Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of “Edward and Amelia” by Karen Thornell.

Amelia Kennington, daughter of a duke, has finally come to London for her Season which is very much the last thing that she ever wants to participate it. After a fight with her older sisters Amelia escapes the house to walk along the river alone, a severe misstep during this time, and almost falls in only to be rescued by Edward Drayton, the Earl of Norwich and subsequently spotted by many other neighbours who notice the intimate contact between the two and start the gossip. Amelia’s father feels like he has no choice but to order the marriage between Amelia and Edward despite both of their protests. Not knowing each other at all before marriage these two will have to navigate not only living together but the rest of the London Season together to find happiness.

I really liked the characters that Thornell wrote for this story. Edward and Amelia were not flat or one dimensional at all. It would have been very easy to write Edward simply as a rake who needed to marry but Thornell added layers and depth to his character to help change Amelia’s opinion of him. I also love stories set during this time period and this one did not disappoint as well; the strictures of society being thwarted by this couple to allow them to find happiness is a great background. The fieriness of Amelia’s character also led to great dialogue in the story, especially as Edward tries to woo his new wife. The dialogue was so much fun to read between Edward and Amelia especially as they became more comfortable with each other.

The ‘villains’ in this story felt a little forced. It would have been better to have Edith as a ‘evil’ sister if there had been a bit more reason behind it. As explained at the end it felt at bit at a disconnect from what Amelia had felt from her whole family during the beginning and most of the duration of the story. Miss Brooks, as well, felt a bit forced. She at least made a bit more sense in line with Edward’s reputation but the lack of any awareness of either Amelia or Edward of her staying with Edith or being back in town and how that might affect them felt a little silly. Thornell justified Amelia since she never wanted to be in society anyway but Edward should have been a bit more aware, especially once he saw her at the Kennington’s ball.

Overall I give this 4 and a half stars out of 5 and suggest this for those who love historical romances, enemies to lovers, or fans of the Bridgerton series.

I really enjoyed this story, I found the characters of Edward and Amelia to be very engaging. Edward was more than he seemed to be, a deception he created, that was necessary based on his past experiences. Amelia, appeared at first, to be quite timid but she too, could become quite different. Both were affected by their past experiences. I loved the way they really got to know each other. There was humour in this story and also some very vindictive people. There were also people who were looking out for them. This was the first book I’ve read by this author but I will look out for more. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Heartwarming and sweet! I fully endorse the arranged marriage tropes! There just seems to be something about the miscommunications, learning to love one another, and ultimately being honest and confessing love. Edward is just a delight. He is witty and charming. But there is so much that lies underneath that he is not showing anyone. And Amelia. Sweet Amelia. She has been brandished and neglected most of her life and she needs all the loving that Edward can give. It just took her a hot minute to open up and accept herself for the amazing person she is.

It was a swoony story of accepting oneself and loving another despite what their past entails.

Read if you love:
🎹 Marriage of convenience
🎹 Enemies to lovers
🎹 Scandal
🎹 Family drama
🎹 Ridiculous pet names
🎹 Angst
🎹 Forced proximity
🎹 Villains you love to hate
🎹 Slow burn

“𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝒶𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓇𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓁𝒹.”

After being caught in a compromising (yet misunderstood) position, Edward and Amelia are forced to marry to avoid further scandal and to repair Amelia’s reputation. The story that unfolded as a result of this unfortunate mishap was a wonderful roller coaster of ups and downs. Karen Thornell certainly brought all the angst in this story. I was rooting for Amelia from page one. Right off the bat, it was clear that her eldest sister Edith was controlling and conniving. You’d think after getting married and moving away their relationship would get better, but it only got worse! Edith was despicable. It’s been a long time since I’ve hated a character so much along with her sidekick Miss Brooks. It was so satisfying when she finally got her just deserts in the end.

So while dealing with her horrid sister, Amelia was also trying to navigate her new marriage to the renowned rake — Edward. Ohhhhh man, did she hate him at the beginning! And I admittedly did too for a bit. He initially came off so aloof and clueless, but just as Amelia started to warm up to Edward, I did, too! Needless to say, there was some amazing banter between the two! And OMG — Edward’s pet names for Amelia had me snorting (my treasure, anyone?!). But I loved how slowly their walls came down and they truly got to know each other. They realized that they had allies in each other and that just melted my heart! Honorable mention has to be Lady Anderson and Lady Cromwell — they were a hoot and I loved all the connections revealed at the end. Karen Thornell truly outdid herself in this angsty slow burn regency romance. I couldn’t put it down and I just adore when true love triumphs over evil!

This was a first time read for me by Ms Thornell and it certainly won't be my last. The story was unique and interesting and captured my attention from the start and held my interest till the end. It was well written and entertaining with wonderful plot twists that kept me interested and turning the pages.
Edward has a reputation of being a notorious rake. He has tired of that reputation and is ready to find a wife and settle down. Amelia is the daughter of a duke and is thus expected to participate in the London Season and find a husband, but that is the last thing she wishes to do. A chance meeting resulting in a possible scandal forces them to marry. Edward is a nice guy with good intentions, but Amelia's disdain for him causes them to have a rocky start to their marriage. Yet as the story progresses you see how perfect they are for each other.
This was a truly captivating story that captured my interest from the start, and I enjoyed reading till the very end. The author does a nice job of really pulling you into the story with her vivid descriptions and attention to detail. You feel as if you are experiencing it all for yourself. The characters were well-developed and interesting and I enjoyed seeing their development throughout the story. A creatively written story that held my interest the whole way through. I hope to read more from this author soon!

I was given a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

If you’re looking for a sweet, marriage of convenience regency read, Edward and Amelia by Karen Thornell has got you covered! This book brings together a feisty, scarred heroine and a clueless, handsome rake to create a heartwarming love story. I loved both of the title characters. Amelia’s history and struggles broke my heart, but her and Edward learning to love each other brought healing for these characters in wonderful ways. For a supposed rake, Edward does NOT understand women, which added a bit of humor to the story. The book is also full of side characters, wonderful and horrible, who add depth and conflict to the book. Overall, this was a fun read perfect for summer.

*Thank you to Karen Thornell, Covenant Communications, and Netgalley for an e-arc. All opinions are my own.

Edward and Amelia are forced into a marriage, after mistakenly being caught in a compromising position. Seeing no way out, they agree to disagree with their happily ever after. Edward tries to make Amelia happy, but just continues to make a mess of it. Amelia doesn’t trust Edward and pushes him away. The story moves along at a slow pace for a bit, but eventually the twist, turns and lots of miscommunications start the ball rolling. The writing is good, but I thought the characters superficial and self absorbed. That being said, a lot of their demeanor makes the story more interesting and I wanted them to grow in love. I ended up enjoying the the story. Edward redeemed himself by helping his valet. Give it a read, you may very well love. I may go back a reread it someday.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

“Edward was coming to realize that despite popular opinion, he did have heart. And he was fairly certain it no longer belonged to him.”

“Oh dear - her husband had a heart. And if he didn’t stop looking at her in that way he may as well take hers.”

Amelia finally got to go to London for her first season with her father and older sisters. Her sisters aren’t the nicest to her, and after yet another confrontation, Amelia impulsively escapes the house by herself, like she’s used to doing in the country. However, she soon realizes that London is not at all what she’s used to, and Amelia find herself regretting her impulsive decision when she’s forced to marry Lord Norwich, a well known rake of an Earl.

I loved this book! It made me laugh, cry, and be so engrossed in reading that I lost track of where I was on public transportation! I think it’s Karen’s best book yet! Even though sometimes I wanted to hit Edward and Amelia with their own book to get them to wake up and realize some things! But I kind of like it when I feel that way. I feel like stories that get me that invested in the characters lives are the ones I enjoy the most. I also thought “poor clueless Edward” more than once while reading this book. He really needed some help!

A fun forced marriage clean read with lovable characters and all the regency feels, the scandal suspense was starting to drive me crazy but I kept rooting for Edward and Amelia who were both sweet, sassy and dealing with their own scars.

I have loved Karen Thornell’s other books and knew this one would be just as good. I really enjoyed the concept of the scandal and forced marriage.

I thought it was super sweet the way Edward tried to woo Amelia. A sweet idea, but definitely did not work out the way he expected which caused quite a few laughs.

My favourite characters were definitely Lady Anderson, Lady Cromwell and Coombs. So much impertience and love for Edward and Amelia. My least favourite character was of course Edith and Miss Brooks. They are definitely slapworthy characters.

I absolutely loved the growth of Edward and Amelia, both personally and as a couple. I also enjoyed seeing some of Karen’s other characters in this book.

I have loved every book I’ve read by Karen Thornell and look forward to many more. If you haven’t read any of her books, you definitely are missing out.

I cannot get enough of forced marriages, arranged marriages, or marriages of convenience. The relationship-building in these stories draws me in every time. And well, Edward and Amelia was no different.

Edward has a terrible reputation of being a rake without care to how many women he has ruined. Despite being caught in multiple situations that would normally warrant him getting married, he has never agreed to do the "honorable" thing. Yet this year, he is actually looking to get married. So when a similar situation arises he decides that he's just saved himself some time bothering to court a lady this Season.

Amelia is the youngest of three sisters. Her older two sisters are twins. She feels as if she can do nothing to please her family. She's constantly being berated and put down. In an attempt to escape and get some air, she leaves the house for some solitude and gets lost without her lady's maid. Amelia's mother passed away and her father doesn't seem to know what to do with his daughters. But when Edward and Amelia are found in a compromising position, her father doesn't hesitate to force Amelia to marry Edward. She's furious at being forced to marry without her input but also for being forced to marry someone with a terrible reputation.

Since Edward was planning to marry this season, he's more willing to try to make his marriage with Amelia work. His attempts were quite awkward and hilarious, and I often found myself wondering where his skills at becoming entangled with so many women were and how he could be so blind to Amelia's reaction to his attempts. The harder he tried the more Amelia retreated from him.

I loved all of the conflicts within this story. Edward needed to learn to open himself up and be vulnerable. Edward and Amelia both had trauma concerning the losses of their respective mothers. Edward's reputation. Amelia's relationship with each member of her family. It's hard to believe that there can be people who will focus all of their energy and attention on harming someone else. But just take a look at Amber Heard and you'll know that these people definitely exist.

Favorite quotes:
-Anger was an easy shield. It was hard to pierce through anger but not hard to pierce through sadness.

-Anger, it would seem, did not invite contentment when freed.

-But love, unfortunately, turns bitter when not properly cared for.

-She'd learned she had a propensity to speak without regard for another's feelings when untethered. And she'd learned she did not like how she felt any time she did so.

-"The world may not deserve all of you, but you deserve to show all of your to the world."

Overall, I didn't want to put Edward and Amelia down. I was squeezing in pages whenever I possibly could. I loved the slow-building relationship between Edward and Amelia. And if you love forced marriages as much as I do, then you won't want to skip this book. Edward and Amelia gets 4.5 Stars. Have you read Edward and Amelia? What did you think? Let me know!

These are two flawed, but wonderful characters. They both had hard upbringings, which have made it hard to trust others. My heart went out to both of them, especially as they kept going one step forward, two or three back. Edward is so awkward and lost when it comes to his wife and she doesn't know who to believe or trust. I really enjoyed their story and stayed up way too late finishing it.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through Netgalley and this is my honest review.

What a darling story! I've wondered what it would be like to be put in a situation where a mere encounter with a member of the opposite gender results in a marriage to save a reputation and the hilarious first meet ends just that way.

I felt like Amelia was a Regency Cinderella, stuck with impossible rude and arrogant sisters and a clueless, widowed father, but Edward is a very unlikely Prince Charming. His bumbling ways, delivering what he assumes a woman wants, only served to push him further from Amelia's graces. I loved how fearless she was towards him and how determined he was towards her.

This charming story may have started as a marriage of convenience and a case of misguided opinions, but it quickly grew into much, much more. I loved uncovered the secret facets of each character and watching a beautiful tale unfold.

Content: mild romance; mild moments of mistreatment

*I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.*

I just finished reading <i>Edward and Amelia</i>, and, let me tell you, it was an incredible experience.

Did I cry when I read <i>Edward and Amelia</i>? Yes.
Will I be rereading <i>Edward and Amelia</i>? Absolutely
Will I cry when I reread it? I'm certain I will.

Karen Thornell's writing is so, so much fun. Every time I open one of her books, I know I am going on a journey with a friend and that I am going to love every second. And that absolutely proved true with <i>Edward and Amelia</i>. This book is absolutely darling from the first page, and I fell in love with these characters and everything about them.

I was so impressed with how emotionally evocative Karen's writing was. As I read <i>Edward and Amelia</i>, there were a few moments that touched something deep in my heart. Reading about Amelia and her struggles made me feel so seen and understood, which I think is the greatest connection you can have when it comes to reading a book.

It was remarkable how touched I felt by this story. Seeing people heal from past traumas and move forward with their lives with hope and trust that everything will work out is amazingly inspiring.

I truly enjoyed every moment I spent with Edward, Amelia, and all the other characters (except that one who shall not be named but who can be banished to the country and never seen again as far as I'm concerned because she is the worst).

I eagerly look forward to many more novels from this incredible author.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Covenant Communications for the complementary copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Anytime you read a regency romance, you have a pretty good idea of what the final outcome will be within the first two chapters. By then, you've met the hero and the heroine. It's a question of how they will come together, not if. This book has a really good how. The characters have depth, the storyline is engaging and keeps you reading. Karen Thornell has done a great job with this. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Oh my goodness - so much angst and misunderstandings and omissions and “Who could possibly ever want me?”! It was emotionally exhausting, reading this book, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The author is new to me, and I look forward to what she comes up with next.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Overall I did enjoy the story. I really like Regency historical fiction and forced proximity/ arranged marriage tropes. I did want to scream at both Amelia and Edward though many times as I just wanted them to TALK to each other and it got somewhat annoying. The scene in which Amelia has to play the piano in front of a large crowd is also very similar to the scene in A Proper Scandal by Esther Hatch and the phrase, "the gauntlet has been thrown" was also used in both. I also wish Barton had been in more scenes; readers didn't get to see him meet or interact with Ameilia and that would have been to see. He seemed like a fun character, as well as Coombs, and I liked their interactions with Edward especially.

What can I say? I loved it!!! I loved the banter between Amelia and Edward. I loved Amelia's fiery strength despite years of hurt and rejection from her family. I loved Edward's desire to be a better man and his well-intentioned yet haphazard (at first) approach. I loved it all! Karen Thornell has written a fantastic follow up to To Marry an Earl!

I love being a cheer leader for Karen’s books. She is a talented writer and each book gets better! I loved this marriage of convenience and the meet cute. ❤️ The tension, budding chemistry and emotion was 👌🏼

Edward and Amelia had a lot to deal with and being thrown together wasn’t helpful. Then throw in a dysfunctional family, Society and rumors and scandals – it’s no wonder why you would want to scream, hit something, faint or run to the country. 😅 Through it all Amelia was brave, Edward confronted his fears and the possibility of love to bloom made for a sweet story.

This book mentions “To Marry An Earl” characters but it can be read as a stand alone. This book was a nice chunky regency which made me happy! It kept my interest and I loved cheering for Amelia.

Thank you for the publisher and Net Galley for the e-arc copy and for the paperback arc from the author to read. These are my own thoughts and opinions. This book comes out next week!

The last thing Amelia Kennington wants is to participate in the London Season. But the daughter of a duke is not afforded such opinions. She must put forth a subdued facade, but beneath it is a well-hidden fire that surfaces only when provoked—such as when an overly familiar gentleman startles her and she falls into the Serpentine. Edward Drayton, the Earl of Norwich, has gained a reputation as Society’s most decorated rake. This Season, he plans to find a wife—except she seems to find him instead. And she is nothing like he expected. Scandal is inevitable following Edward and Amelia’s ill-conceived meeting, forcing them to marry. Amelia’s disdain for this man she hardly knows is more than clear, and Edward’s pride is wounded before their marriage has even truly begun.
This is the first book I’ve read by the author & it certainly won't be the last. Such wonderful characters, they seemed to jump out of the page. I loved both Edward & Amelia & was totally invested in their rocky journey to a HEA. There was a delicious mix of angst, humour with very witty banter, I loved it & read in a couple of sittings
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read