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Book Review of The Marrying Man (Harlequin Historical, No 508)

The Marrying Man (Harlequin Historical, No 508)
reviewed on + 111 more book reviews


The last thing Ashby Morgan wants is another wife. After having had two of them, he's content to raise his daughter and to mine his land. But his uncle, having taken it upon himself to find him a wife, demands that he go to meet this paragon of virtue at the train station.
Though she advertised herself as a paragon of virtue, Sarah Jane knows that she falls quite short of the mark. But she's desperate to leave the school her parents have put her into. In order to fit the bill, she polishes her image in the letter she sends to Ashby Morgan and, having been found acceptible, meets him at the train station.

From the moment they meet, the attraction between these two is explosive. Sarah Jane's naivete yields a frankness that throws our hero out of his complacency and obliterates his determination to remain unmarried.

The Marrying Man is a charming and heartwarming story about a woman who is seeking the acceptance of her willful spirit. She finds this acceptance in Ash Morgan and a kindred spirit in his daughter, Adelaide. Criswell does a wonderful job of offsetting Sarah Jane's willfullness with her vulnerability without weakening her character. In addition, the bond that she comes to share with her stepdaughter is memorable and endearing. Ash is a hero to be admired for his ability to sense the truth behind Sarah Jane's character, almost immediately, and to appreciate that her true nature, rather than her false advertising, is what makes her the perfect woman to be the love of his life and not just a mother to his daughter.