The Luck of the Bride

April 16, 2018
The strong third Cavensham Heiresses Regency features likable characters, but the promising story is overwhelmed by purple prose (“the words gutted him as no knife could”) and culminates in a lazy, too-easy conclusion. Plucky March Lawson shows resourcefulness and determination as she raises her three siblings after their parents’ untimely deaths. Since the family trustees never responded to her pleas for help, March forged the most recent trustee’s signature in order to funnel her inheritance to an account she could access. When Michael, the young, likable Marquess of McCalpin, is notified of her crime, he brings the Lawson family to his home while investigating their circumstances. He hopes to acquit the lovely March, but new evidence of embezzlement comes to light, and the spreadsheet threatens to reveal his shameful difficulty with numbers. Will the burgeoning scandal cancel their growing romance, or can they learn to trust each other despite evidence that doesn’t add up? Unfortunately, all the tension fizzles out well before the end of the book. While sexy and entertaining, this one will likely leave MacGregor’s fans disappointed. Agent: Pamela Ahearn, Ahearn Agency.

April 15, 2018

At her wits end when her pleas for the necessary funds to support her estate go unanswered, March Lawson, who's been caring for her younger siblings since the death of their parents eight years ago, begins making withdrawals from her own trust by forging the signature of the ogre in charge of it, whom she's never met. Michael Cavensham, Marquis of McCalpin, is not quite the villain March believes him to be, and when he learns of her "embezzlement" and the dire straits, he petitions for guardianship and sweeps the siblings off to London for the Season and into the midst of his welcoming family. Passion wars with pride and practicality as a determined heroine who is a genius with numbers and a responsible yet mathematically challenged hero deal with the threat of scandal and vicious forces that would to anything to bring March down and destroy their newfound happiness. VERDICT Brimming with family, hope, and tender sensuality, this shrewdly plotted, gently paced romance is especially satisfying. MacGregor (The Bride Who Got Lucky) lives in Kansas City, MO.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2018
The marquess in charge of a young heiress's dowry is terrible at accounting--and their problems only multiply when they fall in love in MacGregor's (The Bride Who Got Lucky, 2017, etc.) latest Cavensham Heiresses book.March Lawson has served as the head of her household ever since her parents died eight years ago. She and her younger sisters are ready for their first season among the London ton, but the trustee of her bank account, Michael Cavensham, the Marquess of McCalpin, hasn't responded to her requests for funds. Even March's brother, the viscount, can't help her, since he's only 9 years old. When McCalpin catches March forging his signature to access her own money, he doesn't have the heart to turn her in for embezzlement. Instead, he appoints himself as her guardian and whisks March and her sisters to London for the season of their dreams. Antiquated banking laws make for fine moments of tension as March and McCalpin try to reconcile their bank accounts and their growing attraction for one another. While March worries she won't fit in with the rest of England's social elite, McCalpin wonders how he'll manage her estate when he can't even manage his own. And every time they try putting their heads together to figure it out, they end up kissing! But vicious gossip, a jealous cousin, and even more bookkeeping drama keep them from solving all their problems too soon. Shocking developments will have even the smartest readers wondering if one plus one will ever equal two.Math has never been sexier.

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