Sara Reinke, An Unexpected Engagement

An Unexpected Engagement

Sara Reinke

Medallion Press, February 2007, $6.99, 310 pp.

ISBN 1932815910

In 1748, heeding her mother's call to come home from London as her sister is about to give birth, Charlotte Engle returns to the family estate in Essex County accompanied by her Aunt Maude. However, the notorious Black Trio highwaymen stop her coach. Unable to sit idly by, she fires a shot at one of the thieves, punches another, and hooks the heart of the one accosting her with her sharp tongue. No one is harmed, but her mother misinterprets what happened and decides her daughter needs the protection of a husband, selecting Lord James Houghton who declares he loves Charlotte, though she rejects him.

At a party, Charlotte, the author of insightful essays on social and economic ills, meets Kenley Fairfax, who admits he not only has read her chapworks but admires her intelligent arguments. He even suggests that she hide her gender so men would get past their horror of a female author and read her logical opinions. They are attracted to one another, and when her mother tries to force James on her, Kenley intercedes, insisting they met in London and have an arrangement. However, as she falls in love, she realizes her beloved has secrets (ironically readers know both, though the heroine does not) that could end their relationship before they say I do.

Though James's greed fails to surface until very late (his arrogance is in the reader's face from the onset), AN UNEXPECTED ENGAGEMENT is a delightful Georgian romantic suspense, with the thriller aspects coming late. The storyline centers on the heroine who knows what she likes and loves, and what she detests, and is unafraid to act on her judgment. Readers will appreciate Charlotte's courage, as she unravels a web of deceit that would send most of her female peers into vapors.