Love is one experiment this scientist hasn’t tested

Miss Harriet Burton, a horrendously rich American heiress, laughs too loud, states her opinion directly, and even conducts science experiments. Her uncle is desperate to get her off his hands and is offering a king’s ransom to anyone able to arrange a suitable marriage that comes with a title. To avoid marriage, Harriet swears off all men, until she meets Duncan Maclachlan, Earl of Thornton. But when Thornton is falsely accused of being a traitor, Harriet must use her knowledge of chemistry to find the real culprit and spark true romance.

I really don’t know that the person who wrote the blurb read the same book I did … Harriet is a horrendously rich American heiress and she knows nothing about carrying herself in English society but that’s because she never expected to be there. She was sailing up the coast of America when her ship was attacked by a member of the British Navy and she was kidnapped, taken back to London to see the grandfather she never met. Years ago Harriet’s mother ran away with an American ship’s captain and, now that Harriet has been returned to her grandfather, he plans to marry her off to an English lord so that she’ll never leave again. Never mind that Harriet just wants to return to America. She’s giving him a month but after that she’s heading back to her parents. That’s all the time her grandfather needs and so he’s taking her to a house party in the hopes that he can find her a husband. She meets the awfully yummy Earl of Thornton, host of the party and business associate to her grandfather, but Duncan has sworn he’d never marry a heiress, regardless of how much in need he is of money. With his vow and Harriet’s determination to return to her parents, these two can never be more than friends … regardless of how much they want to be.

A Midsummer Bride is part of Forester’s “Marriage Mart” series and I think that there is definitely some benefit to be had in reading them in order. It wasn’t enough to keep me from enjoying this one but there were a lot of things that I didn’t quite understand. There is a running theme of Thornton’s friend, the Duke of Marchford, being a spy hunter, which apparently flows through all of the stories. The story and the spy stuff found here were complete but I think I’d have understood a little more of what was going on if this wasn’t my first book. Forester does have an effortless and addictive writing style, though, so the idea of having to read more stories has a lot of appeal. I’m definitely adding her stories to my To Be Read pile and I think she could quickly become a historical romance favorite of mine.

The characters, both main and supporting, are well developed and interesting. There is the typical Ton mean girls (and guys) but also a good group of people with honor and appeal. Harriet’s developing relationship, even though there was a lot of back and forth because of Thornton’s feeling about heiresses, was very engaging and I hung on every page waiting for them to get their happy ending. Both of them are different than those around them and it was wonderful for them to find a complimentary soul to make them happy.

There is also a decent mystery over who the spy is and I felt that the resolution was very satisfying, with just the right amount of political intrigue without the book becoming too immersed in it. For the most part I want to read a romance but I also like to have something different to add a bit of spice to my story and Forester does a great job of balancing it all. I’m looking forward to the next book when hopefully we see Penelope and Marchford get their own happy ending.

A well-balanced mix of love and intrigue, A Midsummer Bride is a perfect story about finding that special someone to complete you and daring to take a chance.