It’s been a kind of an escape this past year immersing
myself in England’s romantic Regency age, something I’ve been doing for a while
now but in these times a reassuring bolt hole.
The Reluctant Bride has been
out in the big wide world for a couple of weeks now and is finding its way in
similar fashion to our determined heroine. For all the glamour of the age (and
that was just in the top fringes of society) it wasn’t so easy if you were born
a girl. Charlotte, the elder of two sisters, is obliged to obey her father and
marry a man some years her senior. With no choice, she decides to make the best
of things, but everything changes when her husband, the Earl of Cranleigh, is
killed in a riding accident only six weeks after the wedding. Free of her
tyrannical father and released from a loveless marriage, Charlotte takes her
destiny into her own hands insofar as the times will permit. Resolved never
again to marry where she does not love, she forges her way in a man’s world.
Our countess
enjoys the freedom her status has given her but when it seems her sister is
about to marry she realises she will be alone once more. Is that what she
really wants? One of her suitors is arrogant – insufferable is the word she
uses – and she feels uncomfortable in the presence of another. Will she
continue to embrace her single state or will someone win her heart and hand?
The Reluctant Bride
Forced by
her overbearing and impecunious father into matrimony with Ernest, Earl of Cranleigh,
twenty-year-old Charlotte
Willoughby is widowed six weeks after the wedding.
She must resign herself to a year of mourning
that she does not feel but, as its end approaches, Charlotte is ready to go out
into the world again.
She is joined by her aunt, Esther Meredith, who
has stood as mother to her since childhood. Not long after her sister, Harriet
Willoughby, also comes to London and both soon have suitors of their own.
With her fortune under the protection of
Ernest’s cousin, Sebastian, Duke
of Gresham, Charlotte begins to enjoy her independence.
She finds herself strangely drawn to Gresham,
but he seems cold and indifferent towards her.
And when the charismatic Viscount Roxburgh starts to pay
her attention, she realises she may not be able to remain unattached for long…
Are Charlotte’s
suitors only after her inheritance? Could Roxburgh – or Gresham – be a match
for her?
The
Reluctant Bride is a historical romantic
tale set in Regency England. This coming-of-age novel has a strong female lead
and a love story at its heart.
About Natalie
A
late starter, Natalie has embraced her career with an enthusiasm which she
suspects emanates from a desire to make up for lost time. With four published
novels and over forty short stories appearing in magazines internationally, she
has never lost her ambition to succeed, always ready to attend workshops and
conferences as a way of improving her skills. Natalie has now signed a four
book contract for her Regency romance novels with Sapere Books, the first of
which was published on 6th April 2021.
She lives with her husband on the London/Kent border and considers herself
lucky to have the best of both worlds, with the delights of the capital close
at hand and the peace and tranquillity of the countryside a mere stone’s throw
away.
Social Media Links:
Website: https://nataliekleinman.com/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/NatalieKleinmanAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NatKleinman
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliekleinman6279
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/3sx3D1W
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