I absolutely adore Harper St. George's writing style and her carefully constructed romances that always feel so well layered, combined with an excellent plot that feels so well balanced.

But this one didn't deliver on that for me. The romance is a wonderful slow burn. However, there simply wasn't enough tension to build the romance convincingly for me.

This was just the best!! Regency romance pairing a British Lord with an illegitimate American feigning a higher society position than she actually had. There was open communication, true partnership, and working together to secure both of their futures. Some spice, not heavy.

I thought the character development throughout was spectacular. Each one came to life on the page and clearly showed their personality, their quirks, their secrets, and their desires.

Such a well-written romance. It was my first by this author but it won’t be the last!

A great start to a new series. I just love these historicals written by modern day women. The heiress in England with a side of women’s rights trope is something I’ll eat up every time.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an arc, in exchange for an honest review. This was the first book that I have read, written by Harper St. Geroge. With the popularity of The Gilded Age, I expect that we will be getting more romances that are similar to this one and I'm excited about the prospect. I found the themes to be solid and think that the premise was interesting, I just didn't love this book. I think that Cora and Leo were interesting characters but the pacing was frustrating. Overall I think that the book was written well and that it was an interesting concept. I would read more of St.Geroge's work in the future, I think that she has a great greasp of her writing style.

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. Also my tags may have spoilers in them so be forewarned before checking out full review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Narration:🎧🎧🎧🎧
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
The Stranger I Wed was a delicious witty historical that led me through a various set of emotions and a powerful journey of our characters, Leo and Cora. This is a story that has the classical elegence blended so beautiful in a gradually built romance to leave your heart shuttering in delight and a sense of poignant longing. It takes a very common ground and blends in such beautiful emotional that tangles so wonderful with history and modernity that will work for all historical readers whether you prefer the modern sensibility or more authenticity to your historicals.

First Line
Fifth avenue was Cora's birthright, but that's only if one adhered to biology rather than social expectation.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Leopold Brendan, Earl of Devonworth
The Heroine: Cora Dove

Summary
Cora Dove, is determined to fight for her family no matter what it may cost her. After receiving a letter from her grandmother, informing her of an inheritance for herself and her sisters. Cora meets with her distant father who abandoned them when they were young as their mother was his mistress. Now he placed a stipulation on their inheritance, she must marry a man of societal caliber and commanding of respect but must not be someone in the America's. So Cora comes with an idea, of heading off to England to find a respectable husband that would pass her father's approval. Leo, the Earl of Devenoworth, is in need of funds. He has inherited an estate, with debts from his family and a desire to serve in politics and assist in passing a public health bill he is passionate about. He then meets lovely Cora, and they share common ground and interests of sort, and they form an attachment and determine to marry one another for convenience. But what starts as just a political logical match, turns into something deeper as their connection builds into friendship and even deeper and much more intimate.

What I Loved
The Stranger I Wed was a delicious tasty morsel of intimacy and a endearing love affair and I gobbled it with pleasure and wit. This is a very slow burn so might not work for all readers. I highly recommend the audio for this one if you can get a copy of it, because I can guarantee it will help get you through the slower moments. While the focus is the romance in this one, its definitely more slowly built but it honestly felt more resonating into what a marriage of convenience would actually feel like. I found this book to be poignant in the character growth that we see from Leo and Cora and the author really balanced our their journey's together. I loved the way in which we see them grow towards each other. They each have their own inner fears and secrets that they keep from each other but despite what is holding them back we also see their connection that just builds into a crescendo with each chapter.

I was most intrigued to see how modernistic this novel would turn out to be. You all know how much I struggle with the modernistic historical's and while there is some aspects of that, there are other aspects of the story that still felt authentic in some ways to the actual time frame and Harper St. George balanced out these elements just right that I feel like this author will work for both sets of readers, but you do need to be a bit open minded to it. I did appreciate that some of the secrets involved in the story wasn't dragged out until the end and that the heroine did come clean with the hero in some ways before it came to light. But I also don't think these secrets were super serious or something that would break their relationship. We also have a great foundation that is built, as they start with common allies, then quickly to friendship and that friendship is slowly woven into something more romantic and intimate.

