Review: To Swoon and to Spar

To Swoon and to Spar by Martha Waters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Peter Bourne, Viscount Penvale inherited his title at the age of ten when his parents died, thereafter he and his younger sister Diana were brought up by relatives while Trethwick Abbey, their family home in Cornwall, went to his father's brother. Ever since attaining his majority Penvale has been trying to buy back the abbey from his uncle without success, so imagine his surprise when his uncle voluntarily offers to sell him the abbey, providing he agrees to marry his ward, Jane Spencer.

Although unwilling to marry a woman against her will, Penvale knows he must marry and produce an heir, so if his uncle's ward is willing, he would not be averse to marrying her. Jane has no great desire to marry, but as a penniless orphan she has little choice and her few short years living at Trethwick have instilled in her a great love for the abbey, and anything has got to be better than Penvale's uncle. She vaguely assumes that Penvale will spend most of his time in London, gambling and drinking (she has some fixed ideas about how he spends his time) while she lives alone in Cornwall.

And so ensues a marriage of convenience. Unfortunately, Penvale is not the dissolute aristocrat Jane imagined, and he is determined to act as a responsible land owner to his tenants and she finds it harder and harder to dislike him. For his part, although Jane appears to be cold and abrasive, Penvale realises this is just because she is shy.

This was a fun, sweet romance. Although it is the fourth in a series the previous couples are integrated well into the story and it didn't feel like a never-ending retelling of previous stories.

I will definitely be reading the previous books in the series.

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