What the Bride Wore by Jade Lee

Grant Benton, Earl of Crowle, has spent the past five years working at his mill earning enough money to buy back the land his father so foolishly sold.  He has told no one what he is doing, not his mother or his brother as he is a bit ashamed of what he is doing...laboring.  Yet when he goes to by back the land, the improvements on the land prove to be to great and force the price out of his reach.  Despondent, he crawls back into himself with the only bright spot being the woman he met earlier, a purchaser for a dress shop of his fabrics, Lady Irene Knopp.  Widowed years ago, she has found happiness in working and having a purpose for each day and she sees that Grant needs to find this same solace.  Together they find happiness but Grant is reluctant to let go of his fears.  When someone attempts to kill them, he must push past them to find who this person is and why they want to harm Irene or himself.  Will Grant be able to let go of his past indiscretions and find peace with Irene and will Irene be able to trust her heart again to someone as reckless as Grant?

This is book three in Jade Lee's Bridal Favors series but it worked well as a standalone though I do recommend reading the novella, Winning a Bride as it shows more of the depth of anger between Grant and his brother and how much needs to be repaired between them.  This was a very lovely story of finding oneself and growing into a true, deep love.  Irene was the perfect woman to show Grant how to be focused and move past the sadness in life.  She found a way, by becoming a purchaser and she helps him find his own way past all the mistakes of his youth.  However, Irene feels she can never be a countess as she wants to continue her work so she has her own reservations of becoming to involved with Grant.  The suspense portion of this book was well done and not overly dramatic which I appreciated with more of the focus on the romance and rebuilding of Grant's family.   Irene and Grant's mutual attraction leads to some very steamy bedroom scenes that added a nice dose of spice to a somewhat slow moving storyline for me.  Other than the slowness, it was quite enjoyable and is set up perfectly for the final book in this series and I can't wait to dive into it!  Jade Lee always delivers a satisfying romance with the perfect dose of steam.  3 1/2 stars

eARC provided by Sourcebooks via netgalley

Bridal Favors series
Can be read as standalones but richer in order

                                                                                          Feb 4th 2014