ARC Review: To Win a Widow (Soldiers and Soulmates #5) by Alexa Aston
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Series: Soldiers and Soulmates #5
Author: Alexa Aston
Published July 21st 2020 by Dragonblade Publishing
Goodreads Synopsis
She craved his touch—and they had yet to kiss.
Book 5, the final book in the exciting new Soldiers and Soulmates series from bestselling author Alexa Aston, has arrived. A widowed duchess at loose ends, longing for love. A colonel with no family who unexpectedly becomes an earl. Two stubborn individuals who are drawn together by passion—and also find friendship...
Dalinda Baker wed the Duke of Gilford after one brief meeting, escaping a cruel, unloving father before he could betroth her to a stranger. The much older duke gives her confidence, stability, and two sons before he dies of a heart attack a dozen years into their marriage. With her young boys away at school, Dalinda is at loose ends and visits her brother, where she meets a sinfully handsome stranger.
Rhys Armistead toils as a working-class groom when he is plucked from obscurity by the Earl of Sheffington, whose sickly son might never live to succeed him. Rhys’ mother is a distant cousin to the earl and Rhys is next in line to become Lord Sheffington if the heir apparent passes. Treating Rhys as a second son, the earl purchases a commission in the army for Rhys, who spends a dozen years fighting on the Continent until he receives word that he has inherited the earldom.
Turning to Dez, his closest friend from the war who recently returned to England when he unexpectedly became an earl, Rhys visits the new Lord Torrington—and is taken with Dez’s twin sister, Dalinda, a vivacious widow. The couple spends one magical night together but Rhys realizes the duchess is far superior to him socially and offers her friendship instead of marriage.
Can Dalinda convince Rhys that they are a perfect match—or will his stubbornness keep them apart forever?
Find the answer in bestselling author Alexa Aston’s fifth book of Soldiers and Soulmates, To Win a Widow. Each book in Soldiers and Soulmates is a standalone story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.
Terrified of marrying the cruel older man her father had chosen for her as punishment for helping her twin attempt to elope, Dalinda Baker wed the Duke of Gilford after meeting him only once. Though he was older and widowed, they had a good marriage, and two lovely sons. Now widowed herself, Dalinda is visiting her brother, and meeting her new nephew for the first time when she meets Rhys Armistead, the new Earl of Sheffington. Though born working class, employed as a groom, he was soon found by the aged Earl of Sheffington, who's only son and heir was sickly, and Rhys was next in line. He became educated, and a commission bought for him, which he used to his advantage during the Peninsula War. Returning home, Rhys soon realises he has a large task on his hands, as the previous earl neglected his estate, and his tenants, and Rhys is floundering on what to do. He turns to his army friend, Dez, for help, and when Dez's sister, the beautiful widowed Duchess of Gilford, offers to help too, he can't believe his luck. But it's soon apparent that the chemistry between Dalinda and Rhys is too much to overcome, and after spending a wonderful night together, Rhys feels guilty, thinking that he's too low born for Dalinda. Can she convince him they are perfect together, or will the circumstances of their birth pull them apart?
I'll hold my hands up and say this review is definitely overdue. This was my first approved book by Alexa, but I forgot all about it, and it was only after reading her 6 subsequent books, and checking my NetGalley shelf that I realised this was still unread. I've really enjoyed Alexa's other books, and this was the same. The plot was good, though not a lot really happened. I liked the main characters, and their care for others, even if that was to the detriment of themselves. Both had had difficult childhoods, for different reasons, and it had shaped them for the better. Their chemistry too, was perfect for the book, and I loved the way they came together at Rhys' estate, to help turn it into a flourishing endeavour, fit for an earl, and for the tenants living there. I haven't read the first four books in the series, so probably have missed out on some of the side characters, but all in all, a good book.
Dates Read:
July 29-30, 2021
Rating
3 Stars
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