(The Brides of Bath, #6)
Genre: Historical Romance (Regency era)
Cover Blurb:
All the characters from the first five Brides of Bath books will be serving up some Christmas cheer, while Glee Blankenship sharpens Cupid’s arrow.
Unbeknownst to scholarly Jonathan Blankenship, his sister-in-law Glee has decided this Christmas he needs a little push to make him see that his dear friend of four years, Miss Arbuckle, will make his perfect mate.
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This was a charming, entertaining and heart-warming friends-to-lovers romance with an endearing hero and heroine.
Jonathan has always considered Miss Arbuckle (Mary) as his dearest friend. They share the same reading interests and he admires her intelligence but has never really seen her as a woman.
Poor Mary has been in love with Jonathan from the moment they first met but is pragmatic enough to accept that he wouldn’t look twice at a shy, drab, bookish spinster like herself in a romantic way.
Enter her fairy-godmother in the shape of her friend Glee, Jonathan’s sister-in-law. Glee is convinced that Jonathan is in love with Mary and just needs a push into realising it. According to Glee…
“I do know that he loves you. He first fell in love with your mind; now, he needs to be stunned by your appearance”.
And stunned he is! I love Jonathan’s reactions to Mary’s transformation.
For some confounded reason, he could barely catch his breath, and against all his control, this…this attractive Miss Arbuckle had a profound effect on him. Below the waist.
In addition, he can’t seem to take his eyes off her womanly bosom and has the urge to do bodily harm to her newly-acquired suitors. Jonathan is adorably sweet but somewhat slow in realising that he is in love with Mary and so it takes some sneaky scheming on Glee’s part to bring about the couple’s Happy Ever After.
I love how Glee is constantly making the prim and proper Mary blush with her complete openness. It was amusing to visualise Mary looking anywhere but below Glee’s neck as she is nursing her baby.
I haven’t read the other books in The Brides of Bath series but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. I like Cheryl Bolen’s engaging writing style and the story had an authentic Regency feel to it.
Full of romance, charm and humour, this novella was the perfect holiday read and I look forward to reading more of Cheryl Bolen’s books in the future.
REVIEW RATING: 4/5 STARS
SENSUALITY RATING: KISSES
Read December 2014
The Brides of Bath series (click on book cover for more details):
I would like to thank Cheryl Bolen for sending me a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Rakes And Rascals 
Sounds like a lovely story. I am a sucker for a transformation!
Jess, this was a really delightful story.
Wow, Carol, you write incredible reviews. Many, many thanks for the fabulously written review.
My pleasure, Cheryl. It was such a delightful story and Jonathan was such sweet hero.
Love your work, as usual, Carol. The book is delightful, indeed.
Thank you, Eileen. 🙂