Review: A Worthington Wedding (Here Come the Grooms #1) by Ella Quinn

                                                         

Print Length: 330 pages

Publisher: Kensington Publishing, Zebra (November 26. 2024)

From Goodreads.com: Charlie, Earl of Stanwood, is at his gentleman’s club when he overhears from a nearby card game that the Viscount Ognon plans to gamble away a property in which some of his family live. Charlie takes a dim view of those who mistreat their dependents, and though he rarely gambles, he always wins. This time is no different. Triumphant, Charlie is determined to sign the property over to the appropriate family member. . .

Miss Oriana Ognon comes from a family in which the men are incorrigible gamblers, while the women mitigate the losses. Fortunately, she inherited her estate from a maternal aunt and is independent of her cousin, who repeatedly attempts to gamble it away. Needless to say, when the Earl of Stanwood comes to call, he is promptly presented with proof of Oriana’s homeownership—and no offer of refreshment. . . . Even if he was the handsomest man she’d ever seen . . .

Intrigued by headstrong Oriana, Charles sets out to discover more about her—and concludes she may be exactly the wife he’s looking for. Meanwhile, Oriana learns more about Charles, and her interest is piqued. But as saboteurs and rivals compromise their possible future together, they just might find themselves in an irresistibly compromising position of their own. . .

  

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Let me start off by saying that I have read most of the books in this series. So I can say with full confidence that while the love story between Oriana and Charlie can be read as a stand alone, you are likely to be really confused by the sheer number of background characters that appear. Especially when said characters are all introduced at once. It's overwhelming for anyone, including someone like myself who had already met these characters in prior novels. 

Overlooking that aspect though, this one still had it's troubles. And sadly, the majority of them (for me) came past the halfway point. 

The book starts off strongly enough with Charlie, attempting to do a good deed meets the steadfast Oriana who is more than used to dealing with gamblers thinking that have won her property when it was never her cousin's to wager in the first place. I liked how wary she was of him at first, and how it was the small comments and actions of others that got her to finally see him in a different light. I enjoyed their interactions after she decided to give him a chance as he continued to prove himself to her (although him knowing what colors would suit her best because of his sisters was a little corny in my opinion, it was also kind of cute as well). So he proposes. She accepts. They anticipate their vows. 

And then all hell breaks loose. 

Because you see, having her cousin being up to no good, paying ruffians to damage her tenants properties and whispering rumors about his upcoming marriage to Oriana wasn't enough, the author decided to throw another monkey wrench into their plans. This in the form of a supposed betrothal agreement between his daughter and Charlie. Only, this contract doesn't make any sense considering the man with whom it was supposedly made was banned from stepping foot onto Charlie's estate back when his father was the Earl. 

Of course, despite claiming to be in love with him and freely giving herself to him multiple times, the moment Charlie tells Oriana about the supposed betrothal agreement, she shuts down. Immediately believing the worst in him and asking herself how he could possibly not have known. Which I mean, considering the man's name had already come up in a different conversation in which Charlie told Oriana about the falling out between the two families should have given her a clue it was likely not to be true. 

The problem is, how do they go about proving it isn't true without harming the daughter's reputation? 

*** SPOILERS AHEAD (use your mouse to highlight the hidden words) ***

And this is where I lost interest. Because after chapters of these two solving the problem of who was causing damage to Oriana's lands, but having nothing when it comes to his supposed betrothal suddenly his family comes to town and they have a solution. They have Charlie "compromise" Oriana at a ball that everyone is attending.  And when the girl's father attempts to bring up the arrangement? Charlie throws it in his face that no such arrangement existed. 

You read that right. He throws it in the man's face at a ball. Attended by everyone in the village. 

I'm sorry, wasn't the whole problem finding a way to extradite him from this issue while still protecting the daughter's reputation? Why didn't Charlie, his solicitor, and either his friend or one of his many brothers-in-law just pay a visit to the man's house and quietly warn him off continuing to pursue this falsehood? 

I would think bringing the facts to light in the middle of a ball would do the exact opposite, but then the author manages to smooth things over by having one of Charlie's sisters introduce the daughter to two eligible bachelors. Which was another point of interest with me considering the daughter said that Charlie was too old for her, but the two men his sister goes on to introduce her to are both friends of Charlie's ergo the same age as him or older. 

***END SPOILERS***

All things considered, I enjoyed the majority of this novel and I will almost certainly continue to read more in this series, I just hope that the author either provides a family tree we can reference, or chooses to not have all of the characters from prior novels show up. 

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