Grateful for Loopholes

Book: Her Sudden Groom
Author: Rosie Gordon

If ever there was a time to be grateful for loopholes...  From birth, Alex Bank's father, Lord Watson, and his close friend, Lord Sinclair, have had an agreement that their children should marry.  What they didn't know when they made the arrangement is that Lord Sinclair's daughter, Lady Olivia, would turn out to be a revolting human being.

At first I felt sorry for poor Lady Olivia because it seems for the first few chapters that she is just an insecure, unattractive, spoiled person.  However, as the book continues, Lady Olivia gets no more sympathy because she is just, quite simply, a bitch.  Her appearance and character flaws are made even more evident when compared to her beautiful, gentle, and wonderful cousin, Caroline Sinclair.

So the loophole to the agreement is that Alex Bank's can be released from the agreement to marry Lady Olivia if he finds someone else to marry before his 30th birthday which is in 1 month.   Alex doesn't have another lady love lined up for a multitude of reasons but the most prominent are the fact that he is a scientist more interested in experiments than in human interaction.

With luck, Caroline "Caro" Sinclair is also a closet scientist.  So they spend some time together, fall for each other and get married.  The story could have ended here and I would have been happy.  No fuss, no muss, no big huge drama.

But nooooo.  Then we get into some strife between the newly weds when Alex's father dies and he is now Lord Watson, Caro's rapist father shows up and reveals family secrets, and some misunderstandings over half heard conversations get in the way.  These additions were interesting and did add to the story a bit and I did love seeing Caro finally stand up for herself and demand better treatment. However, they were not necessary- interesting but not necessary.

Overall, this was a cute easy read with vividly described characters I could relate to and a story that was sweet and interesting.