Trouble at the Wedding by Laura Lee Guhrke

America heiress Annabel Weston is determined to marry a titled gentleman to help provide a better coming out for her younger sister, following her own humiliating episode.  Even though Annabel is beyond wealthy, everyone still thinks of her as 'white trash' from the backwaters of Mississippi and Annabel dreams of a better life in England and just knows a title will do that.  She meets the Earl of Rumsford and believes all her hopes are coming true much to the dismay of her uncle who sees Rumsford as the fortune hunter he is.  Her uncle concocts a plan with the help of the dashing Duke of Scarborough, Christian De Quesne who also happens to be in great need of funds but has no desire to marry again after his disastrous first marriage.  But Annabels uncle makes too good of an offer to Christian that he can not refuse and he reluctantly agrees to board the ship bound for England and try to stop the wedding.

When Annabel and Christian first meet the sparks fly right away but Annabel shoves them away as she believes her fiance is perfect.  But the more little snippets that Christian feeds to her about how 'perfect" Rumsford is, the more her cold feet start to show up until on the day of her wedding she is seriously considering crying off.  She bucks up though and the resulting actions are quite funny and put Annabel and Christian in quite an awkward position.  As they move forward with their lives and try to put the scandal to rest, their feelings deepen and they try to ignore them but fate has other ideas naturally.

Laura Lee Guhrke has written another excellent, unique story set in the fascinating time period of  the early 1900's.  When our couple was traveling on the ship to England, I loved the little attentions to details (lips on bookshelves so the books won't fall out) that really made me feel like I was traveling with them.  The inclusion of the motor car is again fascinating and leads to a very happy, somewhat drunk on moonshine, experience.  I adored Annabel and all her Southern goodness.  Ms Guhrke wrote her in such a way that you always knew she was from the backwaters of Mississippi (lots of y'alls and sugars) and it was a delight to read but never felt like all the twangy goodness was overpowering.  When Annabel complains about her accent, Christian is right there to defend it and tell her how much he loves it.  Together, our couple have quite a few hurdles to overcome.  Christian is a bit jaded as his first wife was also an heiress and he refuses to marry for money again and has a hard time even thinking of Annabel due to her wealth.  Annabel is stubborn and determined to do what is right but is closely guarding her heart as she just wants to be truly loved.  Together, Annabel and Christian push through these barriers and find happiness with Ms Guhrkes trademark humor, passion and wonderful attention to details.  If you are looking for a slightly different historical romance that reads easily and will have you laughing and sighing, this is a great book for you!  4 stars

I received this ebook from Avon via netgalley.com.

Abandoned at the Altar series
(Trouble at the Wedding can be read as a stand alone but the previous two books are best enjoyed in order)