Monday, August 28, 2023

Her Unsuitable Match - Review

Her Unsuitable Match (Supposed Scandal, # 1)

By: Sally Britton

Publication: October 25, 2021

268 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Source: YouTube Audiobooks

( Goodreads | Amazon )

*Note: The above link to Amazon is an affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--Lady Philippa must wed to gain her fortune and freedom. A former soldier wants only peace and seclusion. Marriage to each other is their best solution.

Lady Philippa Gillensford is three and twenty, an heiress, and sister to a penny-pinching earl. After rejecting every bachelor her mother approves of, Philippa is ready to take her future into her own hands. Though she doubts she’ll marry for love, she is more than willing to marry for freedom from her family’s influence.

Myles Cobbett has withdrawn from Society, content to remain alone after surviving the horrors of the Napoleonic wars. When a friend convinces Myles to attend a ball benefiting wounded veterans like himself, Myles meets the lively Lady Philippa. Shortly thereafter, to help Philippa avoid scandal, Myles rescues her from a complete cad.

Sensing a chance to escape her family’s control, Philippa convinces Myles he must marry her to save her reputation. In exchange for this favor, Philippa promises him the very thing he thought he always wanted: a quiet life, alone in the country.

While the two put on a show of marital happiness for their neighbors, both realize they want much more from this arrangement. Can they take a marriage of convenience and turn it into a love match?

Her Unsuitable Match is a sweet Regency romance and can be read as a stand-alone or as the sequel to Sally Britton's previous novel, His Unexpected Heiress.

It is also part of the upcoming Supposed Scandal series.

When I started listening to Her Unsuitable Match, I felt like the side characters were discussed in such a way that the reader is expected to be familiar with them. I figured there must be a book covering Elaine and Adam, but I was confused since Her Unsuitable Match was book 1 in a series. You'd think I'd never encountered a spin-off series before. HA! Anyway, it's true. Elaine & Adam's tale is told in His Unexpected Heiress which I went on to listen to later and will be reviewing soon. If you're reading this review before reading either book, I do suggest reading/listening to His Unexpected Heiress first. Although, I'm sure you'd manage just fine without doing so as I did.

Basically Phillipa is twenty-three years old. Her father's will left her an inheritance she was supposed to receive when she reached her majority, but her older brother is keeping it from her and trying to force her into a marriage of his choosing. Phillipa is having none of it. If anything, she'd prefer to remain unmarried. Mostly she just wants her freedom to move about and do as she sees fit. But she will take a marriage of convenience if only the gentleman will agree to let her have her freedom.

Myles is a gentleman, but he doesn't have a fortune or title to his name. After the war, he just wanted to settle down away from society. I didn't understand society's reaction to him. Indeed, he wasn't wealthy but I felt his family's position in society was enough to garner him more respect than he was offered. Maybe I don't understand society's standards enough to speak to this.

I always seem to love marriages of convenience. I've said this over and over and over. Something about teaming up with someone out for practicality's sake: each party benefits in one way or another, but then slowly builds towards becoming a team and a unit. Of course, the two can't stop there. They have to overcome obstacles that one or both face for the good of the whole. And ultimately, feelings develop and strengthen through the process.

Her Unsuitable Match was enjoyable from beginning to end. I liked Phillipa and Myles. And I couldn't help rooting for them from the start. Her Unsuitable Match gets 4 Stars. Have you read (or listened to) Her Unsuitable Match? What did you think? Let me know!

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