"Will Marian's Christmas wish come true?"
(from Amazon)
Miss Marian Wynswich is a rather unconventional young lady. She plays
chess, reads Greek, and is as educated as any young man. And she s
certain falling in love is a ridiculous endeavor and vows never to do
such a thing. But everything changes when she receives a Christmas visit
from someone unexpected--a young and handsome English lord.
Marian Wynswich is determined to have a wonderful Christmas, because it just might be her last in the home she's always known. I delighted in this book! It did start off just a few paces slower for me, but then pulled me at about page four and I was hooked. Marian Wynswich is an intelligent and outspoken sixteen year old young lady (almost seventeen as she likes to tell us). Over Christmas pudding, she makes a Christmas wish. Though she has vowed never fall in love or marry, her plans turn in another direction when she meets Lord Ingraham. I delighted in Lord Ingraham (Gilbert or Gil to Marian) as well. He's damaged with a few scars, but when in Marian's company, he becomes a dashing and charming man I fell a little in love with more than once during the story.
Marian isn't the only one with a Christmas wish and Gilbert spends most of the book hoping and dreaming for his, and yet at the same time, he treads carefully--out of fear perhaps? You'll have to read it to find out.
The setting is wonderful and the secondary characters are marvelous. Alistair made me laugh on numerous occasion and the other family members added just enough to the story to make the family seem like a genuine, and delightfully fun, family.
The setting is wonderful and the secondary characters are marvelous. Alistair made me laugh on numerous occasion and the other family members added just enough to the story to make the family seem like a genuine, and delightfully fun, family.
The author did a wonderful job with the main characters. Marian is written true to her age, but also has an air of maturity about her--the kind of maturity that comes from the weight of responsibility to one's family and the desire to see and experience more of life and the world. Gilbert's relationship with Marian is a charming development and my mind kept urging them onward to the only inevitable conclusion--lasting love.
(Possible spoiler, but not really!)
Now, there was a review about this book that mentioned the hero's time in London, towards the end of the book, and how that time away and the . . . shall I say his duty to his country . . . was a less than stellar action on the part of any romantic hero. I could understand it from that reviewer's point of view, however if one takes in the context of the era, the hero's position, and the story as a whole, coupled with Marian's amazingly generous and understanding mind and heart, the hero gets a pass. I still delight in his character.
I would recommend this book to anyone--it's a wonderful read and clean too!
