Randolph Pierce is a penniless lord, and Eleanor Transome is the rich daughter of a dying Cit. Her father practically blackmails Randolph into marrying his daughter, and she believes herself to be in love with another, but allows herself to fall in with her father's wishes and marry the Lord. They hate each other at first site, until a trip to his county home, and her warm and loving extended family come together at Christmas time. Then the season works its magic.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The old-fashioned Holiday customs were fun to read about. I enjoyed the way the author would tell the story from both protagonists' points of view. I enjoyed most of the characters, but found the heroine a bit tedious at times, as she would always be wanting to pick a fight with the hero, when he would be offering the proverbial "olive branch".

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Wonderful story; one of my favorites of Mary Balogh. Eleanor and Randolph so set against each other, both so bitter, and forced to marry. Watching them grow together is especially heartwarming.

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This is one of the few regencies I've read that can actually bring tears to my eyes. The heroine has just lost her beloved father but everybody is expecting her to act absolutely normal as if she weren't weeping inside. Her father had asked her to have one last happy Christmas, like old times, and she's trying to do that, without having any space to grieve properly. People grieve and heal at their own speed; she feels quite alone. It triggered my own memories in a similar situation. It is a romance, so all is okay in the end, but, like all early Balogh, it gets pretty intense. I think it's a classic.

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