Review: From Strangers to Lovers
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 9, 2013
***ARC received from Entangled Publishing for an honest review***Mr. Sebastian Stanhope and Duchess Mirabella Wentworth. They were strangers on their wedding day six years ago, and they are still strangers now. Married young, he was nineteen and she was thirteen, they've lived apart, never coming together as man and wife even after Mirabella came of age. She grew up resenting her husband, fuming over preconceived notions about him, then spent two years adventuring on the Continent after she turned seventeen. He finished his studies then managed his father-in-law's affairs, using his sharp mind to save the estate from financial ruin and turn it into an inheritance worthy of wife's title. Now it's time for Sebastian to claim his wife, to make her his in more than name only. But how can he possibly do that when Bella has no interest in him or the marriage bed?This is a getting to know you historical romance, where the hero and heroine are married but are virtual strangers. The story is rich with everything newlyweds in an arranged marriage might encounter--suspicion, caution, defiance, distrust. But it also shows a couple who tries to work past those issues to build not only a strong friendship but also a strong marriage built on trust and love. Oh, there's plenty of mishaps along the way but there are a great many pleasant discoveries they make about each other that compensate for those mistakes.Maybe it was the storyline, or the memorable characters, or the ups and downs Sebastian and Bella experienced that made this type of historical romance an enjoyable read for me. Perhaps it was all three. While it's difficult to decide the most appealing aspect of this story, I can say with certainty that I look forward to reading more of Ms.Quincy's work, and hope to enjoy each of her stories as much as I did this one.