From the moment Mister Christopher Robinson meets Lady Richfield at a ball, he wants to marry her. But Agatha Lyons has no desire to enslave herself to another cruel husband. She’s very happy as a widow and is determined to stay that way. Unfortunately, she is hiding a secret, and if it's discovered, it could ruin her reputation.
When a little slip exposes this secret, Mister Robinson sees his chance and makes her a deal: marry him or risk scandal. Will she keep her independence as a wealthy widow or will she succumb to a second husband who not only threatens to ignite her dormant passions but makes her want to give up her heart as well?
What's to say? I write a lot. I read often. I sleep little. Once in awhile, I've been known to clean the house. A number of kids live in my house and there's this guy they call dad and I call husband. All in all, it's a pretty good life. :-)
3.5 stars. I find this author's books to be charming, sweet and engaging. Her stories are very simply written, but straight to the point and quite entertaining with lots of lovely, fun characters. Her main characters are always innocent (romance wise) until they marry and this one is no different - then they become a little steamy, but with lots of taste and realism. Christopher is quite delightful as he pursues, then wins the hand of the reluctant Agatha. Couples from the previous books in the series are friends of the H/h and feature quite a bit - they don't overtake the main story though. I find this author's books to be refreshing and always turn to them when I don't want a complicated read. This one is set in London during the Regency period and the dilogue etc is pretty American in flavour, but I can look past that. This author's pioneering books set around the 1880's (Nebraska etc) are also good.
Christopher and Agatha lived up to my expectations. Their characters were enjoyable, entertaining, and funny. The story flowed. Agatha’s opinion of married life is limited and can understand why she didn’t want to marry. Christopher was fun. He enjoyed life not lot Agatha who just shut her self off. The only issue I have is why are the men so young. Christopher is barely 19 and Agatha is 21. Why haven’t these men experienced life of any kind, and the two books I read the men are virgins. That info shocked me. I have read lots of historical romance and barely came across a male virgin let alone three. How are these men to make their wives first experience enjoyable or bearable if they never done it. What book is Ethan giving these boys (I cant call them men). Why don’t none of them have a backbone not even the men who raised then have one, even the villain backed down from the heroine and all the men were afraid of him. I may be biased from other books with alpha males, but damn the men act worse than the women.
Despite the blackmailing factor, hero was very attracted to heroine because of her strength. Heroine had a terrible first experience with sex, so she was clearly reluctant. Hero understood that and took his time to learn how to pleasure a woman before coming to her bed (though I'm not sure how effective learning from a book is). Heroine was slightly judgemental and opinionated, trying to force her sister to marry someone. However the sister was terrible! I mean to dump someone because they're "boring" and "can't dance" was pretty shallow! Loved how the hero treated heroine as an equal and wasn't intimidated by her strength or independence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Really enjoyed the book. I've read the whole series and each book is a great read. Loved the H and how cheeky he is with the h. Both characters personalities went perfectly well together. h took a while to gain H's trust but he was patient with her. Their love scenes were certainly enjoyable too! Love books by Ruth ann nordin.
It's disappointing because I read the others in this series (out of order) and remember enjoying them all but this one just falls short for me. I remember seeing Christopher in the other books and liking his character but here he just feels like almost a copy of Ethan's character (the hero of book 2).
Speaking of copying - there are entire sections and scenes from book 2 that are copied nearly (if not completely) verbatim into the beginning of this book. I understand reminding the reader of prior scenes and sort of showing them from a different angle but there was WAY too much from book 2 copied into book 3 including the exact dialogue. I felt those scenes should have been a lot shorter in this book or even a prologue or something.
Ultimately I felt like there wasn't much chemistry between these two characters and it was just kind of boring. Nothing really happens for so long. They meet at a dinner party, they meet in the street, they meet at a ball (all of which we already read about in book 2 and nothing really new added here), then they start to interact more and he basically blackmails her into marrying him (kind of icky). They didn't even kiss until chapter 8 and it was just okay for me.
Also, I understand Agatha had a terrible wedding night but she's doing all this research as a writer and she NEVER realizes that not every sexual encounter has to be bad? Really? I get having her own opinion being tarnished by her experiences but she goes so far in her thinking that the other women are delusional about their good experiences and it just seemed ridiculous.
