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)

Scandal of the Year by Laura Lee Guhrke

I was really looking forward to reading this book, which follows Wedding of the Season, and features the straight laced Aidan, Duke of Trathen, and the carefree Julia and I am so glad that it was just as excellent, if not a bit more, than the first! The book opens with Julia finally getting her divorce from her hateful husband, Yardley. But in the process of getting it, she ends up causing yet another broken engagement and scandal for Aidan as she uses him in her desperate plan to leave her husband.

Now six months later, Aidan is entering back into the ton in hopes of finding a proper duchess and producing an heir. He keeps thinking about Julia and their afternoon together in the cottage but is only having hazy memories. When they bump into each at a ball, the sparks are still there but they both ignore them. Julia keeps up her pretense of carefreeness that she has built all around herself as a result of some horrible actions done to her from her ex husband and continues to believe that she can never be good enough for Aidan. At the same time Aidan keeps having these memories of all their past run ins, which include the first time they meet thirteen years ago, that he just can not seem to let go.

As the book unfolds and we learn more and more of both Aidan and Julias past together and Julias deep emotional scars, Aidan slowly transforms from the stuck up man and gradually loosens up a bit and when Aidan and Julia finally reconnect....so romantic, sweet, and hot. After reading the first book and seeing how Aidan was with Trix (Julias cousin) I wasn't sure how he could change enough to satisfy Julia, but Ms Guhrke seems to have done a good job. And I was surprised at how long Julia and Aidan have known each other and how they always had these lingering feelings even though they barely knew each other. There are plenty of fun moments as Julia is quite a character with everyone and her dog Spike adds some good doses of humor as well. It was really an emotional ride as you want to know what Julias secrets are and what really happened that afternoon and when she finally confides to Aidan how Yardley treated her, well, it was worth the wait. Overall, if you are in the mood for a fun, sexy, emotional (but not deep) this is a great book to check out. 4 1/2 stars

I received this ebook from netgalley.com

Wedding of the Season by Laura Lee Guhrke

This was a fun, delightful read from another new to me historical author. We meet up with Beatrix and Will right off the bat....she about runs him over with her motorcar as he is returning from Egypt after six years. That was one of the first things that surprised me about this book, the setting. I loved that it took place during the early 20th century and we got the added bonus of the motorcar and such, it really was a nice change of pace for me! But even as Trix checks on Will to make sure is all right from being thrown from his horse, their past love and passion reignites right away and sparks start to fly!
Will confronts her about her new engagement, to the safe, reliable Duke of Trathen and as Will and Trix continue to run into each and he observes her with Trathen he starts to question why she has changed so much. Why is she eating caviar when she hates it? Why is she denying herself champagne when she loves it? He persists in asking why she always does what other people want her to do and denying her dreams for herself. Will knows the reason why she did not marry him and go with him to Egypt to look for King Tuts tomb was because of the short leash her father had on her. Trix just wants to have a nice normal life and have children and not traipse all over Egypt without the security of a permanent home and convinces herself that is the only reason she did not go to Egypt...not because her father would have forbade it.
When Trixs fiancee catches Will and Trix in an embrace, he breaks off the engagement and Will begs Trix to marry him but she refuses as she still does not want to travel. But Will continues to court her and they soon realize all the passion and love is still there, after all these years. This is a wonderful story of childhood sweethearts who become separated but never stop loving each other. I am looking forward to Trixs cousin Julia (she is a blast) and Trathens story in Scandal of the Year as I can not wait to see how the fun loving girl and the strait laced man fall in love. If you love childhood sweatheart stories, check this one out! 4 stars

I recieved this ebook via netgalley.com