Book review time!

*****

When desperately private writer Imogen offered to marry Peter Watson, it wasn’t just to save a friend but to secure her own future. With her eyesight failing and no other prospects for marital bliss on the horizon, surely it wouldn’t be too horrible to marry without the benefits of love. But then Peter gains a title a week before they’re set to wed and all of Imogen’s expectations change.

Peter once believed that marriage to Imogen would solve his financial problems. He didn’t mind marrying for convenience and a large fortune when affection was within reach. Yet when he gains a title, an estate, and a fortune of his own, the secretive writer releases him from their engagement so he might marry for love. Now he’s returned, unwed and unaware of changes in her life, should he do what is expected or listen to his heart instead?

Miss George’s Second Chance is a follow-up novella to the first “Miss Mayhem” book, Miss Watson’s First Scandal and it looks like the circumstances that set up Imogen’s offer to marry Peter are revealed in the first book. If you haven’t read Miss Watson you can easily pick up on the fact that Peter is bankrupt and facing debtors’ prison, it is just the details that might be a little hazy. But other than that, I don’t think the fact that this is part of a series really caused any issues.

It’s a short book, just around 100 pages, but Boyd manages to nicely create a tender love story about two people whose feelings for each other go deeper than they let on. And by hiding, they manage to make the other believe that they don’t care. So when Imogen makes her sacrifice by giving Peter his freedom to go find someone he can love, neither let on to how much they actually want to be together and just continue to hide those feelings from others.

As misunderstandings in romances go, this one is a classic and I think it is handled very well. Once the two are back in the same sphere it, with a little help from their friends, they quickly figure things out and the path to their Happy Ever After is heartfelt and sweet. Peter proves himself to be one of the best heroes a heroine could ever ask for.

As a bonus, there are more friends in Peter and Imogen’s circle … and I’m looking forward to each of them falling in love.