An Inconvenient Beauty

Downton Abbey fans, Jane Austen diehards, want to get hooked on an incredible series of novels? Check out the Hawthorne House Series by Kristi Ann Hunter and you will be as hooked if not more than you are on your favorite area of interest surrounding the traditional Regency Romance genres! An Inconvenient Beauty is book 4 and the possible final one in the series and wraps up the love interest surrounding Griffith, Duke of Riverton!  Now that all his siblings are married off and beginning their own lives, Griffith realizes as the oldest, he must find a way to settle down and produce an heir for the families wealth to be inherited to. Only he isn't about to settle for just anyone that society deems is the right and top choice for him.

His entire family has married for love and not necessarily based on where a suitable lady fell on the social ladder in London. He wants someone who isn't really thinking she might be able to offer anyone, that way she won't necessarily have to work at being the best at all the social graces that come from marrying a Duke, one of the highest honors after royalty that is. With it comes a responsibility and a certain standard that must be maintained to keep things in proper order. Griffith believes he has found a suitable wife in the wallflower Miss Frederica St. Claire who is now going into her fourth season with no potential matches. She would make the perfect wife, because no one would even compete with her plain and homely looks and she wouldn't be out to impress him with things he isn't looking for. Now all he has to do is convince her by simply asking her to dance. Even all of London's society has been wagering on just who he might settle with.

Most think that Griffith will settle for the most beautiful and society's pick of the top females. In fact, her cousin Miss Isabella Breckenridge is working her way to doing just that with all the eligible young and older men vying for the honor to court her. He isn't at all interested in her but in Miss St. Claire instead, but everytime he calls on her, she is unable to communicate and sends signals that she isn't the slightest bit interested in the most eligible and wealthy bachelor in London. It seems Miss St. Claire has her own interests in a young man who has returned from the war, a solider whom she thought dead. Now it seems that Freddie will do all she can to push the Duke's attentions off to Isabella instead and often times it is under the most trying of situations, but then again, Isabella isn't interested in the Duke, because her Uncle wants her to focus her attentions on the members of the House of Commons to sway their vote for an Apothecary Bill he is pushing to be passed. He promises that he will take care of Isabella's family, simple sheep herders in North Umberland, but will anyone discover the true meaning behind Isabella's actions?

I received An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter compliments of Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley. This has been such a dream to enjoy every single novel in this series and trust me, you will want to read them in order to understand all the relationships within the Duke's family and how each came to marry the one they have chosen to spend the rest of their life with and ones that they will LOVE first and foremost over what society deems is acceptable. I LOVE Isabella's character because she isn't interested in the Duke for marriage, so it keeps her guard down and she can be the person she is on the inside without having to fake her way through being proper and with that Griffith falls for the true woman she is over the lady she is acting like. Well worthy of all 5 out of 5 stars and only wish there were more to look forward to in this series. There are some historical facts that were incorporated in this novel that are revealed at the conclusion of this novel in the Author's Note section.

For more information about An Inconvenient Beauty, Kristi Ann Hunter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter on Facebook to enjoy all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Inconvenient Beauty, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website.

An Uncommon Courtship

If you are a fan of Jane Austen's novels, Downton Abbey or traditional regency romances, then trust me when I recommend the Hawthorne House series of novels by Kristi Ann Hunter. They are must haves if you love the romance only found when dealing with Dukes, Counts, Lords and even the household staff  that work for them. In the third novel in the series, An Uncommon Courtship, conveys what happens when a woman's reputation is put at risk while in the unexpected company of a man without others being present, in this case overnight. When Adelaide Bell, the second daughter of Lord and Lady Crampton, ventures off to hunt for mushrooms, she falls through the floor of an abandoned keep on the property of the Duke of Riverton. She just never expected the Lord Trent will fall through the floor with her. Knowing they were stuck temporarily, and what the implications would be when they were found, Lord Trent did what a noble gentlemen would and proposed marriage to keep her reputation from being ruined.

