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Swinton Brothers #1
Married by Mistake
Through a twisted turn of events, Miss Florence Washburn finds herself married to the infamous Viscount Alford, the brother of the man whom she prefers. How can she play wife to this man she despises--a rake whose sins have shocked all society? Even worse, how can she deal with the overtures of a man used to having any woman he desires? Original Regency Romance.
222 pages, Paperback
First published May 5, 1992
80 people want to read
About the author
Melinda McRae
24 books9 followersMelinda McRae is the award winning author of 10 Regency novels, 4 historical romances and 6 regency-era novellas, all for Signet. She fell in love with the Regency period after reading her first modern regency and has since devoted most of her attention to this very elegant period in British history.
Melinda holds an MA Degree in Modern European History and delights in unearthing obscure historical details of Regency life.
Melinda holds an MA Degree in Modern European History and delights in unearthing obscure historical details of Regency life.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 15, 2014
Florence is self-centered ("whyever would she want to go sit with a sick servant girl she barely knew?") and Alfred is weak (unable to stand up to his father and carve out a bit of life for himself) though in their defense, they are both products of that time. But though their actions are explained, i still don't like either the hero or heroine by the end of the book. plot reminds me of Pier's Anthony's Wielding a Red Sword, where Mym and Rapture of Malachite are forced by their parents to a magical palace that makes them fall in love. Sadly we never find out Kit's reaction to the mix-up
May 31, 2014
Well, this one wasn't atrocious. The book begins with Florence (Florrie) marrying for suitability rather than love. For one so practical, it's hard to imagine her falling in love with the older brother of her intended. In fact, Alford is such a boor in page 1, and in between his mistresses, his drinking, his gambling, and his carousing with friends, he is somehow able to read three different papers daily, as well as treatises on farming? Unbelievable. A reformed rake - I think not!
September 18, 2012
nice easy read but I was struggling to finish it because the mystery side of things wasn't too interesting and I really hated the confession from the hero/heroine part-- it kinda felt too rushed.
nothing bad happens but nothing great happens either...its a perfect 3 stars in my opinion (not bad but not something I'd read again)
nothing bad happens but nothing great happens either...its a perfect 3 stars in my opinion (not bad but not something I'd read again)
March 7, 2020
What a weird book. First of all, may I just say I'm tired of all the smuggling plots in these countryside locations? And it's always involving Lundy and Dartmoor. I've been there as a child with my parents so I'm always taken out of the story and reminded of a fun summer holiday.
The biggest issue is of course the bipolar behaviour of our hero, Lord Alford. He spends weeks (and his entire life before that) absolutely hating the heroine, until he.... suddenly falls in love with her at the end? It's so incongruous... He literally still called her a witch not 2 days before declaring he loves her and can't imagine life without her??? WTF man.
Then there's the heroine. A smart woman (although the whole thing with the ghost was embarrassing tbh) with a promising future, who.... for some reason decides to throw it all to the wind for sex with Lord Alford. Because let's be honest here, there's no way at all that she would actually fall in love with the idiot. I understand he may have felt stifled, he had a difficult youth, whatever.... that does not in the slightest excuse any of his ridiculousness. He's a manwhore, and an alcoholic, and we're supposed to believe he's been reformed in... 5 days?
The biggest issue is of course the bipolar behaviour of our hero, Lord Alford. He spends weeks (and his entire life before that) absolutely hating the heroine, until he.... suddenly falls in love with her at the end? It's so incongruous... He literally still called her a witch not 2 days before declaring he loves her and can't imagine life without her??? WTF man.
Then there's the heroine. A smart woman (although the whole thing with the ghost was embarrassing tbh) with a promising future, who.... for some reason decides to throw it all to the wind for sex with Lord Alford. Because let's be honest here, there's no way at all that she would actually fall in love with the idiot. I understand he may have felt stifled, he had a difficult youth, whatever.... that does not in the slightest excuse any of his ridiculousness. He's a manwhore, and an alcoholic, and we're supposed to believe he's been reformed in... 5 days?