What really tore me up throughout the whole story was seeing a heroine who is so pragmatic and not needing love at all until she comes to England. One of the couples (from the previous series) enter the story, as she stays with them for a time before she gets married, and there she sees them being so in love, affectionate and tender with each other. We see her crave someone to love and to be loved in return. Neither Leo or Cora have had that type of connection with anyone, and we see that yearning truly grow within each other. And as a reader looking into this story, it struck me so deeply and my heart just ached for these two to find what they both deserved.....someone to match them and fight for them as they both deserved.

What I Struggled With
The pacing is a bit slow at times, its more slow burn so the romance isn't as prominent as I would have liked, and some of the historical aspects was a bit off putting at times.

Narration
Brilliant!!!! I loved the way this narrator handled this story because the accents were softer and not as heavy which I found so refreshing in a historical romance.

Overall View
The Stranger I Wed was a beautiful blend of humor, intelligence, historical relevance and a true testament of the human heart.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance, Victorian Era
Character Types: Earl, Heiress, Politician
Themes: Pining Heroine, Heart/Emotional Touching, Slow Burn
Tropes: Marriage of Convenience

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
Both

If you like these authors, I recommend This Book
Julie Anne Long
Joanna Shupe
Laura Lee Guhrke

Song This Book Inspires
Better Place by Rachel Platten

Recommendation For Reading Order
Standalone

Steam/Spice Explanations

Simmering cup of tea---soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.

Narrators:
Saskia Maarleveld

As cringe-inducing as some of the communication issues were, I still adored reading about the development of this relationship. The chemistry feels both intense and organic, and I appreciate how Cora and Leo complement one another and appreciate each other's intelligence and strengths. Harper St. George set up a highly compelling cliffhanger, so now I can't wait for the sequel...

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Team for this Advanced Digital Readers Copy, I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Here's a Gilded Age historical romance! I haven't read many historical novels from this period, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. American heiress Cora is smart, independent, and carries the world on her shoulders...she's the eldest daughter, need I say more? British Leo Brendon is a tall rugby-playing, politically progressive earl...need I say more lol? I love a marriage of convenience where the two main characters are actually crazy about each other! I will definitely continue the series!

Such a fun book from Harper St. George, I really enjoyed The Stranger I Wed. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

A new series from Harper St. George is something to look forward to - and the first book - The Stranger I Wed - is a great story to kick it off! I love her writing style and the balance between sensuality and emotions. Cora and Leo are interesting on their own but together, it's fun to watch them circle each other, guarding their hearts until they can't resist.

Love this new series... Brava!

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved Harper St. George's Gilded Age Heiresses series, and I was so excited for this one. However, it sort of missed the mark with me. It's well written, but I found myself struggling with staying focused on the story. I would constantly pick it up and put it down. I think it struggled with pacing, and it caused it to be an extremely slow read. This struggled from the first book in the series syndrome because all the characters have to be introduced and the whole series has to be set up so the relationship to me doesn't ever feel fully fleshed out. It's almost an afterthought. Leo and Cora do not give me forever vibes, just right now because it's convenient vibes. Their meeting was my favorite part of the story, but then as we went on, their relationship really gave me nothing, Overall, I was a little disappointed in this. Yes, it was steamier than she normally writes, but that doesn't matter if the character development is lacking. In the Heiress Gets a Duke, it isn't steamy by any means, and I absolutely adored August and Evan because they had their own special personalities that worked well together. Leo and Cora didn't.

I'm hoping book 2 brings back that something special she has because this story in no way shows the best she has to offer. This has been my least favorite book I've read by her.

I loved this! It was kind of Downton Abbey-esque because our FMC is from the US and is on the hunt for a titled man in England. I loved the inclusion of women's rights and our MC's drive.

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for an advanced copy of The Stranger I Wed. Harper St. George is one of my favorite romance authors, and I was very much looking forward to her new series.

I flew through this book; I think I finished it in twenty-four hours! I fell in love with the characters, and I found myself pining after the stoic male lead. I like the sublet hints to feminism throughout the story (and the not so subtle hints, at times) and how the female characters were the saviors. I also enjoyed the tease of characters from her previous series but how the old characters didn't take over the story from the new ones.

The romance and the spice were perfectly balanced in this one, and I could not get to the end fast enough...then, I was sorry it was over when I had turned the last page. I think that is the hallmark of a good book, when you can't read it fast enough BUT still don't want it to end!

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to Berkley Romance and PRH Audio for the review copies!

TL;DR: Harper St. George is the perfect histrom author for you if you’re looking for more modern sensibilities and quick reads. I’ve read all of her books and Loved every one of them!


📚 series info 📚
While this is the first book in a new series, there are call backs to St. George’s first series, The Gilded Age Heiresses, so you may want to start there.

📚 review 📚

Cora Dove is an American heiress with many secrets - her mother is a retired actress, and the late Mr. Dove was not *actually* the biological father of her or her sisters. And the only way she can access the fortune from her *biologial* father is by marrying someone he approves of. But Cora has a plan - a marriage of convenience, followed by a divorce after a few years. Her temporary husband certainly doesn’t need to know about her pen name or habit of writing for feminist papers. Leopold Brendon, Earl of Devonworth, is in desperate need of a fortune, and is more than willing to agree to Cora’s terms.

This was one of my favorite marriages of convenience. They get married early on in the story, and the tension builds between them beautifully. I loved all of the subplots, and can’t wait to read about the other two Dove sisters! (And maybe Mama Dove??)

🎧 This was excellent on audio. Maarleveld created several unique characters that were easy to distinguish between.

Cora and Leo fall into an arraigned marriage that asks a lot from them both. The two struggle to work to accommodate friends and family while at the same time they try to learn and understand the the other person in their marriage. I find that the story is very cute and quite charming. It is a slow burn story, but I know things will pick up in the end. The story is a true delight to read. Until next time my fellow readers. Read on!

Harper St. George has quickly become a name I will not pass up! Her Gilded Age Heiresses series was hit after hit for me, and I can tell this series will be as well! The passing of her plots are perfect for the genre and I really adore her characters. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was fun and steamy! I love a marriage of convenience and this one didn't disappoint, especially once they started falling for each other. But, it took awhile to get there and there wasn't much plot. So while I was entertained and enjoyed the romance, this isn't one that will stick with me for long. Still glad I read it and will recommend it to my regency romance lovers!

3.5 This was fun! I love regency and Harper St, George is a master of it. The perfect balance of sexy but entertaining.

THE STRANGER I WED by Harper St. George

“New to wealth and to London high society, American heiress Cora Dove discovers that with the right man, marriage might not be such an inconvenience after all.”

I read Harper St. George’s The Gilded Age Heiresses series and enjoyed it, so when she announced a spin-off series about the Dove sisters, I hoped it would deliver similar vibes … and it did!

Cora needs to find an English husband to secure her inheritance and the Earl of Devonworth needs a wealthy wife to support a hill he’s trying to get Parliament to pass. So begins a marriage of convenience. I enjoyed this romance and thought it hit all the right notes.

Read if you like:
🔥 slow burns
✨ smart heroines
💓 forced proximity
💖 season 3 of Bridgerton
🤫 secrets
✨ Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women

Have you read this one? Do you like historical romance?

3.5 Stars — I really loved the sizzling tension between these two. There is definitely attraction between these two and the story takes a slower pace to build up to the moment when characters confess their love to each other. Despite the overall slower pace, there are still a few steamy moments between them.

This was a solid start to a new series. I found Cora’s sisters more interesting than her so I’m excited to see how their romances play out. I have a gut feeling that Eliza’s story will be super angsty.