He just expected that when he proposed to his future wife, he would love her or in this case at least know her. Yet he was willing to trust that God knew his circumstances and would make the best of it. Knowing that he would never be crowned Duke as the younger brother, he was willing to make the best of most situations. He just wasn't quite sure what to do to make a marriage work, when the only thing going for you was that you were attracted to one another and you were married already. Only when things begin to get complicated and the lack of communication between the two falls far short, Lord Trent Hawthorne moves in with his brother the Duke of Riverton to ease the tension in the house. That only makes things worse when Adelaide wonders what she has done to drive him away but since its not a woman's place to speak her mind she resolves to spend her time getting to know the staff and trying to fit in as a Lady despite her mother's constant intervention that she simply isn't good enough as a wife or daughter.

I received An Uncommon Courtship by Kristi Ann Hunter compliments of Bethany House Publishers and Net Galley. Having read the other novels in the Hawthorne House series, A Noble Masquerade and An Elegant Facade, I think this may have been my favorite. I love how complicated things are at first between Adelaide and Trent knowing that their positions as secondary figures when it comes to titles are what takes some of the tension off. The way they begin to figure things out over time, it what makes readers covet this novel because it is genuine in the way I believe it would play out if it wasn't a fictional novel. I love comedic way that Trent and Adelaide eventually handle her meddlesome mother and family and how Trent's family comes to the aid of Adelaide when she needs to find a way to make it in the world of noble families. Well worth a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about An Uncommon Courtship, Kristi Ann Hunter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Uncommon Courtship by Kristi Ann Hunter

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Uncommon Courtship, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website.

An Elegant Facade

"Marriage cannot be left up to chance. I have to make it happen."

For Lady Georgina Hawthorne, the right match will mean everything. While she has waited for her older sister Miranda for three years to find the right match, but she is still searching. Georgina can't wait any longer. In order to make this a successful coming out, it has taken planning all her life along with help from her lady's maid Harriette, it will be perfect. Her plan is to find an Duke and there are five on the list if she includes her brother. Now all she has to do is perfect all the right nuances to make just the right man fall into her plans for marriage.

Colin McCrae isn't one to keep up appearances because as a businessman with connections in the world of affluence, he knows that most eligible women are bound to look the other way. Despite all his well meaning relationships with those that have invited him into all the right balls and socials, he enjoys the entertainment value that comes from watching how hard women will work at gaining a suitable husband and none more so than that of Lady Georgina. To say that Colin and Georgiana are like fire and water would be an understatement. Sparks fly whenever they are together and each take turns at trying to best one another while keeping their social graces. They seemly seem to hate one another more than anything and yet find themselves thrown together more than you can count.

Georgina can not let Colin ruin the only chance she has before anyone finds out the true secret she's been hiding and she isn't about to let him stand in the way. No matter where she turns, he is always there out to try her patience as a Lady. She must marry before she brings a scandal to her family name, but like she is reminded, it's only a scandal if anyone knows about it. Colin however, learns that Georgina is hiding and why he can't understand why she won't tell anyone, he won't be the person to potentially ruin her future by divulging what that is.But what secrets is Colin hiding?

I received An Elegant Facade by Kristi Ann Hunter compliments of Net Galley and Bethany House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free eBook in exchange for my unbiased and personal review. This is the second novel in the Hawthorne House Series, with A Noble Masquerade being the first. Since I missed out on that one, I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was not needed to thoroughly enjoy this one. I absolutely LOVED the chemistry at work between Colin and Georgina and could understand why she kept up the appearances of her secret for so long. It breaks my heart to see how desperate some women were at securing whatever match they could before they wrote themselves off to spinsterhood. The title makes perfect sense for this novel and it will take you awhile before you learn that it is. That is the earmark of a quintessential best seller when you can keep the reader entertained until the very end without giving too much away too soon. For me, this one rates a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about An Elegant Facade, Kristi Ann Hunter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Elegant Facade by Kristi Ann Hunter

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Elegant Facade, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website.