Tag: Leah Garriott

Warwickshire, England, 1812

Fooled by love once before, Margaret vows never to be played the fool again. To keep her vow, she attends a notorious match-making party intent on securing the perfect marital match:  a union of convenience to someone who could never affect her heart. She discovers a man who exceeds all her hopes in the handsome and obliging rake, Mr. Northam.

There’s only one problem. His meddling cousin, Lord Williams, won’t leave Margaret alone. Condescending and high-handed, Lord Williams lectures and insults her. When she refuses to give heed to his counsel, he single-handedly ruins Margaret’s chances for making a good match–to his cousin or anyone else. With no reason to remain at the party, Margaret returns home to discover her father has promised her hand in marriage–to Lord Williams.

Under no conditions will Margaret consent to marrying such an odious man. Yet as Lord Williams inserts himself into her everyday life, interrupting her family games and following her on morning walks, winning the good opinion of her siblings and proving himself intelligent and even kind, Margaret is forced to realize that Lord Williams is exactly the man she’d hoped to marry before she’d learned how much love hurt. When paths diverge and her time with Lord Williams ends, Margaret is faced with her ultimate choice: keep the promises that protect her or break free of them for one more chance at love. Either way, she fears her heart will lose.

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Leah Garriott’s debut novel really drew me in, and I read it all in one day. Every time I even thought about putting it down something else pulled me back into the story, and I needed to finish it.

At first I didn’t really care for Margaret because she seemed like a whiny brat who made foolish decisions. However, through the first person point of view we are given the thoughts and reasons behind these decisions and I understood where she was coming from and felt for her.

When Lord Williams lets down his guard I really liked him. What I didn’t like was his aloof facade. I will never understand how it was so common during that time to pretend not to care.

My favorite scenes were with Margaret and Lord Williams as well as scenes about a certain donkey that I won’t leave spoilers for.

While some situations in the story-line have been done before, they were done really well.  This book was well written and extremely interesting.

5 stars to Promised and a spot on my favorites shelf!