REVIEW: Wedding of the Season

Title: Wedding of the Season
Author: Laura Lee Guhrke
Series: Abandoned at the Altar
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Format: Kindle e-book
# of pages: 360
Source: bought from Amazon
Summary:
(from Amazon)
Abandoned at the altar . . .

Lady Beatrix Danbury had always known she would marry William Mallory. She'd loved him forever and she'd never doubted he loved her, too. But when she made him choose between their life together or his lifelong dream, Will chose the latter . . . and left two weeks before their wedding.

Return of the duke . . .

Will has no illusions that Beatrix would welcome him back with open arms, but six years did not dim his love or desire for her. The only problem is, she's about to marry someone else. Someone safe and predictable . . . the complete opposite of Will. But can he stop the wedding of the season and win Beatrix back, or is it just too late?

Review:
Beatrix, Trix for short, and William Mallory, now Duke of Sunderland, had been engaged 6 years ago.  They were happy and in love until he decided to go to Egypt to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming an archaeologist, and Beatrix decided not to go with him.  They had different expectations, it seemed.  She expected they would settle down in the country side and have a family, living as their ancestors had, and he expected she would follow him on any adventure.

So, the wedding was called off and she has tried to forget Will for the past 6 years.  She thinks she's finally over him and ready to move on with her life, until he returns.  Will has also been trying to forget Trix, and has himself thinking he hates her.  He initially hadn't come back to stop her wedding, but after spending time with her again, his old feelings resurface...the ones that never really went away.  He still wants her, still loves her.  And he wants to show her that her marriage to safe, dependable Aiden Carr, the Duke of Trathen, will pretty much bore her death.  He wants to show her that he's become responsible and dependable, and he wants her to give him a second chance and marry him.  This time, he's not giving up until she says yes.

But, he also says he's not giving up Egypt and his quest to find King Tut's tomb.  And, as mentioned earlier, that's always been a sore spot in their relationship because Trix doesn't want to go to Egypt.  She has a mindset that means home should be in England, that their children should be raised there, and that they should preserve their heritage.  Her ideals are completely different from Will's in that sense.

Trix is independent, very stubborn and set in her ways, and I like that about her.  She doesn't give in so easily, even though she wants to be with Will.  She doesn't just throw away her ideals for a man without really looking at them in comparison to a life without him.  Eventually, she realizes what's really important, as does Will.  I found Will to be very charming and likable, though he could be a bit of a jerk to Trix sometimes.  But he was trying to hide his feelings, and trying to get a rise out of her, so I forgive him, haha.

I enjoy Laura Lee Guhrke's writing, and the story of old loves finding each other again is always a good one.  Highly recommend this one!  Also, I'm looking forward to reading the Duke of Trathen's story, which is the next installment in the series.

Rating:
Plot - ★★★★
Characters - ★★★★
Ending - ★★★★
Overall - ★★★★