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Regency #5
The Wedding Clause
Dear Reader,
Long before I wrote my sexy paranormal romances, I wrote traditional Regency romances as Debbie Raleigh. Now I’m thrilled that one of my favorites is available once more, as fresh and delightfully surprising as ever…
Molly Conwell’s life has been quite unremarkable—until she learns the startling details of her late employer Lady Woodhart’s will: The sum of 30,000 pounds will be divided equally between the deceased’s grandson, Viscount “Hart” Woodhart, and Molly if they wed. If one or the other fails to appear, then the present party receives the entire fortune. Molly has no intention to wed Hart, but if she inherits the money she could help her brother regain his proper place in Society. Besides, she’s convinced that her prospective groom, who has always accused her of being a fortune hunter, will not present himself. As Molly embarks on a daring charade, she discovers a fierce opponent in Hart —and an even fiercer desire for this dangerously handsome man who may prove impossible to resist...
I’m newly captivated by this tale of unexpected love, and believe you will be too.
Alexandra Ivy
Long before I wrote my sexy paranormal romances, I wrote traditional Regency romances as Debbie Raleigh. Now I’m thrilled that one of my favorites is available once more, as fresh and delightfully surprising as ever…
Molly Conwell’s life has been quite unremarkable—until she learns the startling details of her late employer Lady Woodhart’s will: The sum of 30,000 pounds will be divided equally between the deceased’s grandson, Viscount “Hart” Woodhart, and Molly if they wed. If one or the other fails to appear, then the present party receives the entire fortune. Molly has no intention to wed Hart, but if she inherits the money she could help her brother regain his proper place in Society. Besides, she’s convinced that her prospective groom, who has always accused her of being a fortune hunter, will not present himself. As Molly embarks on a daring charade, she discovers a fierce opponent in Hart —and an even fiercer desire for this dangerously handsome man who may prove impossible to resist...
I’m newly captivated by this tale of unexpected love, and believe you will be too.
Alexandra Ivy
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
77 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Debbie Raleigh
31 books35 followersDebbie Raleigh is also known as Deborah Raleigh & Alexandra Ivy
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
December 1, 2019
*Update- Just saw this has been republished and is now available for Kindle (under authors other name Alexandra Ivy) yay! **Not sure if the new versions are clean. I’ve heard they are not, but haven’t had a chance to look into it.
I really enjoyed this one. It started out great, lots of tension between Molly and Hart. I actually would have liked if their dislike for each other was stretched out a little longer. It was entertaining seeing how they were trying to get the other to back out of the marriage contract. Hart comes across very heartless when the story opens, he slowly warms up though and ends up being a great leading man. Molly was pretty consistent throughout the story, very likable. I liked that she had high morals, very loyal and kind. I also liked that she had spunk and didn’t back down from Hart. Again, I would have liked more of their “fighting” before their feelings change. I enjoyed that this was lighthearted fun, the story moves along quickly and the characters are engaging.
Content: Clean romance. Some swearing.
I really enjoyed this one. It started out great, lots of tension between Molly and Hart. I actually would have liked if their dislike for each other was stretched out a little longer. It was entertaining seeing how they were trying to get the other to back out of the marriage contract. Hart comes across very heartless when the story opens, he slowly warms up though and ends up being a great leading man. Molly was pretty consistent throughout the story, very likable. I liked that she had high morals, very loyal and kind. I also liked that she had spunk and didn’t back down from Hart. Again, I would have liked more of their “fighting” before their feelings change. I enjoyed that this was lighthearted fun, the story moves along quickly and the characters are engaging.
Content: Clean romance. Some swearing.
March 18, 2017
Oh I love and have a weakness for a good clean traditional regency era romance where the hero and heroine go at it sparring in battle back and forth with determination because of their erroneous prejudices about each other and stubborn pride to only fall in love with just as much strength. This one definitely fit the bill *sigh*! This is a Zebra Regency Romance republished as an eBook under one of Debbie Raleigh's other pen names of Alexandra Ivy that she usually uses for her steamy titles.
Sensuality content: Clean traditional regency era romance. Kisses only. The hero invites an courtesan to the theatre as part of one of his plans to intimidate the heroine. The hero ignores the courtesan and she leaves before the performance starts, because of that among other events that evening.
Source: My purchased library. Read the sample and couldn't help myself.
Sensuality content: Clean traditional regency era romance. Kisses only. The hero invites an courtesan to the theatre as part of one of his plans to intimidate the heroine. The hero ignores the courtesan and she leaves before the performance starts, because of that among other events that evening.
Source: My purchased library. Read the sample and couldn't help myself.
March 26, 2017
Easy to read. Even though I love regency romance, I prefer Ivy's paranormal series.
May 17, 2017
I don't understand the mediocre rating of 3.58! This book is fun, funny and fabulous. I enjoyed it very much! I wish every book I picked up was as good as this one. The Hero and Heroine were both stubborn and chose only to see what they wanted to see about the other. Just loved it......ended so romantically! yay
February 4, 2024
2.5/5
Sweet clean regency romance but it lacked substance 🤷🏽♀️.
Sweet clean regency romance but it lacked substance 🤷🏽♀️.
November 16, 2024
one of the best regency romance books i’ve read in a while
April 30, 2019
short and fun
March 29, 2011
I think this is a delightful read. I love the play between the two main characters. The ways they devise to try to get the other to cry off always make me laugh. The romance and situations are believable and leave you feeling good. Good side characters really make up the plot and story and fill in the gaps. I would recommend this to anyone with a little sense of humor.
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October 23, 2013
The Wedding Clause by Debbie Raleigh.
Lady Woodhart's will Has Molly her companion in a dither. She gets half of 30,000 pounds if she weds her employers grandson Viscount "Hart" Woodhart and the entire 30,000 if he doesn't show up to marry her. He gets the same deal in reverse but he really doesn't need the money, but he believes that she is a gold digger.
Lady Woodhart's will Has Molly her companion in a dither. She gets half of 30,000 pounds if she weds her employers grandson Viscount "Hart" Woodhart and the entire 30,000 if he doesn't show up to marry her. He gets the same deal in reverse but he really doesn't need the money, but he believes that she is a gold digger.
March 24, 2024
Honestly, really enjoyed this book!
Loved the gradual build up of the couple going from hating to liking each other. Alot of the time my annoyance with historical romances is that the leads just suddenly fall in love with each other (I guess its more of a love at first sight kind of thing), like they wont have talked or communicated or anything and SUDDENLY the only person for them will be other lead. DONT GET ME WRONG I completely get when the couple has an arranged marriage and zero communication before because in that case the book is focused more on their life after marriage, and how they develop feeling for each other then. Some HR books just give nothing to work with and really no chemistry between the actual couple.
Sorry for that... now back to this book
I think it was great how the book hinted that characters although not knowing each other very well, had a sort of history, in the sense that she was his grandmothers companion and he was always vary of her. I actually enjoy it when they give us something like this, because then it moves up the pace of the story, then we dont have to go through the entire build up of their first few meetings and stuff. This kind off gives us a little background on why they have certain opinions about each other and also gets rid of the whole insta love thing I described above.
Moving on...
The characters were great. Molly was not an obnoxious and overwhelming heroine, she wasnt a very shy and submissive individual either. She was strong and bold in the best way without coming off as rude and annoying. Aside from being a little oblivious to Harts actual feelings (but this in some ways added to her charm) she was a great character.
Hart on the other hand also had a strong personality and he was much like HR males
that are in other books (not a bad thing). His little escapades trying to detter Molly from showing up for the marriage and his confusion at Mollys true character I think somewhat formed the base of this book (and this is besides the fact that his reasoning for whatever he was doing was slightly flawed... however we do get a justification at the end). ALSO something I appreciated about Hart is that once he settled on what his feelings were he didnt give any room for miscommunication, whatever Mollys concerns were he didnt drag them out like it was something that left them with no hope, INSTEAD he blatantly told her that they infact do work well together and all her concerns about society and her station really DONT matter. (This may have also been due to the length of the book and there wasnt much of it left when the confession came but either way it was good)
Another thing I liked was how short and quick this book was but it didn't feel like it was missing anything. ALSO it was a clean romance (Loved this! So hard to find books like this... there honestly NEED to be more because books with all of that do not make the love and attraction feel genuine AT ALL... its always so surface level. Glad this book was without it!) The development of this cute romance was nicely tied together. Would definitely recommend if someone is looking for a nice quick read where you dont have to wait too long to get into the actual story! :)
Loved the gradual build up of the couple going from hating to liking each other. Alot of the time my annoyance with historical romances is that the leads just suddenly fall in love with each other (I guess its more of a love at first sight kind of thing), like they wont have talked or communicated or anything and SUDDENLY the only person for them will be other lead. DONT GET ME WRONG I completely get when the couple has an arranged marriage and zero communication before because in that case the book is focused more on their life after marriage, and how they develop feeling for each other then. Some HR books just give nothing to work with and really no chemistry between the actual couple.
Sorry for that... now back to this book
I think it was great how the book hinted that characters although not knowing each other very well, had a sort of history, in the sense that she was his grandmothers companion and he was always vary of her. I actually enjoy it when they give us something like this, because then it moves up the pace of the story, then we dont have to go through the entire build up of their first few meetings and stuff. This kind off gives us a little background on why they have certain opinions about each other and also gets rid of the whole insta love thing I described above.