Agatha, Lady Richfield, is a widow and not interested in getting married because she likes bring independent and not being ruled by a man. Christopher falls in love with Agatha and tries to convince her to marry him. He is very persistent in pursuing her. Ruth Ann Nordin takes us on a journey showing how Christopher plots his exploits to get Agatha to marry him. It is a wild and humorous undertaking. Read this book and see the fun. Happy reading! 😊
Christopher is not someone I would pair with Agatha. Throughout this entire series, I didn't like him and I still don't. He is not good husband material. I felt the way Agatha changed her regard for him was rushed and not at all like the character she was built up to be.
Not a stand alone book, the characters grow in this one. I liked that Agatha was older than Christopher. I think the historical inaccuracies moved the plot along. Sexy times!
I just live this Series. Even though I haven't read anything in a while from it, it felt like seeing old friends. I'm even glad that Chritopher found Agatha.
His Reluctant Lady By Ruth Ann Nordin Regency Collection Book 4 Christopher Robinson has decided that Lady Richfield is his other half and he will stop at nothing less than marrying her. Even if he needs to use a scandal to get her to agree. And when such a scandal happens to make itself known to him….he picks it up and runs toward the altar with it.
Agatha Lyons, Lady of Richfield is all looking good for the Ton and polite society. She hated her one day of marriage and loves her freedom. No one will ever know that she may now and then dress as a man or have a few alias names such as Gerard Addison and Gilbert Horlock. And what is it about Mister Robinson that sends tingles up and down her spine?
I love the way this book brings back some favorite characters from the previous books such as the Roderick's from The Earl's Inconvenient Wife, where we first meet Christopher. Lord Edon and Lady Catherine from A Most Unsuitable Earl. And as always Christopher’s guardian, Perry Ambrose, Earl of Clement. Once again Perry didn’t get the girl, his story is yet to come in The Earl’s Scandalous Wife. **Sexual content within marriage http://justjudysjumbles.blogspot.com/...
Read this in completely the wrong order. This would be helpful because of there are a lot of names that got confusing at the beginning of the book. I really enjoyed this book, but different than many others...
Biggest issue was all the names and getting confused too easily. Realized afterward and read back to #3 and then #2, which weren't too bad for reading out of order.
Order...
* The Earl's Inconvenient Wife - Nate Buford (Earl of Roderick) & Claire Lowell * Her Counterfeit Husband (no longer part of the series) * A Most Unsuitable Earl - Ethan Silverton (Earl of Edon) & Catherine
* His Reluctant Lady (same time as "The Earl's Secret Bargain") - Christopher Robinson (ward of Perry/Earl of Clemen) & Agatha Lyons (Lady Richfield) * The Earl's Secret Bargain (Marriage by deceit) - same time as "His Reluctant Lady" Lord Davenport, Lord Pennella, & Regina Giles
* The Earl's Scandalous Wife - Perry Ambrose (Earl of Clement) & Paula Leighton * Love Lessons with the Duke
Originally read in August 2013. After reading "The Earl's Secret Bargain," and "The Earl's Scandalous Wife," I decided to read this one again. Helps remember what happened in this book for the other 2...
His Reluctant Lady is Book 4 in Ms Nordin's Regency Collection. We are reintroduced to favorite characters from the past and new characters introduced. The author's knowledge of many genres makes all her books amazing and believable!
When Christopher meets Lady Richfield, a widow, at the beginning of the Season in London, he knows that he wants to marry her. His persistence breaks down her walls that she has built around her life from her disastrous first marriage. The characters are well rounded and believable. The use of humor, wittiness, and description of the aristocracy are well used to draw the reader into the book and keep us there until the last page is read and wanting more.
This is definitely a series that gets better with each page, chapter, and book; one that you will read over and over.
This was a little cliché with the typical "I won't admit I like you" over and over. I found myself more interested in the other characters than the main character because of that. Agatha was an interesting character if I could have ignored her ridiculous refusal to recognize a good person regardless of gender. Christopher was fun as he was in his appearances in previous stories. Unfortunately even though it seems to list out as something I would love, I just couldn't stay motivated to read this. I kept leaving it to read other books. 2.5 stars.
It would seem that Christopher would not be ready to settle down but I suppose when his eye find agatha he is sold. Even though in the previous books Christopher is a handful especially to Perry but all in all he is a good guy. I love how outspoken he is and how he usually comes to the rescue of his family and friends.
While this book still has some of the faults I noted in the previous one, I thought most of the dialogues flowed more easily and the descriptions were better written. There was more depth to the characters, though it would definitely be improved by being longer, in order to develop the characters more.
HIS RELUCTANT LADY was a quick, easy, read.. I enjoyed the " lady " but the hero wasn't as strong as I like them to be. Some cute patter and good bedroom scenes.