May 31, 2012
Florrie accidently marries the wrong brother. She ends up wed to the one man she probably despises most in the world, Lord Alford. While they wait for an annulment they are both shipped off to a very distant family estate, unbeknownst to them they end up at the same place. Both are stubborn and refuse to leave, instead they try and think up ways to get the other to leave. I actually thought it was kind of funny how they were trying to get rid of each other.
For the most part I liked Florrie; there were just a couple times that she seemed a little snobbish to me. Most of the time I liked her and I liked that she stuck up for herself. Alford (not a very sexy name) was not very likable, IMO. The majority of the book he is constantly drinking. He comes across very lazy and selfish, the typical rake. The author attempts to redeem him by claiming he has ambition but hasn’t been able to act on it. His poor lifestyle choices are just because he is frustrated with his lot in life as the first son. Blah, lame excuse for being a creep IMO. I admit towards the end he does grow on me and we are able to see his “true” gentlemanly personality.
I actually really enjoyed the story. I thought it was well written and the characters definitely grew on me as the story progressed. I do wish there was a bit of closure about Kit (Florrie’s fiancé), we never see or hear from him and I wondered what his reaction was to everything.
Towards the very end I was surprised to come across a love scene that is too descriptive to say the book is a clean read. I’d say 99.5% of the book is really clean. Such a shame too, if you skip that part it is very clean and enjoyable. Probably would have given it 4 stars, but because of the love scene I can't rate it more than a 2 and I'm not sure if I'll read any more by Melinda McRae.
Content: Not clean.
For the most part I liked Florrie; there were just a couple times that she seemed a little snobbish to me. Most of the time I liked her and I liked that she stuck up for herself. Alford (not a very sexy name) was not very likable, IMO. The majority of the book he is constantly drinking. He comes across very lazy and selfish, the typical rake. The author attempts to redeem him by claiming he has ambition but hasn’t been able to act on it. His poor lifestyle choices are just because he is frustrated with his lot in life as the first son. Blah, lame excuse for being a creep IMO. I admit towards the end he does grow on me and we are able to see his “true” gentlemanly personality.
I actually really enjoyed the story. I thought it was well written and the characters definitely grew on me as the story progressed. I do wish there was a bit of closure about Kit (Florrie’s fiancé), we never see or hear from him and I wondered what his reaction was to everything.
Towards the very end I was surprised to come across a love scene that is too descriptive to say the book is a clean read. I’d say 99.5% of the book is really clean. Such a shame too, if you skip that part it is very clean and enjoyable. Probably would have given it 4 stars, but because of the love scene I can't rate it more than a 2 and I'm not sure if I'll read any more by Melinda McRae.
Content: Not clean.
April 13, 2013
Florence Washburn is to marry her good friend Kit Swinton by proxy since he is on staff in Spain and cannot get leave. His elder brother, Viscount Alford, Thomas Swinton will sub for him, but he signs the proxy papers without reading them and fills in his name as groom. When he is late for the wedding someone steps in for him and when he arrives he finds he is married. The couple are both furious and vocal. The proud papas would like to see the marriage stick, since they think Florrie would have a beneficial effect on the Earl. They send the couple separately out of town to wait for the annulment and for gossip to die down. They both turn up at a remote Swinton estate. While waiting, they battle verbally and eventually get to know each other. There was a good deal of humor. A fun read.
July 5, 2014
monotonous! i continued reading as i thought it wud get better. the author clearly lacked inspiration! instead of developing the relationship bet alford and florrie, she went for an intrigue. supposedly, alford and florrie fell in love during dat!? they behaved like 2 ridicule teenagers!wid alford telling the housemaid to disguise in ghost and florrie burning alford's letter to his mistress! this actually added some spice to the book. else, it was a total flop!
June 8, 2010
I really enjoyed this book.
It had romance and mystery.
It was on the "clean" side which is always more enjoyable for me.
It had romance and mystery.
It was on the "clean" side which is always more enjoyable for me.
November 26, 2011
best romantic book i ever read
April 7, 2013
Not a bad story, but the part of the book where they hated each other went on for way too long and started to get repetitious. Lots of inconsistencies and loose ends in the story too.
March 9, 2015
Not bad at all. There is a mystery element. But not on par with my favourite Regency romance.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews