First Comes Marriage

Business of Love

by Paula Kremser

Although he’s been living in the West Indies for the past five years, Daniel hurries home to England when he learns of his brother and sister-in-law’s deaths, only to find out that he might be too late. A greedy distant uncle has already strategically swept in to take custody of his orphaned niece and nephew and their inheritance.

Letty is already worried about keeping the children from their corrupt great-uncle, and her problems only get worse when Daniel arrives and assumes that she’ll be grateful to be rid of the responsibility of raising her niece and nephew. When she insists the children stay with her, Daniel comes up with a wild strategy of his own to join forces with Letty that might be their only chance to outsmart their foes. Letty thought she was prepared to do anything to keep her niece and nephew in her care, but can she possibly agree to Daniel’s crazy plan to enter a marriage of convenience?

First Comes Marriage was previously published in the Unexpected Love: A Marriage of Convenience Anthology. Small changes have been made, but the story remains the same. It is a sweet regency romance novella.

Genres: Romance, Clean Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Novella, Historical Fiction, Marriage Of Convenience

102 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2022

About the author

Paula Kremser focused on a career in science for a few years after graduating from Brigham Young University. Several years later when she moved with her young family to England, Paula seized the opportunity to focus on her love of the Regency Era. The enchantment of the aristocracy and the fascinating stories from every stately home she visits have been both research and inspiration for her first novel, Sophia. Paula lives with her husband and four children in a charming village nestled in the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire.

Reviews

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute marriage of convenience story! I loved that Letty was from Italy, that added such a fun dynamic to her character that I don’t see very often in Regency romances. It was a quick read but it ticked all the boxes of what I’m looking for in a sweet romance. The two main characters where adorable together.

[Laura Rupper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked everything about this novella. The pacing is perfect. From the first page I was drawn in and didn't put it down until I finished. This novella is a sweet, fast-paced, hopeful, up-beat story with characters who are the type of people you love for their goodness. I read it in one sitting and ended with the happy buzz that a well-written, feel-good story gives. Well done Ms. Kremser!

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to add another one for my personal goal of reading every kissing-only marriage of convenience within my sphere, but this falls within the realm of “Definitely enjoyed myself, just not much to say about it”. I would submit this novella for whenever one wants to scratch a quick marriage of convenience itch, just don’t expect oceans of depth characterizations or angst devastation, or even blazing tension. It basically is very much like its hero, Daniel Forrester: dependable, competent, straight-forward, which, not knocking it, just does not memorable make. Within the many iterations of marriage of convenience, after enemies arranged marriage, is mutual self-sacrificing strangers convenient marriage. There’s a little of guardian/single parent trope here as they’re getting that special license to keep their orphaned niece and nephew, and I love that. Enjoyed seeing our Italian immigrant Letty, just also wanted more oomph and more bilingual interjections or something. Enjoyed myself along the way, but, though we did get some ways where they deepen from glimpses into each other’s character, when declarations arrive, we were just not there yet, villain just fizzled and no sorely needed epilogue to secure that HEA? Meh on that, though generally enjoyable.

Content notes: kissing only, no language, mentions of tragic family deaths and coping with grief. Toxic family member, threat of forced child rehoming.

[HistoricalHussy · Rating 2 out of 5]

*files under novels/novellas set before 1833 where the hero has an “estate”/“property”/“prosperous farm” in the West Indies and the author somehow manages to avoid addressing the massive elephant in the room of who worked on these ~plantations~ before the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833*

I would have quit reading partway through as I found the story a bit on the boring side and felt little chemistry between the protagonists but I was extremely curious to see if any evidence to contradict the assumption of the hero being the owner of enslaved persons, an assumption that is completely normal given the history of Britain’s involvement in the Caribbean.

[Dew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope

I just cannot with the ethnic stereotypes. As for the rest of the book, it just didn’t catch my interest.

[Laura B · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Comes Marriage is a part of the novella collection called Business of Love, a 3-part series about marriages of convenience. The reason behind this marriage of convenience is believable for a Regency romance story.

Letty’s sister and brother-in-law passed away leaving behind their two young children, one of which is a toddler. Letty had been living with them and helping take care of the children since they were born. She continued in that caretaker role protecting them from their disreputable great uncle. He had applied for guardianship with the court, and Letty would do anything to keep the children in her care. It doesn’t help that she’s a single woman whose an immigrant from Italy.

Here enters Daniel, he is the brother of Letty’s sister’s husband having just returned from the West Indies upon hearing of their deaths. He intends to become the children’s guardian. He has the children’s best interest at heart, and is an honorable man who is determined to fight the courts against his uncle becoming the children’s guardian. Daniel’s solicitor recommends marriage in order to appear more suitable for the role of guardianship, so this is where the relationship of Daniel and Letty begin.

The marriage of Daniel and Letty is contested as ‘fraudulent’ in court, and even though they won guardianship, they must prove to everyone that their marriage is not a sham. Therefore, they have to appear being in love before everyone, including the servants. Of course, pretending leads to real feelings (this is a romance story after all), and since this is such a short book at being at 102 pages, it advances quickly, and there is not really a falling out between them. I have to admit I liked that about this story.