Moving on...
The characters were great. Molly was not an obnoxious and overwhelming heroine, she wasnt a very shy and submissive individual either. She was strong and bold in the best way without coming off as rude and annoying. Aside from being a little oblivious to Harts actual feelings (but this in some ways added to her charm) she was a great character.
Hart on the other hand also had a strong personality and he was much like HR males
that are in other books (not a bad thing). His little escapades trying to detter Molly from showing up for the marriage and his confusion at Mollys true character I think somewhat formed the base of this book (and this is besides the fact that his reasoning for whatever he was doing was slightly flawed... however we do get a justification at the end). ALSO something I appreciated about Hart is that once he settled on what his feelings were he didnt give any room for miscommunication, whatever Mollys concerns were he didnt drag them out like it was something that left them with no hope, INSTEAD he blatantly told her that they infact do work well together and all her concerns about society and her station really DONT matter. (This may have also been due to the length of the book and there wasnt much of it left when the confession came but either way it was good)
Another thing I liked was how short and quick this book was but it didn't feel like it was missing anything. ALSO it was a clean romance (Loved this! So hard to find books like this... there honestly NEED to be more because books with all of that do not make the love and attraction feel genuine AT ALL... its always so surface level. Glad this book was without it!) The development of this cute romance was nicely tied together. Would definitely recommend if someone is looking for a nice quick read where you dont have to wait too long to get into the actual story! :)
December 5, 2019
Lovely funny sweet story! Loved it!
Loved it! Fun story to see them go from enemies to their HEA. Very entertaining and funny. I really couldn’t put it down. I loved the monkey! Yes there was a monkey in the story (like all good books should in my opinion). I loved the fire in Molly’s demeanor and how she fought for what she loved. This was a battle of wits on who could outsmart the other and come away with the inheritance. The marriage clause made it all the more interesting. Once I finished this book I wanted to read it again!
All the characters were so well written and complex. The only problem is that I fell in love with the lot of them and I want to know more about the other characters stories and future. But I can’t find any sequels or other books to this series. Disappointing!
Rating: PG/PG-13, clean romance
Loved it! Fun story to see them go from enemies to their HEA. Very entertaining and funny. I really couldn’t put it down. I loved the monkey! Yes there was a monkey in the story (like all good books should in my opinion). I loved the fire in Molly’s demeanor and how she fought for what she loved. This was a battle of wits on who could outsmart the other and come away with the inheritance. The marriage clause made it all the more interesting. Once I finished this book I wanted to read it again!
All the characters were so well written and complex. The only problem is that I fell in love with the lot of them and I want to know more about the other characters stories and future. But I can’t find any sequels or other books to this series. Disappointing!
Rating: PG/PG-13, clean romance
July 11, 2017
In the forward, the author says this is reprint of one of her favorite books. The repartee and wit between the two characters who can only get the 30,000 pound inheritance if they marry each other makes this a much different regency romance. Also no irritating sex scenes....real romance, real hearts, and two characters who come to life more and more....and learn their pride and prejudice have blocked their vision. Molly is a solid, down to earth, practical lady, a nice change from all the belles in other novels. Enjoyed it "muchly".
August 24, 2021
Good story;good characters. Molly,former companion to Hartford’s relative, sees a chance to help her destitute brother when her employer’s will is read. She and Hart will share equally in the 30,000 pounds estate if they marry on Christmas Day. If either fails to show up, the other gets the entire fortune. Hart tries several ways to get Molly to give up, but she is determined. He then realizes something else. Somewhere along the way, he has fallen in love with Molly. Can he convince her to marry him?
January 14, 2021
3.5 stars
I am mostly a dark romance reader nowadays, but every so often, I need a good historical, and this one didn't disappoint. I believe that my mood slightly brought down my enjoyment level, because it certainly had all things I love about these types of books.
I am mostly a dark romance reader nowadays, but every so often, I need a good historical, and this one didn't disappoint. I believe that my mood slightly brought down my enjoyment level, because it certainly had all things I love about these types of books.
August 24, 2024
2.5 Stars, a perfectly fine afternoon read.
Easy to read "traditional" style regency. Nice way to pass an afternoon. "Regency" setting is a bit more window dressing than important to what's going on.
Easy to read "traditional" style regency. Nice way to pass an afternoon. "Regency" setting is a bit more window dressing than important to what's going on.
June 16, 2017
A Truly engaging story
The battle of wills between hero and heroine sees sparks flying on a regular basis. The plot twists are novel and the characters delightful. Terrific story.
The battle of wills between hero and heroine sees sparks flying on a regular basis. The plot twists are novel and the characters delightful. Terrific story.
