I'm a huge fan of Loretta Chase, so any book of hers is an auto-buy for me. I particularly enjoyed this story of a runaway bride and the hapless best man dragged along for the ride: 'You're the first bride who's kidnapped me.'
Lady Olympia Hightower is twenty-six years old and has given up any hope of falling in love. So she is happy to marry the oafish Duke of Ashmont, knowing it will help her family financially. Unfortunately she gets cold feet on the day of the wedding and exits the ceremony via the window. She is caught by the groom's best friend Hugh, the Duke of Ripley, who gives chase. Unable to persuade her to return, he tries to do the honourable thing and offers to escort her anywhere she chooses, with the aim of keeping her safe from harm. Of course this is the exact moment when everything begins to go wrong, leading to a catalogue of disasters and pursuit by a furious bridegroom, who has completely misunderstood the situation.
The strength of this story is in the deliciously funny banter between the main characters. A road trip combined with a comedy of errors, the story didn't go in quite the way I thought it would, which is always good, and I do hope the wonderfully eccentric cast of characters, particularly Aunt Julia, Uncle Fred, Blackwood, and Jonesy, will appear in the subsequent books as they started to feel like friends.
If you enjoy this one, you might also like Lord Perfect, by the same author.
Recommended!
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