Eloisa James, Kiss me Annabel

Kiss me Annabel

Eloisa James

Avon, Dec 2005, $6.99, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0060732105

In 1817 Annabel Essex like her sisters has a weird dowry: racehorses. However, she has no money to support herself let alone several steeds. She decides she needs to marry an amiable wealthy aristocrat so she can stop fretting over poverty.

Ewan Ardmore finds himself attracted to Annabel and her dowry would fit nicely with his horse breeding operation. Though she reciprocates his high regard and enjoys playing word games with him Annabel rejects him as a proper suitor as he is as poor as she is. Ewan knows he has found his life partner so he refuses to back off and daringly takes kisses. An incident gives him renewed hope as they head to Scotland to pretend to get married, but he plans to make their vows real.

This is a wonderful Regency romance starring two congenial protagonists who belong together except that the feisty independent Annabel worries about how they will survive with both of them poor. The courtship between Annabelle and Ewan seems natural as they play fun word games in concert and he steals kisses, which she treasures as his touch is everything. They make for a fine early nineteenth century romance in which the audience will wonder if Ewan and Annabel will cross the finish line as a team.

Harriet Klausner