June 27, 2017
2.5 stars
Despite some fun hijinks and a cheeky monkey, this was entirely too saccharine-sweet for my taste.
Despite some fun hijinks and a cheeky monkey, this was entirely too saccharine-sweet for my taste.
January 7, 2018
Well written, interesting and I didn't want to put it down. Loved the main characters! A slow burn romance to the end.
January 30, 2019
It was fun for light-hearted reading.
March 4, 2019
The idea was great, the execution was tedious. The writing is so formal and it is very difficult to believe the MCs' growing lust and love.
February 1, 2020
Historical romance story where they both overcome hurdles.
April 5, 2020
This is a cute Regency romance. Ha! A fun plot. The picture doesn’t seem Regency exactly so don’t be deceived.
May 25, 2020
Quick, clean, enjoyable read. I read the version that was published under the name Alexandra ivy.
August 1, 2021
Pretty predicable, but still a good read. Sometimes one needs a light read as a change of pace from a very busy life.
December 7, 2021
3.75 ⭐️
May 15, 2023
4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
It’s just a solid four stars romance book, full of delicious banter and swoon worthy scenes.
September 27, 2023
This one was a fun surprise. While a couple of things were over the top and I wish she had left out some swearing & light innuendo, I enjoyed the dry humor and competition of wits in this book.
November 20, 2024
⭐️4 Stars⭐️
I liked this book. It was an easy read and I was able to move through it pretty quickly when I was actually reading it.
I liked this book. It was an easy read and I was able to move through it pretty quickly when I was actually reading it.
February 20, 2017
Enjoyed it.
May 21, 2020
reread for the third time last night, no new books came in mail, public library still not open, spending far too much money over last 8 weeks. this genre is pure escape since Trump entered our lives.
Heyer was a passion and know them by heart. but this loss of concentration of usual subjects from geology to physics/philosophy, linguistics, much history, has been eliminated. I even own a rare book and scholars bookshop and my preference remains regency romance. Some of it. Just finished
ok, so after finishing A Marriage of Notoriety (The Masquerade Club)
Diane Gaston, which was most satisfying, had nothing for the evening
another re-read, picked up the Wedding clause, which was in pile for emergencies. Written in 2005, it was witty, not your usual fare. A will of the beloved grandmother that attempts to force a marriage of her grandson to her companion of just a year. ruthless handsome hero who raised by his grandmother, pigeon holded heroine as fortune hunter. If they do not marry fortune goes to who ever does not show up at the church, or to charity. The machinations of Hart are determined to frighten his 'fiance' to give up the possibility of marriage of a feared rake. Molly is not intimidated while Hart tries to bully, socially embarrass, and otherwise harass her to retreat. She meets him and beats him at his every attempt, a fencing match which is cannot find an opening. Until he begins to change his mind which is what his grandmother envisioned all the time, seeing the pair well matched in their instant dislike and arguments. Quite fun, smart, and with a secondary love story of her brother, who ruined his barony and now a smuggler, which is her reason to go through with engagement, 30,000 lbs worth. All ends well and is still a good read. Raleigh was a new author to me and now am going to search her back list
we are facing such a quixotic and impossible to imagine future that such regencies are like blowing bubbles.
Heyer was a passion and know them by heart. but this loss of concentration of usual subjects from geology to physics/philosophy, linguistics, much history, has been eliminated. I even own a rare book and scholars bookshop and my preference remains regency romance. Some of it. Just finished
ok, so after finishing A Marriage of Notoriety (The Masquerade Club)
Diane Gaston, which was most satisfying, had nothing for the evening
another re-read, picked up the Wedding clause, which was in pile for emergencies. Written in 2005, it was witty, not your usual fare. A will of the beloved grandmother that attempts to force a marriage of her grandson to her companion of just a year. ruthless handsome hero who raised by his grandmother, pigeon holded heroine as fortune hunter. If they do not marry fortune goes to who ever does not show up at the church, or to charity. The machinations of Hart are determined to frighten his 'fiance' to give up the possibility of marriage of a feared rake. Molly is not intimidated while Hart tries to bully, socially embarrass, and otherwise harass her to retreat. She meets him and beats him at his every attempt, a fencing match which is cannot find an opening. Until he begins to change his mind which is what his grandmother envisioned all the time, seeing the pair well matched in their instant dislike and arguments. Quite fun, smart, and with a secondary love story of her brother, who ruined his barony and now a smuggler, which is her reason to go through with engagement, 30,000 lbs worth. All ends well and is still a good read. Raleigh was a new author to me and now am going to search her back list
we are facing such a quixotic and impossible to imagine future that such regencies are like blowing bubbles.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews