I have read and enjoyed historical romances by this Author in the past and can say that i was not
disappointed with this book .

Graeme Parr, Earl of Montclair and American Abigail Price marry, but their reasons for the marriage are different .
Abigail was looking for a knight to rescue her from her rich and powerful father - Graeme however wants only her father's money . Her wedding night disabuses Abigail's romantic ideals , her husband loves another .
Her ideals destroyed she flees back to America , to all that is familiar .
Ten years later Graeme's Grandmother asks Abigail to return - this is not the young , demure bride that left ,
BUT is an alluring sexy woman ready to fight for her husband and her marriage .
All is not quite as it seems , Graeme's other love reappears on the scene and someone is trying to kill Abby .
What will Graeme do , can he protect Abby ............... who is trying to kill her ?

Though it has been a while since I have read a Candace Camp book, I do remember how much I enjoy her books. However, I did forget the quality of her writing. A Perfect Gentleman grabs the readers attention and holds it until the end. Graeme Parr, Earl of Montclair and American Abigail Price marry,but unknown to Abby, Graeme's participation is coerced by her very rich and powerful father. In the beginning, Graeme is a man who in the beginning is not very likeable, especially when he berated Abigail on their wedding night. She is so upset, she leaves England, not returning for ten years. How they deal with each other is a good tale in itself. Throw in a bit of a mystery, and an unknown villain and you have a real page turner. Ms. Camp is a master at combining romance and intrigue, which results in a great storyline. A must read.

In the end, I couldn't finish this book because I found it too repetitive and boring.

I enjoyed this story. I liked the heroine, and found her goals interesting. I mainly read books that don't have Americans in them, so it's nice, on occasion, to have a character where it's perfectly okay for them to want a job, and want to work. I liked her ambition. Fun story, I don't know why I hadn't reviewed it earlier.

Graeme woke up to his cousin’s dog as well as his cousin James. Then James said there was some juicy gossip to be told his mother had even got up early to come to Graeme’s. Graeme had married Abigail to save his family estate, pay off his fathers debts. Graeme had been willing to do his duty by his family even giving up Laura who was the woman he already loved. But Thursten Price- Abigail's father hadn’t left anything to chance and used blackmail to make sure Abigaila and Graeme married and Abigail knew nothing about it. Thursten had poorly treated Abigail most her life. Abigail thought she had married a kind thoughtful gentleman but on the wedding night he made it clear he would only be Abigail's husband in name only that she had brought herself a title and husband in name only and walked away from her. The next morning Graeme had regretted how he had treated Abigail when he went to her hotel he found out she had checked out that morning to return to N Y. Then James told Graeme that Abigail was now back in London. Resentment and anger long buried stirred in Graeme. No one seemed to know why Abigail had returned. She had been quite successful in society in N Y. Abigail is now twenty eight - it had been ten years since she left to return to the states- and wants to have a child. If Graeme doesn’t want to father said baby she wants a divorce and she will marry someone else who is willing to make her a mother. Graeme’s grandmother wants him to come to London and deal with his wife, take her to his home. Graeme and James leave to return to London together . Graeme finds out on his return to London he finds out his wife Abigail- who has grown into a beautiful woman- is sought after by many men. Then Graeme and ABigail see each other at a ball later they meet and Abigail tells Graeme why she returned. It had been a slight scandal when Abigail had left for the states the day after she was married and Graeme didn't want any more scandal of a divorce he was the Earl now. Graeme agreed to live with Abigail as husband and wife l until she got pregnant and she had agreed to raise the child in England. Abigail had begun to get secret letters that have clues to Graeme’s father and his debt. As time goes on Abigail and Graeme and really get to know each other.
I enjoyed this book , I liked the pace of this. As well as the plot. I loved how Abigail had the strength to face Graeme and let him know her hearts desire. I liked there was some mystery in this story. At first I didn’t like Graeme at all he never gave Abigail a chance to tell her side of marrying Graeme.Instead he just believed she was as bad as her father. But he did grow on me after Abigail had returned to London. I love how it took time for Graeme and Abigail to grow feelings for each other. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

I liked this book and I like this author. I just wish the heroine didn't have to stay chaste while her husband has discreet affairs.

You can't go wrong with Candace Camp. She always writes fun, engaging stories with characters that are compelling. This books is no exception. It was an enjoyable read.

Abigail is a romantic and dreamy girl who believed that by getting married she could have a different life but suffered a great disappointment on her wedding night, the husband who is resentful and angry for having been forced to marry to save his family rejects her forcing the sweet girl to return to her country.

Graeme is the typical gentleman, polite, and gentle who does not accept being controlled and is angry with his wife's father. When she returns to London ten years later, he is afraid to get caught up in a new scandal, and goes to her to make her leave.The young man is extremely arrogant and annoying in the most part of the book making a point of treating Abigail badly and always showing his contempt for her.

I love books with marriages of convenience and I'm already in the crowd to see how long the stubbornness of the couple will prevail. With this one was not different, Candace Camp conveys the story in a masterful way, creating an engaging and suspenseful plot, making our cunning and clever heroine know how to use her weapons in her favor and showing the strength of a woman at a time when they was nothing more than a procreative human being.
Abigail makes a point of showing Graeme that she does not need him for anything and so little of his title and money, but her dreamy heart still lingers that the boy could see what he's missing by rejecting her.
I really enjoyed the story mainly because it involves police suspense, genre that I love, plus the beautiful and sighing romance novel. The ending surprised me and I who spent much of the book despising Graeme, was able to fall in love with the stuborn dude.
4/5 stars.

I absolutely loved this book. Trust was an issue that had to be resolved between our couple, bit also they had to discover the parts that their father's had played in the beginning of their relationship. Loved it.

I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley.

If you read the synopsis of this book, because of its predictability, you've pretty much read the book.

Camp is pretty heavy-handed with the clichés here, but to be honest the thing that bothered me the most about this story is how much I disliked the hero. I disliked him so much I thought the heroine deserved better, and she annoyed me too. (WHY again is she motivated to try to win him over, when - in her limited experience with him - he has absolutely no redeeming qualities??)

Anyway. This one was not my speed.

1 star.

*I received a review copy from the publisher/author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I loved this story!! Abigail was so much fun to read about. She was definitely not your usual society miss. I really like Graeme too.

It was fun to watch Abby and Graeme get to know each other since they didn't get to do it when they got married. Then, of course, we have the added mystery of what happened all those years ago.

I've been a fan of Camp's for many years and she had done it again with this wonderful story!

4.5 stars

<b>A Perfect Gentleman</b> combines two of my favourite tropes – an arranged marriage and a second-chance romance – so I had fairly high expectations of the book from the outset, and I’m pleased to report that, apart from a niggle about the secondary plotline, those expectations were met.

The novel opens with a prologue set ten years before the bulk of the story, just before the wedding night of Graeme and Abigail Parr, whose marriage has been arranged by their respective fathers, the Earl of Montclair and American industrialist, Thurston Price. Abigail knows her new husband doesn’t love her and that he has married her in order to gain sufficient funds to be able to save the family estate, but Graeme’s behaviour has always been courteous and gentlemanly towards her, and she hopes that in time, affection - perhaps even love – will grow between them. What she doesn’t know, however, is that Price has taken underhand steps to make sure his prospective son-in-law could not back out of the agreement, threatening to reveal damaging information about his father if he tried to wriggle off the hook. Backed into a corner and further angered by a thoughtless comment made by his new father-in-law, Graeme finally snaps, and, believing Abigail to be complicit in her father’s plots, accuses her of blackmail, informs her that he’s in love with someone else and walks out of their hotel room in a furious rage.

Devastated, Abigail packs up her things and heads back to New York, where she remains for the next ten years.

Even though he later regretted his outburst at his young bride, Graeme was not particularly disturbed by her high-tailing it back to America, even though he’s never completely understood why. He continues to support her financially, but is quite happy to live a kind of bachelor existence, although, of course, he cannot marry the woman he loves or sire an heir, meaning that his title – he has become Earl of Montclair in the intervening years – will pass out of the direct line. The last thing he expects to hear, then, is that his wife is in London and causing quite a stir; not only because of her return after such a long absence, but because she is much sought after and surrounded by attentive gentlemen wherever she goes. This doesn’t fit with Graeme’s remembrance of his bride as rather a mousy young woman, but when first he sees her again, he is forced to acknowledge that the intervening years have seen her transform into a vibrant beauty who captivates all around her. But he’s not especially pleased to see her, and is suspicious of her motives for coming to England after so many years of separation. Their initial meeting, at a ball, is cordial, but Abigail is not forthcoming as to the reasons for her presence until some days later, when she tells Graeme that she wants a baby. He refuses, horrified at the thought of sharing a child with a woman he still dislikes – although he admits to himself that he’s not exactly averse to taking part in the act that would create that child – until Abigail then asks him for a divorce so that she can remarry. Graeme is equally horrified at this prospect; he has striven to do the right thing and act in a gentlemanly manner all his life, and has no wish to incur the scandal that would follow a divorce. He and Abigail reach an agreement; they will live as man and wife until she conceives, and any child she has will be brought up in England.

To say the couple is enthusiastic about the act of procreation is an understatement; the crackling awareness of each other that has been evident since their first meeting after Abigail’s return ignites in the bedroom – and other places – leading to some nicely sensual scenes between them, while they are also coming to a greater understanding of each other and what has led them to this point. Ten years on, this is a couple that is wiser as well as older, and the fact that they actually talk things out is very refreshing in a genre in which misunderstandings and lack of communication are so often used as plot devices. Both Graeme and Abigail have to acknowledge and come to terms with past errors as they learn the truth about what prompted their marriage and separation; and this part of the story, where we get to watch them slowly fall in love is beautifully done.

The secondary plotline, which is a mystery in which it becomes gradually apparent that someone is out to harm Abigail, is less successful, however. The storyline itself is intriguing – concerning the secret Thurston Price had threatened to reveal about the late Earl – but the execution is somewhat clumsy, and while I didn’t guess as to the identity of the culprit until near the end, it was because that person was such an unlikely choice and the motive rather flimsy rather than any clever red herrings on the part of the author.

But don’t let that put you off; the mystery is most definitely a background element to the developing love story, which is front and centre throughout. Graeme and Abigail are attractive and engaging characters, and their romance has a definite ring of maturity about it, which I really appreciated. I came away from <b>A Perfect Gentleman</b> feeling optimistic about their future – and very much looking forward to Ms. Camp’s next book, which will feature Graeme’s somewhat enigmatic cousin, James de Vere.

Loved this story by Candace Camp! Good characters, bit of a mystery. Can't wait till the next one!

Oh how these second chance romances get me all giddy when they are done right, and trust me, Candace Camp's A PERFECT GENTLEMAN, is done so right.

Finding out on your wedding day that your new husband has no intention of really having you as a true wife and on top of that, insulting you with snide remarks would assuredly have you running from said husband. Such is the case with American heiress Abigail Price, who had stars in her eyes when she stood at the alter marrying Graeme Parr, Earl of Montclair, whose family is in dun territory and has need of Abigail's money. The very young Abigail, eager to get away from under her oppressing father's thumb was all too willing to start her new life with her handsome new husband when Greame's words cut her to the core and have her flee back to America.

Saved by his wife's money, Graeme continues on his merry may, basking in the almost single life for a few years, until word reaches him that his wife has returned to English shores. Now it SEEMS that the earl has been enjoying his continued bachelorhood, but that's the fun of it, has he really enjoyed it?

Abigail Parr is not the same girl who ran away from her husband. This grown up Abigail Parr is a force to be reckoned with and her husband, the earl, had better stand up, or get out of the way. Oh, and there is so much more to the tale that Graeme needed to save his family from debt. As the reader delves into the story the plot thickens with deceit as well as greed. Now years later, it's like Abigail and Graeme actually see each other for the first time, but will all that will be discovered be for the best? Read this book to find out, silly!

4.5 helms

Please follow me on my blog :) Review originally posted on Vellum Voyages (www.vellumvoyages.com)

I did not want this to end! From start to finish I was enthralled by the characters and their situations and the book just kept getting better and better! Not only is the main relationship between the H/h really well-developed, the subplot of solving a family mystery is also well done and the tentative love triangles tied up quite neatly. Candace Camp manages to make everything come together even though I had my doubts on how she would manage this while making the reader happy too.

What I first noticed as soon as I started reading was Ms. Camp’s vocabulary usage. It was just excellent! I don’t know why her choice of words made me take notice so much, but I did and in turn loved her prose and writing style too.

Our hero Graeme Parr, Earl of Montclair is a paragon of perfection and does the utmost to not bring scandal or shame upon his family. Thus, this is why his marriage has remained intact for ten years despite his bride, Abigail Price, running off on their wedding night and living in New York for the entirety of their marriage. This suited Graeme perfectly, as he was forced into marrying Abigail by her father and he only wanted a marriage of convenience with her. Abigail Price was a shy, naive young girl when she married Graeme Parr and she thought all her dreams had come true with her marriage. But being scorned by Graeme on her wedding night was not something she expected and she flees to New York to carve a new life for herself. Ten years later, Abigail is back in London with her bold American ways, creating a stir, charming the upper echelons of London and rousing old ghosts about the Parr family. Gone is the shy, mousy girl Graeme remembers but in her stead, an enchanting sophisticated woman remains, befuddling and challenging Graeme every step of the way. Why is she back? What does she have to gain after all these years?

How is it possible to love ALL the characters in this book?! My fondness for the characters doesn’t just stop at Graeme and Abigail but extends to Abigail’s, fiercely protective friend David Prescott and her maid, Molly too! Oh yeah, let’s not forget Graeme’s loyal and straightforward cousin, James and Graeme’s past love Laura. Even Graeme’s mother, aunt and grandmother were memorable! They each made their own impression on me and they all had their own distinct personalities and parts to play in the novel. I loved Abigail! What a strong woman! Her character really shone through and she was a delight to read about. With Graeme, I was just ready to hate him, for how callously he treated Abigail but, Ms.Camp really does redeem him in our eyes. We really get to understand Graeme and his reasons behind his actions. He has faults and he doesn’t hide behind them, but learns from his mistakes and really does genuinely redeem himself. Now those love triangles! Well I never thought I would like the ex, but Laura Hinsdale is just too darn lovable! We read more about her and James in the upcoming book. Yay!

Absolutely loved this book! I want to re-read this again! The loss of half a star was because some of the prose was noticeably modern at times and three-quarters of the way in, there were a few misunderstandings happening one after the other so it felt a bit rushed. But seriously such minor foibles can be overlooked when the whole book is so so satisfying!

*Thank-you Candace Camp, Netgalley & Pocket Books for the ARC.

Graeme Parr was only twenty three years old when he was coerced into marrying an American heiress, Abigail Price. Abby's father knew of the Parr family's financial woes, as well as an incident that they wanted to keep secret. Although Graeme was in love with Laura, he agreed to bite the bullet and wed Abby, thus saving his family, but sacrificing his own happiness. His good breeding allowed him to treat Abby with courtesy and politeness, though he feels nothing for her. Then, shortly after the wedding ceremony takes place, Graeme's new father-in-law makes a crude remark to him about creating his grandson, and Graeme loses it. All his pent up anger and frustration over his lost love and this forced marriage comes bubbling out in a tirade with Abby as the victim. Abby was smitten with Graeme from the moment she met him. Though she knew he was marrying her for financial gain, and had no illusions that he loved her, she had every intention of making the marriage a good one. Graeme's insults crush her, and after he storms out, she packs up and returns to America, with her dreams vanquished.

Ten years have passed, and in that time, Graeme has inherited the earldom, and is successfully managing his family estates. He could never pursue Laura because he was still technically married, but he's had a series of affairs and leads a relatively contented, if somewhat detached life. Back in America, Abby is no longer under her father's thumb. She's reinvented herself, and is now a confident, charming and attractive woman. Her return to London causes a maelstrom of rumors and speculation, and no small amount of anxiety for Graeme. Why could she have possibly returned?

I love the person that Abby has grown into. Though her eighteen year old self was cruelly wounded, and she did flee from Graeme and his disdain, she didn't hide away in America. She became a strong social presence and created a satisfying life for herself. Still, she can't remarry and have children, so it's time to return and face her past. I admit that Graeme's actions did not endear him to me initially, but as the story developed, I grew to understand and like him more. His confusion over his own reaction to his wife is priceless.

Initially the estranged couple plays a bit of a cat and mouse game, until Abby finally lays her cards on the table. While they struggle with whether their surprisingly passionate response to each other will be enough for them to build a future on, it now seems that someone is trying to kill Abigail. A PERFECT GENTLEMAN is the best book I've read by Candace Camp, in fact, I read it all in one sitting. The reconciliation is slow building and timed perfectly, thereby feeling more genuine. Both Abby and Graeme were pawns ten years ago, but the people they are today makes them perfect for each other. I highly recommend this very satisfying second chance romance.

American heiress Abigail finds herself married to a perfect English gentleman, Graeme Parr, Lord Montclair. Thanks to her father’s ruthless mechanisms, she knows this is a marriage of convenience, there is no love between herself, a shy awkward American and the always polite and regal Lord but like any other eighteen year old, she dreams of friendship that might grow to love, a family and a home away from her cold father.

But blackmail, greed and pride rob Abigail of any chance at that wistful dream. A confrontation between her new husband on their wedding night reveals Graeme’s resentment of Abigail and the rage at being manipulated into a marriage he never wanted. It breaks Abigail’s young heart to see the very real loathing directed at her from the always solicitous and soft spoken gentleman she thought she knew. When Graeme reveals he will never love her, as he already loves another and had to give her up in order to marry Abigail for her money she does the only thing she can think of, she leaves. He shatters her with the ugly truth of their marriage and rather than stay and endure the humiliation of knowing the extent of his rejection, Abigail sails back to America.

Ten years pass before Abigail comes back. Gone is the awkward girl, Abigail is now a woman in her own right, with poise and refinement. Abigail navigates the ton expertly, all in the hopes of showing Graeme that she’s changed. She no longer looks for love but realizes that the life she’s been living isn’t enough for her. She wants a child. With her husband.

The Perfect Gentleman was a well written story, the story flowed well, the characters were fleshed out and it is chuck full of angst, drama, and misunderstandings. There is a ton of back and forth, push and pull between the MCs and if you’re a fan of historical romance, this is worth a read.

Although I was sucked into the story, reading it from start to finish and liked the cute HEA ending, everything that happens between getting from point A to point B made this one a romance fail for me.

Safety: Graeme is 33, Abigail is 28. There is a ten year separation, H wasn’t celibate during their time apart. There is a lot of pushing away by the H, OW drama, a virgin h, and a ton of angst. Ends with a HEA and a baby epilogue.

One of the better historical romances I've read in a long time. Full of angst and miscommunication, it's the perfect combination and I rooted for their HEA the whole way. When a book can actually get me to cry, I know it's a winner. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

This was a fun read by Ms Camp! I'm looking forward to Laura and James' story!