A Wedding in Springtime (Marriage Mart)
*Starred Review* Fans of Regency-era romances will be delighted with Forester’s first novel set in that milieu. This clever combination of wit, romance, and suspense strikes all the right notes as Genie, fresh from the county for her debut, fails to stifle her laughter when she is being presented to the queen just as Lord Chamberlain “chooses that moment to blow a little foul wind.” A man winks and smiles at her, reducing her to further laughter and ruining any possibility of her having a successful season. The man in question, Mr. Grant, a notorious rake, is a close friend of the Duke of Marchford, who is engaged to Genie’s cousin, so it is inevitable that they will meet again. Forester throws in an amazing array of Regency-romance tropes: a dowager duchess with plans up her sleeve, a spinster who becomes her companion and business partner, a lovable street rat, a Fagin-like villain, a secret marriage, a spy in the service of Napoléon, secret codes, clandestine romance. And she more than does justice to them all. This entertaining novel is a diamond of the first order. --Diana Tixier Herald