Vows to Save Her Reputation

The Cornish Dukes #3

by Christine Merrill

His ring will rescue her

And she’ll save him from his solitude

It’s best if Sir Robert Gascoyne remains alone. That way he protects others from the curse that has plagued his family for generations. But when an injury results in Emma Harris spending a scandalous stay at his manor, wedding bells are inevitable! After losing his first wife to childbirth, Robert won’t risk exposing Emma to the same fate. Yet resisting his stunning new bride is much harder than he’d expected…

Genres: Historical

288 pages, ebook

Published August 1, 2020

About the author

Christine Merrill has wanted to be an author for as long as she can remember. But one thing stood in her way: touch typing.

Six weeks spent on an IBM Selectric in her Sophomore year of high school proved that she would never be able to produce one readable page of manuscript, much less several hundred.

Twenty years passed, and she found ways to pass the time: marrying her high school sweetheart; having two sons; and taking an assortment of jobs in professional theater costume shops, including a miserable year and a half spent styling wigs for a certain hamburger-selling clown (who shall remain nameless, since I don't want to incur the wrath of a major American corporation) and a couple of weeks working on a TV movie with one of the sexiest men alive (whose name I'm happy to drop: Mark Harmon!).

During that time, someone invented word processing, and a reliable spell checker.

Christine returned to her childhood dream, only to discover that there was more to the whole writing thing than accurate typing. The next years were spent learning to tell stories that people might want to read, and trying to find someone who wanted to buy them. Her chance came when she won the RWA's Golden Heart Competition for unpublished manuscripts. The winning story, soon to be known as THE INCONVENIENT DUCHESS, was bought by the contest judges, the delightful editors at Mills & Boon, in Richmond, Surrey.

Christine is now busy writing her fifth book, and is more than slightly jealous that her manuscripts get to visit England, while she stays home in Wisconsin

Reviews

[Krys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked Emma. She was everything young ladies in these types of stories are not. She's too tall, too clumsy, and too athletic; seriously she has the uncanny ability to immediately pick up and be good at any sport, but can barely make it through dinner without spilling her wine. Oh and she's also very good at either having things happen to her (like when a footman spilled punch on her), or doing the most ridiculous thing she can think of (like throwing her shoe at a bird even if it was an effective means of dealing with the problem).

Robert was a bit harder to like in that he so stubbornly clung to the thought of there being a "curse" on himself that he looked at everything as being a direct result of that. He also came across as a bit too misogynistic at the beginning (for example telling her "I am the master of this house and I do not wish you to entertain. That should be reason enough" and just a few lines later reiterating his boorish opinion (because she had the audacity to question him) by stating "You do not need to understand me to obey". Thankfully, while these attitudes don't last much past this, the way that he continues to toy with her emotions by offering kisses and caresses one minute and denying them the next casts him in an unfavorable light most of the book.

For the most part, when these two were together (and when you overlook the aforementioned toying of Emma's emotions), they had a lot of really sweet interactions. I enjoyed the way she challenged him and his beliefs about the curse, from getting him to accept invitations from their neighbors to the way she helped to bring an end to his estrangement from his brother. I especially enjoyed the way she learned how to stand up to him where the curse pertained showing him that it could just as easily have been something else entirely. It was also a lot of fun watching the way Robert also brought Emma out of her comfort zone teaching her archery and encouraging her to ride astride.

I do feel like the ending was a bit rushed and it felt like it ended rather abruptly - I feel an epilogue showing them a few months down the road, or even a few years down the road really would have brought about a better sense of closure than the way the author chose to end things.

Overall, this was a quick and entertaining read perfect for a day at the beach (or in my case a rainy day indoors). I would read more from this author.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

[Jessica Grogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read with a hero with a unique but realistic problem. The heroine drove me crazy with her refusal to stand up to her mother but it didn’t detract from the story much.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks go to the publisher and Net-Galley for the complimentary copy of Vows to Save her Reputation by Christine Merrill for the purpose of reading and reviewing prior to publication. My opinions are my own, and no one has influenced them.
Vows to Save her Reputation is a lovely Regency romantic story with engaging characters and a plot that will tug at your heart. The pacing is excellent, keeping me enmeshed in the story from the first page to the last. The historical details gave me enough to escape to the historical time without becoming a laundry list of Regency England.

Emma Harris’s character is a breath of fresh air. She has struggled with living up to her mother’s high standards. Emma is far from the typical debutant since she towers over the other young women and most of the gentleman. At times, she becomes the innocent victim of mishaps not of her making, but she earns a reputation of being accident prone. I could identify with her feelings of inadequacy and never being able to satisfy her mother’s expectations.

Sir Robert Gascoyne is a tortured hero, my favorite kind. He suffers from panic attacks that interfere in his life, and in the Regency period, no one had figured out what to call them and if they threatened the individual suffering from them. Robert lives in such a fear-ridden place and doesn’t know how to move beyond it. His belief in the myths his grandfather told him keeps him frozen and separated from his loved ones. I can imagine how frightening it must have been to suffer from his spells, not understanding they weren’t life-threatening.

The romance between Emma and Robert is lovely. Both struggle with domineering individuals in their childhood that keep them from becoming confident in their own skin. When they’re forced to wed, Emma loves her freedom to be who she is and the light that glows in her attracts Robert to her. He craves to be part of that aura surrounding her, but his fears of the “curse” hold him back. His growing affection for his wife concerns him, but he cannot resist her charm. I truly wanted them to find their happy ending.

If you enjoy Regency romance with characters that will touch your heart and a plot that isn’t cookie-cutter romance, then you will love Vows to Save her Reputation as much as I did. I will be looking for more of Ms. Merrill’s amazing novels. Happy reading!

[Raymond Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convinced he is under the family curse, Sir Robert Gascoyne decided to protect others by isolating himself, but when he takes a young woman into his home for medical treatment after his carriage causes her to fall and injure herself, he finds himself obliged to marry her ‘to save her reputation’. Nor does it hurt that her social-climbing father offers a generous dowry at a time when his finances are precarious. Because Robert’s first wife died in childbirth, he is adamant that the marriage remain unconsummated. Emma, however, proves to be not only sensible, but unexpectedly attractive.

Though their feelings are soon engaged and both thrive in each other’s company, progress towards the happy ending remains uneven, mainly because of their upbringing: Emma’s self-confidence was undermined by her critical and controlling mother, Robert was convinced of the family curse by the mentally unstable grandfather who reared him. There are, perhaps, rather too many issues raised, and they do distract from the central plot. On the other hand, there are some nice touches of humor and irony in this Regency romance. Recommended.
HNR Issue 94 (November 2020)
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/re...

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was engaged in the first 3/4 of the book. However, I thought the ending and reconciliation was was far beneath my expectations. When Robert learns that Emma is pregnant, he kicks her out of his house. He’s such a coward that he doesn’t come to find her to beg her forgiveness for him being a jerk. She, instead, decides to return on her own without his invitation. I had such hopes that he would grow out of his belief in a stupid “curse” and grow a spine. Instead, he is spineless to the very end. Emma is the one who becomes more powerful in the relationship by stating that she decided to name the baby on her own and not ask for his opinion on the matter. I’m definitely NOT happy with the ending—needs to be rewritten. Could have used some groveling on his part.

[Eleonora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devo dire che è una lettura davvero piacevole. Ben scritto e di intrattenimento. La storia tra i due protagonisti è coinvolgente.
Emma è una protagonista piena di carattere e mi è piaciuta molto. Robert è un uomo che va compreso e per una volta è lui quello che deve essere salvato da sé stesso.

[Harlequin Historical]

Categories
Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Regency Romance

[HistoricalHussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

A premise with potential but the story and protagonists came out rather flat.

[Vonne · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Actually between 3.5-4-rating**