Lisa Kay's Reviews > Barely a Bride

Lemon Tree

★★★★✩ This is a review of the audiobook, narrated by Virginia Leishman. I’ve never heard this reader before, and she does a nice job of it, doing the accents and voice inflections – English and Scottish, male and female, children and adults – quite nicely.

This book, the first in the Free Fellows League, wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be. I expected the hero, Griffin Abernathy, AKA Viscount Abernathy, to hastily do his duty and marry to please his father. Then he would happily hurry off to war, leaving his bride, Lady Alyssa Carrolton – also equally delighted by the arrangement – behind to do as she pleases. I assumed the story would then be about these two strangers getting to know each other after his return from war.

Instead, over two-thirds this story is about the courtship, wedding, and honeymoon that ensue once Griff sets his sights on Alyssa. I eventually realized this author was in no hurry to tell this pleasant little tale; then I was able to sit back and relax. Another surprise: after it got going, it a little hotter than I was expecting – given the sweet cover and the story up until then – which was also fine with me. A little sugar and spice is just my cup of tea. I will even admit to shedding a tear or two near the end. All together a GoodRead.

I enjoyed listening to Ms. Lee’s story set in Regency England and Ms. Leishman’s lovely narration and look forward to the rest of this charming series.