The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck

Charlotte Beck is young, impetuous, and she has big dreams. Alex Hambly likes looking at the stars and has no room for Miss Beck in his life. Quite unexpectedly Charlotte falls literally into his arms one evening. Sparks fly, and not the good kind. Charlotte is an American heiress on the verge of becoming a lady of society and Alex finds her both disarming and annoying all at the same time. Through a series of predictable events Charlotte and Alex are thrust into each others lives over and over again.  When Alex's father dies and he learns his family estate is almost in ruins Charlotte's father steps in to save the day. Promising Charlotte to him with a handsome dowry attached Alex and Charlotte agree to marry. Their marriage of inconvenience starts out as a sham but as you would expect it grows into something much more.

I'll be honest, Y'Barbo is not my favorite author. Her stories always sound enticing and fun and the covers always look amazing and yet I am always left wanting when I'm done reading. She's published a number of books so I can't say it's lack of experience but she almost writes that way. The characters are not well developed and in many cases she adds unnecessary characters to prove a point and it just gets messy. For instance, Alex's older brother who is troubled after war and is not able to take over the estate. He's brought in so the reader knows why Alex has to take over and then we never hear about him again. It's just a little messy and unnecessary in my eyes. However, this was an easy cute read. The Beck family is good friends with Buffalo Bill Cody and I enjoyed reading more about his Wild West Show. Alex's commitment to his marriage is admirable and ultimately the book ends just as you would want and expect.

I received this book from Waterbrook Multnomah for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.