A Match Made in Bed
Grade : B-

We’ve all read historicals where the heroine is an heiress, ones where the leads share a past, ones with a misunderstanding resulting in the heroine being ruined. It’s a fairly common trope. And yet as familiar as everything is in A Match Made in Bed, it was such a fun, fast read that I enjoyed myself immensely.

The basic story is pretty straightforward. There’s a house party, Cassandra Howell is an heiress, Soren York, Earl of Dewsberry, needs to marry for money, and even though their families are enemies, the two of them were childhood friends. Cassandra, though, is going out of her way to avoid Soren, though he has no idea why. Even after they do finally get everything out in the open, Cassandra is not at all taken with the idea of marrying Soren, knowing that her dreams - being a literary patroness, hosting a literature salon, educating others - do not mesh with Soren’s need of a wife for his Cornish estate. She would much prefer to stay in London, thank you very much.

Everything takes its inevitable turn as a series of missteps bring Cassandra into the bedroom of a pretty naked Soren. Sorry - a pretty and naked Soren. This, of course, leads to potential ruination, a potential dual, a potential marriage - basically potential every historical romance trope and I loved it. It’s cheesy, and it’s predictable, but it works. It’s fun. It just made me happy.

Soren is a fun character. He’s unapologetically looking for an heiress, and his ventures into business to save his family, and his very up front ‘yes, my family is 100% broke, I work for a living, how are you?’ attitude worked for me. Cassandra was a little harder to connect with, but as the reader gets more into her head and gets her point of view and to know about her dreams, she slowly starts to make sense. I actually enjoyed having characters that I didn’t completely like from the get go, especially in a story that relies on tropes for so much of its plot.

The only really negative thing I have to say is that the opening section of the story does drag. Once the ruination comes into the picture, things definitely pick up, the relationship between Cassandra and Soren takes off, and I was sucked back into the story, although I wish the not-really-a-courtship-because-Cassandra-is-100%-saying-no bit had the benefit of a stronger editorial hand

This book is part of a series, but as someone who hasn’t read the first book, I can tell you it’s not necessary to have read it. There’s no storyline from a previous book you need to know, there’s nothing left hanging at the end; it’s a fully contained story.

While A Match Made in Bed isn’t the best historical romance I’ve ever read, it is still a great read. It’s super cute, super fun, and super quick - I kinda wish I’d read it earlier, as it would have made a great beach read!

Buy it at: Amazon/Barnes & Noble/iBooks/Kobo

 

Reviewed by Melanie Bopp
Grade : B-

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : September 30, 2018

Publication Date: 04/2018

Recent Comments …

  1. I’m actually talking more about it as a romance trope, not necessarily what goes on in real life. IRL is…

  2. I always admired the US ability to fail and try again. At least, I was told that this is American:…

Melanie Bopp

New Orleans native living in Boston. Yeah, it's a bit cold. Hello, winter.
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