. He starts out as a complete scoundrel and being with Hannah slowly starts to reform him and his behavior. By the time they reach his Scottish home, he’s almost a completely different man. He transitions from a joke to someone that puts other people first and can be looked up to.

A Convenient Engagement is the first in the Countess Scandals series and I am curious to see where Ms. Bell goes with the series. She is a new author for me and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

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I am a full time mom who works part time. I squeeze reading in wherever I can between work, volunteer stuff, and kid activities. I read a little bit of everything, but really enjoy indie authors and Happy- Ever-Afters. I've been reviewing for Cocktails and Books since January 2015.