"Humorous, Delightful Victorian Romance"

Lady Evelyn Whyte desperately wants to save her aunt's wedding planning business. But she seems to keep making a mess of things despite her usual organizational abilities. So she has turned to Lord Justin Powell, who she had helped out of a precarious situation 10 years earlier. She needs Justin's estate for a very important wedding, and she can't afford to botch it again. Her very important American client, Mrs. Vandervoort, specifically wants Justin's abbey estate for the scene of her wedding.

Justin maintains the appearance of a slightly bumbling gentleman, and he has allowed Evelyn to think him a womanizer, because all of this subterfuge covers up his real vocation as a British agent. He can use the cover of the wedding to receive a very important foreign shipment. But, what he doesn't plan on is finding the ugly duckling, Evelyn, to be an appealingly intelligent, lovely swan. He must continue to maintain his carefully groomed image as danger from a foreign agent gets closer and closer to North Cross Abbey, and Lady Evelyn Whyte.

BRIDAL FAVORS is the second in Ms. Brockway's Bridal series. She has created winning characters in Evelyn and Justin. Evelyn is intelligent, capable, and completely convinced that she is unattractive to men. She has steeled herself to being alone in life, because while she could catch a husband as a Duke's daughter, she will not marry anyone who does not love her for herself. Justin is undeniably handsome and intelligent, but has the added attraction of being able to see past Evelyn's lack of self- esteem to the beautiful woman underneath. Also, both of these characters are quite witty and the repartee between the hero and heroine is delightful. Several of the secondary characters are also quite enjoyable, especially Justin's butler Beverly, who could be favorably compared to Algernon's butler in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (my husband added that point after I read several particularly funny sections to him). The plot is very well crafted, and the twists and turns of the story are entertaining. I highly recommend BRIDAL FAVORS.

Reviewed by Cynthia Meidinger
Posted August 1, 2002

Summary

The acclaimed, award-winning author of The Bridal Season returns to the elegant drawing rooms and sprawling country estates of Victorian England...in the captivating tale of a woman who must prove she can keep an irresistible nobleman?s most scandalous secret--without losing her heart ... Evelyn Whyte has never forgotten the night she first met Justin Powell--or the shocking indiscretion that left the raffish military hero eternally in her debt. Now, desperate to save her aunt?s foundering nuptial planning enterprise, she?s ready to call in her IOU. All she needs is Justin?s scenic ancestral home, where she?s determined to show the world that even a woman innocent in the ways of love can turn a simple wedding into the social event of the season. Ten years earlier, Evie single-handedly saved him from scandal-wagging tongues, and Justin never reneges on a favor. Now, unaware of the daring double life he conceals behind a cloak of amiable gentility, Evie and her wedding party descend on North Cross Abbey, where her curiosity and forthright manner could imperil them both. Pursued by enemy agents amid a whirl of festivities, Justin vows to keep Evie safe. But who will protect him from the charms of this alluring woman--and the promise of a matchless love worth any risk?