Marrying Christopher (A Hearthfire Romance)

by Michele Paige Holmes

[sstaley]

I have read all of the books that Michele Paige Holmes has written. There isn't one book that I wouldn't highly recommend to other readers. This author truly knows what she is doing. For example, have you ever read a book where you liked the plot and it was a pretty good novel, but you didn't care about the characters? This is something that will NEVER happen to a book written by this author. In fact, her characters are always the strongest part of her books. You get hooked into the stories so quickly because she writes characters that you care about, and you want to invest your time into their lives and stories.

The romance between the two main characters of Christopher and Marsali is realistic and very believable. There is an attraction there, but they both fight it for so long. The characters have both been through painful pasts and carry around emotional baggage. This doesn't stop them from growing as people, nor from allowing them to take a chance at their friendships.

I also enjoyed the minor characters that were on the ship with Christopher and Marsali. Even though some could be annoying, they added extra flavor to the story like Lydia's non-stop chattiness or her mother, Lady Cosgrove's stodgy ways. The captain of the ship,Captain Gower, was another who I grew to like a lot.

This Regency Romance also has it's share of surprises that keep you hanging on the edge, and not sure of the outcome.

Overall, this book in the Hearthfire Romance series is one of my favorites. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I recommend you reading the first two books in this series about Christopher's two sisters. Michele has written a book that is wonderful and hard to put down. I stayed up late reading it. I can assure you, that this clean romance, with characters you'll love, and a well thought out story, should definitely be your next book to read. I give this book 5 stars since Michele clearly hit this one out of the park! I loved it!