Charming and well written. It begins with an arranged marriage and by the end a marriage of love. A charming regency Christmas romance.

Charming and well written. It begins with an arranged marriage and by the end a marriage of love. A charming regency Christmas romance.

Set in the Regency, this is a story of an aristocrat and a commoner and the arranged marriage neither wanted.

Eleanor ("Ellie") Transome loved her father, a coal merchant who worked hard all his life to leave a legacy of comfortable wealth for his only daughter. She would not deny his dying wish for her to marry Randolph, the Earl of Falloden, who she's never met but who has agreed to marry her and give her his title because he needs her father's money to save his estate.

Ellie is barel...

Set in the Regency, this is a story of an aristocrat and a commoner and the arranged marriage neither wanted.

Eleanor ("Ellie") Transome loved her father, a coal merchant who worked hard all his life to leave a legacy of comfortable wealth for his only daughter. She would not deny his dying wish for her to marry Randolph, the Earl of Falloden, who she's never met but who has agreed to marry her and give her his title because he needs her father's money to save his estate.

Ellie is barely holding it together as she sees the father she loves dying before her eyes; Falloden assumes her demeanor hides a cold woman. He consummates the marriage because he promised his wife's father he would, but then he returns to his mistress. Ellie knows the earl and his friends see her as a "cit," a commoner of low birth, and she has no respect for their snobbery. Christmas comes and the earl wants to go to his country estate where he has invited four of his friends. Ellie is told to invite some of hers. In a spirit of rebellion, she invites 20 of her working class relatives.

I loved spending Christmas with Ellie's relatives as they launch into the snow to carry back greens and a Yule log and sled down the snow covered slopes. It is reminiscent of a Currier & Ives painting and will warm your heart. It's a well-written story with lots of angst and some humor and good fun for balance. But it's unusual in that the arranged marriage makes for lots of bitter words between them and lots of angst.

There were only two things that bothered me: There were so many characters I had no idea what they looked like nor could I recall who they were. The dialog was good and did indicate different voices, but without better descriptions, I had to imagine what most of them looked like. And the earl, who is supposed to be young and handsome, had the voice of an old man, rigid and staid, which I suppose he was for most of the story--and his lovemaking prowess was about as subtle as a toad.

I generally don't care for Christmas-related romances, but Mary Balogh overcame all of my prejudices with this one. I'm surprised at myself, but this truly deserves five stars.

Eleanor Transome is a cit, the daughter of a fabulously wealthy coal merchant. Although she has been educated to be a proper lady, she has no desire to elevate her social standing and yearns only to marry her second cousin Wilfred. He, however, is a mere clerk and has told her that he cannot marry her as he has no p...

I generally don't care for Christmas-related romances, but Mary Balogh overcame all of my prejudices with this one. I'm surprised at myself, but this truly deserves five stars.

Eleanor Transome is a cit, the daughter of a fabulously wealthy coal merchant. Although she has been educated to be a proper lady, she has no desire to elevate her social standing and yearns only to marry her second cousin Wilfred. He, however, is a mere clerk and has told her that he cannot marry her as he has no prospects and refuses to live off of his wife's wealth.

Randolph Pierce has recently succeeded his spendthrift cousin as Earl of Falloden. He is virtually penniless, but he cannot bring himself to sell his beloved ancestral home Grenfell Park. When Eleanor's father buys up all of Randolph's debts and offers to forgive them if Randolph marries Eleanor, Randolph is repulsed but tempted. He knows that his true love's father will never let her marry an impoverished earl.

Randolph reluctantly decides to marry Eleanor, and Eleanor agrees to marry Randolph, but only because her father is on the verge of death and she will do anything to make him happy in his final days.

At this point, experienced romance readers may spot a resemblance to Georgette Heyer's A Civil Contract, one of her best Regencies. While that book, however, is largely melancholy, this one takes a more optimistic turn.

Neither Randolph nor Eleanor is happy about this marriage, and they get off to a terrible start. When Eleanor's father dies shortly thereafter, Eleanor can't even grieve, and Randolph decides that she is a cold, social-climbing bitch. She thinks him equally an equally cold, wastrel snob.

Things begin to change, however, when they journey to Grenfell Park for Christmas. To spite Randolph and to obey her father's request that she let off mourning and celebrate Christmas, Eleanor invites her entire extended family for the holiday -- twenty loud, boisterous, vulgar aunts, uncles, and cousins. Randolph has already invited four aristocratic friends who have nowhere else to go, thinking that they five will get in a lot of shooting.

At Grenfell Park, Eleanor and Randolph begin to develop an unwilling attraction, but they continue to spar with hurtful words and actions. There is a lot, perhaps too much, internal dialog, as both spouses begin to see one another in a new light. The arrival of Eleanor's family brings in lots of humor; my favorite being their addressing the earl as "Randy."

Balogh sets out an entirely credible story, as Eleanor and Randolph gradually change and eventually fall in love with one another.

This book made me smile. I'll bet you will too.