Review: Sorry, this one missed the mark even more than the first!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 5, 2013
After reading the first book in this series, "To Catch A Spinster," I was left with an awful taste in my mouth.  As much as I wanted to read a familiar, well-known author in an attempt to cleanse my Kindle pallet, I decided to give Ms. Bryce the benefit of the doubt and try the second book.  I already had it in my library as a previous free selection, so what did I have to lose?Oh my.  I didn't "lose" anything, but I did waste precious reading time, which is even worse.This book is just very poorly written.  The plot is unlikely and frankly, nonsensical.  The ending is just...well, odd and unsatisfying.  The characters have very few redeeming qualities.  There are so many historical romance books out there, even as free selections, that are head and shoulders above this poor attempt at the genre.Amelia has been given the nickname "the dragon" by the men of the ton.  Apparently, it is because she is rather assertive and turns down proposals with regularity.  How this makes her a dragon, I'm not quite sure.  I'd call it being choosy.  At some point, there was some man that attempted to take advantage of her and get her in a compromising situation in order to gain her fortune, but the whole topic is only vaguely discussed.  Why even bother?  It doesn't appear to really have an impact on her personality.After bailing out a long-time family friend from a potentially ruinous situation, she finds herself the object of his affection.  Lord Nighting, although handsome (although he's never really described in detail so I guess we have to take the author's word for it), is irresponsible and often reprehensible.  Not exactly a adventageous match.Readers are supposed to believe this rake has an epiphany and finds himself convinced Amelia is the woman he's destined to marry.  After all, she can keep him out of trouble.  Oh sure, that's a good reason to marry someone.  He begins to pursue her and attempt to convince her to accept.  Of course she refuses (this is, after all called the RELUCTANT BRIDE collection).Suddenly, she changes her mind.  An uneventful marriage follows.  It is just one let down after another with this book.  There really didn't seem a valid reason for me to push the "page forward" button on my Kindle other than getting this book over with so that I could move onto something better.I'd suggest you bypass this book.  Even "free" is too high a price.