This was a nice escape read that can be done in one sitting. It was enjoyable, even if the ending was somewhat weak. 3*** only because the ending was somewhat unresolved.

[nancy Lanham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Families are the natural product of marital love

How perfectly God made the family unit! This story illustrates Daniel the protector provider Petty is the daily director of the children but is the love source for all of them. She is the hub of father and children. The children are the security deposits for their future together. And God is the source of grace to love and forgive in good and bad times.

[Dorothey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

First Comes Marriage

This was a delightful story of Daniel and Letty. Letty was a sister to Eva. Both her sister and her husband had taken I’ll and died. Letty was caregiver to the two small children. Daniel had been in the West Indies and taken a while to get home after his brother s death. His great uncle tried to take the children from Letty, but he was not successful. Enjoy this another great story

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute, quick clean read. It was a little choppy feeling, maybe it just felt a bit rushed, but it was a short story so there’s that. I didn’t really like Letty for some reason, she didn’t seem real to me - I don’t know, her personality seems to shift throughout the story- she was confident then not, shy then bold, then she jumped to conclusions and that just didn’t flow with the book. I’d give it a 3.5 star as it was a cute quick read, but wasn’t my favorite from this author

[Luci Jamison · Rating 4 out of 5]

clean romance

I enjoy this short story of discovering common ground when United with a same purpose.

The hero is grieving a lost brother, the heroine her sister…the situation is they were married to one another. The hero and heroine both feel the need to care for the niece and nephew and keep them safe from a plotting family member. The solution is unique for sure.

This short story is also published within an earlier anthology:
Unexpected Love A Marriage of Convenience

[Erzso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Promising plot poor storytelling

The plot is one of the funniest thrope, arranged marriage of strangers with a common goal. They even have common enemy. But the characters remain two dimensional, without any growth of their character. There are no real conflicts, no real dangers, no turns. Sweet, but uninteresting.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a nice story with excellent characters. I don’t know why the author didn’t make it into a full novel with real conflict resolution and personalities for the children. We don’t see a great deal of development for the main character. I had hoped this book would be as complete as Drops of Gold by Sarah M. Eden.

[Tammy L. Bethune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet Regency Read

What would you do to retain custody of your nephew & niece? Would you marry a stranger? Such is the choice for Letty - she met Daniel once and it was an embarrassing episode better left in the past…who was Daniel now? What are his motives? A clean, sweet Regency read!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Daniel comes home after the death of his brother and sister in law to take guardianship of their two children along with his brother’s estate. When he finds out his greedy uncle is attempting guardianship he marries Letty to secure their guardianship of the children. In the end they also find their hea

[Fiona Manser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet romance

This is such an endearing story of a sweet romance for all the right reasons!
Kindness, generosity, love for family and integrity shine through as wonderful, happy models.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I swear this book has been republished or renamed cuz I’ve read it before. It sounded very familiar at the beginning and I skimmed through to see if I knew the whole story which I did. I remember it being a cute novella but nothing I would want to read twice!

[Connie Skief · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet

I felt some of the premise was wrong because England at that timeless period had a lot marriages of convenience. I don't think they could have annulled it. All in all it was a sweet story with love prevailing.

[Deon]

Read in the Collection

[David J. Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worst of the series

I didn't enjoy this writer's style. It was choppy and amateurish. The series itself was decent - could have used better proofreading - but this book was lacking in other areas, too.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love marriage of convenience, but this one didn’t have anything unique or special about it. I’m giving it 3 stars because there wasn’t anything specifically wrong with it, but it was pretty lackluster.

[spanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this story, the only probably for me was that it was too short. I felt like the author could have really taken this book and really flushed it out into a longer story. It was well written and had a really decent plot. It's just short.

[Jamie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the sweet relathionship between the two main characters. This was a fun, quick read.

[Connie Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darling

A very sweet and delightful story. The characters are sweet and unassumingly fitting for the story and times. Very well written and great descriptive events.

[Carol Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this story was adorable! Misunderstandings and distance have kept two people from forming an attachment made in heaven. When mutual relatives are threatened by an unscrupulous uncle, a marriage of convenience is the only reasonable option.

[Marsha Neyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely delightful

Uplifting and wonderful. With complex characters that steal your heart and stay with you long after the last page. A treat to read. Will now look up all the books by this author!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a novella and therefore too short to be really believable, but it was cute.

[SOM · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect marriage of convenience story! I loved it. They had to work together to outwit a dastardly uncle.

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can in-laws work together to win Guardianship of their newly orphaned niece and nephew.
This was a clean, sweet novella.

[Jill Hettrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful quick read

I love this short series of sweet love stories. Enjoy the details. I am sure you will be happy you found these 3 gems!

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming

First Comes Marriage was a short sweet story that brightened my day and warmed my heart. I enjoyed it a lot.