The Scoundrel’s Bartered Bride

The Scoundrel's Bartered Bride

by Virginia Heath
Setting: England
Genres: Historical, Romance
Published on July 1, 2020
Pages: 288
Format: eARC

Marriage…



To the highest bidder



Lady Lydia Barton cannot seem to avoid Owen Wolfe since he’s returned after being wrongly transported for stealing her family’s jewels! But Lydia has more pressing problems, like her impending arranged marriage. Until Owen makes her father a counteroffer for her hand. Is Owen purely after her society connections, or dare Lydia hope that the charming stable boy she once loved is still within her ruthless, wealthy new husband?

I don’t tend to agree to read historical romance books for book tours because I’m so picky.  I’m glad that this one worked out well for me.  

There is a little bit of suspension of disbelief that I had to do to make this story work though.  If someone’s family had had me arrested, sentenced, and transported across the globe to a penal colony for a crime I didn’t commit, I’m not so sure I would care what happened to her.  For that reason I would have loved to see a little more anger from Owen towards Lydia’s family.  He seemed to agree to help her (although it was against her will) a little too easily to be readily believable. 

Setting that aside, I did enjoy the story.  I agree with other reviewers that Owen was much easily to like and root for than Lydia.  She held onto her hurt feelings for way too long considering that she wasn’t the one that had had her whole life ruined.  

I will definitely check out more books by this author.