#TBRChallenge Reading: Lord of Dishonor by Edith Layton

2016 TBR Reading Challenge
Book: Lord of Dishonor
Author: Edith Layton
My Categories: Romance, Fiction, Regency
Wendy Crutcher's Category: Favorite Trope — my favorite romance trope is marriage-of-convenience, and this story sort of fits that category since it's a forced engagement during which they find love

This is my June TBR Challenge book, and I'm running so late on this review that it's almost time for the July review.

Lady Amanda Amberly is the legitimate daughter of the Countess of Clovelly. However, she's infamous for being a part of the Amberly Assortment, a motley collection of legitimate and illegitimate offspring of the countess by various peers of the realm. Now, the countess lives openly with the Duke of Laxey at Kettering Manor. Amanda seldom visits her mother, but on this fateful night, she finds herself fast asleep in the manor's blue room, while her mother besports herself with her wild set below.

In the meantime, Christian Jarrow, Lord North is heading home after being away on the Continent for two years on behalf of his majesty's government. Despite the bone-chilling cold, his luggage and valet rattle home in a warm carriage while he surges on ahead on a horse. Finally, succumbing to the cold, he takes refuge at Kettering Manor. He's well-known to the inhabitants, having been a part of that set before. His wild ways have given him a sullied reputation as one sharing his person far and wide and frequently, but not his name.

Under the guise of the lateness of the hour and the unexpected arrival of her guest getting her confused between the manor's blue and gray guest rooms, the countess puts Christian in Amanda's room. There they're "discovered" by the countess and her guests having a discussion while sitting on the bed in their dishabille. Amanda is compromised. And since she's part of the ton, Christian's hand is forced. It is understood that he has to offer for her.

So far, there's nothing new in this book that previous books have not covered. However, now, the book departs from established script. Christian openly tells Amanda in a private interview that he has no intention of marrying her. She's vastly relieved and declares that she'd rather repair to her father's home than be married into her mother's set of friends. Amanda also has her sight set on Giles, a man of whom she has marital hopes, but who has so far been malingering.

Christian decides for once to do a good deed for a fellow man. He suggests that he and Amanda enter into a false engagement—only they know it's false. Amanda should then write soulful letters to Giles hinting at her disappointment and unhappiness with her engagement, hoping that this would spur Giles into arriving posthaste and offering for her. And so the plan is hatched. And Amanda and Christian repair to Christian's home to see their story play out.

I very much enjoy Edith Layton's storytelling style and unusual turns of common storylines. This story is no different. For fans of traditional Regencies, Lord of Dishonor is a very good read.